Cliff's Campaign Concerning our Country

 Chapter I      "The preparations being complete, the two private soldiers stepped aside and each drew away the plank upon which he had been standing. The sergeant turned to the captain, saluted and placed himself immediately behind that officer, who in turn moved apart one pace. These movements left the condemned man and the sergeant standing on the two ends of the same plank, which spanned three of the cross-ties of the bridge. The end upon which the civilian stood almost, but not quite, reached a fourth. This plank had been held in place by the weight of the captain; it was now held by that of the sergeant. At a signal from the former the latter would step aside, the plank would tilt and the condemned man go down between two ties. " Here I find it really interesting as to why the captain was not the one to step off the plank therefore killing Fahrquhar. I wonder if he was just too dignified or proud or he just didn't want to kill a Rebel soldier because it was a shame

 Chapter I A piece of dancing driftwood caught his attention and his eyes followed it down the current. How slowly it appeared to move! What a sluggish stream! He closed his eyes in order to fix his last thoughts upon his wife and children. The water, touched to gold by the early sun, the brooding mists under the banks at some distance down the stream, the fort, the soldiers, the piece of drift—all had distracted him. And now he became conscious of a new disturbance. Striking through the thought of his dear ones was a sound which he could neither ignore nor understand, a sharp, distinct, metallic percussion like the stroke of a blacksmith’s hammer upon the anvil; In the first part of this passage, it demonstrates to the reader how slowly time was moving for Peyton Fahrquhar. This is important as he dreams throughout most of the reading. There was also a resignation and calmness within him. The fourth sentence however, shows that Fahrquhar wasn’t thinking about his money or the war or s