"You are not going to take this insult from him?"
The tall figure slowly rose and stood in silence.
"Remove him from his command," the younger man pleaded. "For God's sake do it now. Write the order for his removal this minute—give it to me! I'll kick his door open and hand it to him."
The deep set dreamy eyes were turned within as he said in slow intense tones:
"No—I'll hold McClellan's horse for him if he'll give us one victory!"
[CHAPTER XXI]
[THE BLOODIEST DAY]
The struggle opened with disaster for the Union army. Though Lee's plan of campaign fell by accident into McClellan's hands, it was too late to frustrate the first master stroke. Relying on Jackson's swift, bewildering marches, Lee, in hostile territory and confronted by twice his numbers, suddenly divided his army and hurled Jackson's corps against Harper's Ferry. The garrison, after a futile struggle of two days, surrendered twelve thousand five hundred and twenty men and their vast stores of war material.
The contrast between General White, the Federal officer in command who surrendered, and Jackson, his conqueror, was strikingly dramatic. The Union General rode a magnificent black horse, was carefully dressed in shining immaculate uniform—gloves, boots and sword spotless. The Confederate General sat carelessly on his little shaggy sorrel, dusty, travel-stained and carelessly dressed.