"Then we've really lost nothing," said the valiant Pennington, "because
with our arms we'll recover everything."

They had a commander of like spirit. At that moment Rosecrans, gathering
his generals in a tent pitched hastily for him, was saying to them,
"Gentlemen, we will conquer or die here." Short and strong, but every
word meant. There was no need to say more. The generals animated by the
same spirit went forth to their commands, and first among them was the
grim and silent Thomas, who had the bulldog grip of Grant. Perhaps it
was this indomitable tenacity and resolution that made the Northern
generals so much more successful in the west than they were in the east
during the early years of the war.

But there was exultation in the Confederate camp. Bragg and Polk and
Hardee and Breckinridge and the others felt now that Rosecrans would
retreat in the night after losing so many men and one-third of his
artillery. Great then was their astonishment when the rising sun of New
Year's day showed him sitting there, grimly waiting, with his back to
Stone River, a formidable foe despite his losses. Above all the Southern
generals saw the heavily massed artillery, which they had such good
reason to fear.

Dick, who had slept soundly through the night, was up like all the others
at dawn and he beheld the Southern army before them, yet not moving,
as if uncertain what to do. He felt again that thrill of courage and
resolution, and, born of it, was the belief that despite the first day's
defeat the chances were yet even. These western youths were of a tough
and enduring stock, as he had seen at Shiloh and Perryville, and the
battle was not always to him who won the first day. A long time passed