Lincoln let the papers drop on the table that separated him from Halleck. "What are you going to do, General?"

Halleck looked at him, blankly.

There was a long, drawn-out moment of silence, broken at last by a rap on the door. Stanton pulled it open. A rather nervous-looking telegrapher was standing there, holding a slip of foolscap. Stanton snatched it from him and slammed the door shut He scanned the paper, wheezing noisily, shoulders hunched over as he struggled for breath, then handed the paper to Lincoln.

"A newspaper in Baltimore has just reported that smoke from the direction of Westminster has been observed from atop several church steeples. They claim a distant explosion was heard a few minutes ago."

Stanton coughed noisily, handkerchief over his mouth.

"It might mean our supply depot is burning," Stanton offered between gasps for air.

"If that is the case, then what are we going to do?" Lincoln asked.

"There is the good news from Vicksburg at least" Halleck offered. "It should be finished there within the next couple of days."

"That is a thousand miles away" Lincoln replied, his voice soft but filled with frustration. The mere fact that Halleek had mentioned it caught Lincoln by surprise, for there was no love lost between Halleck and Grant It showed to him that Halleck was desperate, grasping for anything to divert attention from what was happening literally at then-back door.

"We have to wait to hear from Meade," Stanton interjected. "We shouldn't react until we have clear and certain intelligence from the commander in the field. We've seen this type of thing before and have survived, discovering later it was not as bad as was at first thought"

"What about Couch in Harrisburg?" Lincoln asked. "Could he advance?"

"Militia," Halleck interjected. "They would be worse than useless against the Army of Northern Virginia."

"Our garrison here in Washington?"

Both Halleck and Stanton shook their heads no.

"That is our final reserve,".Stanton announced.

"So you are saying we can do nothing but wait Is that it?"

Halleck reluctantly nodded. Lincoln looked to Stanton, who nodded as well.

"My God." Lincoln sighed. "I fear we are heading toward a debacle. The Army of the Potomac cut off from Washington, its supply base gone, and all we can do is sit here and wave telegrams at each other."

He lowered his head and turned away.

Ignoring the hum of minie balls clipping through the trees, Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain carefully scanned the enemy position half a mile to the south.

"Over there, to the right, about two miles away, is where" Buford was killed yesterday," Strong Vincent, Joshua's brigade commander, pointed out

Joshua and the other regimental commanders around him said nothing. Several cavalry troopers from that fight who had fallen back into the advancing regiments of First Division, Fifth Corps, and were now acting as guides, nodded.

"Goddamn bastards!" one of them growled and spit a stream of tobacco juice near Joshua's feet

"So we're back in Maryland, gentlemen," Strong said.

Joshua looked over at him. He liked Strong, newly promoted to brigade command. Strange, he remembered a comment by Strong a couple of days earlier, about dying under the colors in Pennsylvania. He half suspected it was a prophecy, for men were indeed allowed, at times, a glimpse of the fate ahead.

He was tired, feeling a bit shaky, the regiments having been rousted out at two in the morning and sent back down the very same road they had come up only the day before. A countermarch always sapped morale, especially when done at night. Rumors were flying that the army had been flanked yet again.

The distant pillar of smoke, off to the southeast, was troubling as well. It looked like a great conflagration, and rumors were spreading it was the main supply depot at Westminster.

"Gentlemen, we're the right wing of this attack," Strong announced. "Crawford's division, which positioned itself here last night, attempted a drive on Taneytown at dawn and was repulsed. General Sykes has decided that in this next attack the entire corps will go in at once."

Joshua listened, raising his field glasses to scan the ground. A couple of hundred yards to die right, it sloped down sharply to Monocacy Creek. Directly ahead was a small tributary, locals called it Piney Creek, again the land dropping down, marshy terrain, then up a slope to the other side… where he could see Reb skirmishers waiting.

"The First and Second Brigades of this division will open the assault," Strong continued. "Our brigade will be in echelon on the right as the reserve: The objective of the attack is to cut straight into Taneytown. Once over the creek, we move across the open plateau and envelop the town. Our brigade will advance covering the flank."

Joshua lowered his glasses and looked at the sketch map Strong was holding up against the trunk of a tree.

"Confederate forces on our right?" Joshua asked.

"Supposedly nothing."

Joshua said nothing for a moment "Are we certain of that sir?"

Strong sighed and looked over at one of the cavalry troopers, a lieutenant who simply shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.

"We're not certain, Colonel Chamberlain, but General Sykes believes that the bulk of the rebel army has passed and is now deployed between Taneytown and Westminster."

"Whether they are or not sir, why not move on the bridge, the one Buford tried to hold yesterday? That would be the natural barrier for the right to secure our flank as we advance. If we go charging straight into Taneytown and our right is totally exposed, we could be shattered just like Jackson rolling up the Eleventh Corps at Chancellorsville. It makes me uneasy." Strong nodded.

"General Sykes says there's only this one corps, Colonel Chamberlain, and if we try to advance on a front from the bridge to the town, we'll be spread out across four miles or more. He wants a concentrated attack. Besides, the town is most likely where they are basing supplies."

Joshua did not reply. If Sykes had given that order, there was no sense in troubling Strong about it now. Colonels don't countermand corps commanders.

Vincent pulled his watch out, opened it, and then muttered a curse as he started to wind the stem.

"We're already late. We were supposed to go in at approximately ten o'clock. Get your men in formation as I've outlined. The signal will be the massed firing of the batteries now going into position at the center of our line."

The other regimental commanders saluted and started back to their troops, who were resting in columns on the far side of the village of Harney. Joshua lingered for a moment, and Strong looked over at him.

There was a close bond between the two. Only a short while ago Strong was a regimental commander like Joshua, more experienced and gladly willing to share what he knew with Joshua. "What are you thinking?" Strong asked.

"Don't like it. We're just asking to get hit from the flank. Being vulnerable against Bobbie Lee just makes my stomach ache."

Strong chuckled softly. "That's what this war is like." "I have no idea what is going on with this army, how we got flanked, if we're being supported, or not. Do you?" Vincent said nothing. "So we are alone out here?"

"Looks that way. I heard most of the army is moving toward Westminster. We're the right flank."

"Strong, if they have not completed their march, which seems likely when you consider the amount of men and the time involved, we'll be flanked in turn."

"I know that," Strong replied.