CHAPTER XXVII
The effort to crush Lee's army by a frontal attack led to the disastrous
defeat of Cold Harbor, and Grant who was never personally routed resolved
to throw his army south of the James River. It involved a concealed night
march, while his lines were in many places but thirty to one hundred feet
from the watchful Confederates. The utmost secrecy was used in regard to
the bold movement intended, but preparations for it demanded frequent
reconnaissances and map-sketching on the part of the engineers. A night
of map-making after a long day in the saddle left John Penhallow on June
6th a weary man lying on his camp-bed too tired to sleep. He heard Blake
ask, "Are you at home, Penhallow?" Few men would have been as welcome as
the serious-minded New England captain who had met Penhallow from time to
time since the engineer's mud-bath in the Pamunkey River.
"Glad to get you by yourself," said Blake. "You look used up. Do keep
quiet!"
"I will, but sit down and take a pipe. Coffee, Josiah!" he called out.
"I am quite too popular by reason of Josiah's amazing ability to forage.
If the Headquarters are within reach, he and Bill--that's the general's
man--hunt together. The results are surprising! But I learned long ago
from my uncle, Colonel Penhallow, that in the army it is well to ask
no unnecessary questions.
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