in chapter 16 describe the battle scene youth is observing

There is the fog of gunpowder, the sound of muskets and cannons as well,

"A sputtering of musketry was always to be heard. Later, the cannon had entered the dispute. In the fog-filled air their voices made a thudding sound. The reverberations were continual. This part of the world led a strange, battleful existence."

Despite the noise, nobody seemed to know what they were they were going or what they were doing. Henry names the generals,

"Well, then, if we fight like the devil an' don't ever whip, it must be the general's fault," said the youth grandly and decisively. "And I don't see any sense in fighting and fighting and fighting, yet always losing through some derned old lunkhead of a general."