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Night too
was close at hand. When it fell, Smith's, Riley's, and Cadwallader's
commands had gained the point they sought. Shields joined them at ten
o'clock; and at midnight Captain Lee crossed the Pedregal, with a
message from General Smith to General Scott, to say that he would begin
the attack at daybreak next morning.
It rained all night and the men lay in the mud without fires. At three
in the morning (August 20th) the word was passed to march. Such pitchy
darkness covered the face of the plain that Smith ordered every man to
touch his front file as he marched. Now and then a flash of lightning
lighted the narrow ravine; occasionally a straggling moonbeam pierced
the clouds and shed an uncertain glimmer on the heights; but these
flitting guides served only to make the darkness seem darker. The
soldiers groped their way, stumbling over stones and brushwood, and did
not gain the rear of the camp till day broke. Then Riley bade his men
look to the priming of their guns, and reload those which the rain had
wet.


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