Gods and Generals - Jeff Shaara [180]
“Come on, Colonel, just keep your head down. The rest of ya too. Stay low.”
Chamberlain slid out from his human shelter, fought the urge to look at the face of the man Kilrain knew, and they began to move down the hill. Others were moving up now, strengthening the skirmish line, and across the wide hill he saw the men in a solid snaking line, lying just below the crest, just out of the line of fire from the wall, and most were waiting, ready. He wondered, Will the order come, the new attack? He was beginning to feel the excitement of a new day, thought, Yes, we can do it again . . . we’re already here. There just aren’t very many of us. He could see back across the field, all the way to the town. There were still vast numbers of men, some in formation, strong lines of blue, and the sight thrilled him. Yes, come on!
They reached the bottom of the depression, and Kilrain led him along, over the mass of bodies, and now Chamberlain could see horses, officers, flags, some organization, back out of range of the muskets. He began to walk upright, heard a musket ball whiz overhead, and he ducked.
Kilrain watched him, said, “Colonel, me darlin’, if that one was meant for you . . . there’d be no need to be duckin’.”
He stood upright again, looked at the officers, finally saw Ames. He felt another thrill, wanted to run up to him, show him he had survived after all, and Ames looked at him, nodded, a quick, short smile. Chamberlain understood, saw now General Griffin, and Colonel Strong Vincent, of the Eighty-third Pennsylvania. Griffin was speaking.
“. . . while Stockton is unable. Colonel Vincent, you are now in command of the Third Brigade. Keep the men in position here until dark. You will be relieved as soon as possible.”
Vincent saluted, said, “Yes, sir,” then noticed Chamberlain, stared for a second, said, “Colonel . . . are you all right?”
Chamberlain nodded, said, “Yes, sir. I was pinned down . . . up on the rise . . . the wall.” He felt suddenly very tired, looked at Ames, who smiled again.
Ames said, “General Griffin, Colonel Vincent, this is Lieutenant Colonel Chamberlain. I spoke of him earlier.”
Griffin held out his hand, caught Chamberlain by surprise, and he stared numbly. Griffin waited, kept the hand out, and Chamberlain reached for it weakly.
Griffin said, “Fine work, Colonel, keeping your men up close like that. Not many men made it that far . . . fine work.”
Chamberlain felt the hand release, and he nodded, felt himself smiling, a big stupid grin, tried to control it, saw the faces of the others watching him, said, “Thank you, General. Are we going to attack?”
There was a silent moment, and the others looked at Griffin, who stared down at the ground, then looked hard at Chamberlain. “Colonel,” he said, “there are no new orders. The commanding general has not given instructions to General Hooker, and General Hooker has not given instructions to me. You have done your job, Colonel. All of these men on this field have done their job. Unless something changes, that job is complete.”
Chamberlain stared at Griffin’s face, saw deep lines and tired eyes, and he looked at Ames, and Ames raised his hand, cocked a finger, a small quick signal to move away, follow me.
Ames moved slowly, stepped over bodies. Chamberlain struggled to keep up. His legs were not working well. “Colonel,” he said, “what happened? How can we be through?”
Ames stopped, said, “Because we are. It’s over. We sent forty thousand men across this field, Colonel, and it was not enough. They are still up there.” He pointed to the hill, and Chamberlain could see it clearly now, the entire hill in front of him, the guns perched high on top, small flags waving. “They’re waiting for us to try again. It was suicide, Colonel. It would be still.”
Chamberlain stared at the hill, then looked down, across the wide field, the crouching lines and small groups, the living and the dead, and he felt something swelling inside him, something painful and sickening, and he wanted to be angry, to say something important, some loud pronouncement against