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The front of their column had already passed us, when another officer came riding down the side of the road, not five paces from where we were.

My Cousin Simmons carried a musket, but he had loaded it with bird shot, and as the officer came opposite him, he rose up behind the wall and fired.

One moment there was a man in the saddle ; ;

the next a headless horror on a horse that bolted through the redcoat ranks, and during the next second or two, we all of us fired into the suddenly disorganized column of soldiers.

One moment, the road was filled with disciplined troops, marching four by four with a purpose as implacable as death ; ;

the next, a cloud of gun smoke covered a screaming fury of sound, out of which the redcoat soldiers emerged with their bayonets and their cursing fury.