Under Fire: A Tale of the Shenandoah Valley — page 43: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

— «$6 A TERRIBLE GATASTROPHE. Svea the enoundrel from the fate he richly de- served. The two young men became much attached to one another. Moses was grateful for the fruitless effort made by Royal to save his sister, and Chetwood felt that young Bluff had saved his life. Although a Virginian, the brother of poor Mary Bluff confided to his friend that, like hundreds of others in the State that gave him birth, his sympa- thies were with the North. Days before Royal was able to leave the hospital, it had been determined between them that they would enter the Federal Army together, and fight for the maintenance of the republic as a unit. The two young men were on the eve of their jour- ney northward when the news of the repulse of the National troops at Great Bethel, June roth, reached Charleston. The intelligence set the city wild with joy and en- thusiasm. _ Bonfires were lighted, and other demonstrations. of an exuberant character were indulged 1 in by the loyal spirits of the South. The victory was all the more significant because it was officially known that the Unionists had outnum- bered their opponents at least two to one. Everybody looked upon this success as a favorable augury, and prophesied the speedy ending of the wat. But they reckoned without their host, and although the first really great battle of the Rebellion, which - occurred during the ensuing month, resulted in a sig- nal victory for the Confederate arms, and the almost total rout of the Federal Army, opening the road right up to Washington, the Nation’s capital, and thus still further justifying the hopes of the Southern cause while it cast unspeakable gloom far and wide ~comicbooks.co