University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XXXIII.

As it soon became clear that General Burnside would not
again attempt to cross the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg, the
necessity for feeding the artillery horses compelled their withdrawal
to some locality where forage was more accessible. The
last days of 1862 were, therefore, occupied in moving the artillery
camps. The reserve artillery was stationed on the north
side of the North Anna River, in Caroline County. Finding it
inexpedient to press for his hoped-for furlough, General Pendleton
obtained lodgings for his wife and one of his daughters at
Dr. Thomas B. Anderson's, close to his camp, and sent for them to
visit him. Their sojourn of some weeks was a pleasant episode
for the camp-weary soldiers. The camp was on one side of the
river, the dwelling-house on the other. The banks were steep
and the ford bad. Official duties required General Pendleton to
spend the days in camp, and the ladies would often walk over
the foot-bridge and pass the afternoon in his tent. One of their
amusements was to see the general's old sorrel horse trot down
the path after him in the evening until his way was stopped by
the narrow footway; not caring to swim the cold stream, he
would stand till his master was on the other side, then neigh his
good-night and walk back to his stable.

Constant effort was now made to increase the efficiency of the
artillery. The small brass guns of the different batteries were
sent to the Confederate foundry in Richmond and recast into
Napoleons. Great diligence was used to secure forage from the
back country for the horses in all the artillery camps, rigid inspections

of the batteries were required, and everything possible
done to put men, horses, and ordnance into good condition for
active campaigning. The winter was very cold and wet, and the
difficulty of moving in the tenacious alluvial soil between the
Rappahannock and the James almost insurmountable. To lessen
such difficulties, General Pendleton was instructed to have good
bridges built at various points, and to see that the roads in the
country round the artillery camps were repaired.

Nearly two years of war had greatly drained the resources of
Virginia, and the insufficient means of transportation prevented
supplies, still abundant in other parts of the South, being
brought where they were so much needed. The necessities of
the army were, therefore, very great. Clothing, shoes, blankets,
tents, and provisions were all inadequate to supply the wants of
the men. To remedy these deficiencies, and to fill up the ranks
depleted by the expiration of the term of service for which
numbers of the men had enlisted, engaged the attention and
best efforts of all in command. The steady depreciation of Confederate
money rendered the covetous less willing to sell, and
the generous less able to give such articles as were most in demand.
Still, the mass of the people stood firm in their resolve
to sustain their defenders to their utmost. The diminishing supplies
at home were divided with the soldiers; and the knowledge
that if returned to the army as conscripts they would be held in
disgrace by their friends, no doubt induced those who might
otherwise have shirked the duty to re-enlist. With the majority
of the army, however, genuine patriotism and self-devotion was
the motive which animated them to fight so gallantly and endure
so cheerfully.

To lighten the task of feeding the army, General Longstreet,
with the divisions of Hood and Pickett and the artillery battalions
of Henry and Dearing, was sent into the country south of Petersburg,
where the ravages of war had not yet been felt. To General
Jackson, with the Second Corps and two divisions of the
First Corps, McLaw's and Anderson's, was left the watching and
being ready to meet the Federal army along a line of twenty-five
miles, from United States Ford above to Port Royal below Fredericksburg.
A keen lookout had, therefore, to be kept lest the
enemy's cavalry should at any time make a dash across the

Rappahannock and attack the artillery camps, necessarily separated.

General Jackson's head-quarters were at Moss Neck,—the
Corbin estate,—about ten miles below Fredericksburg, where he
could watch the Federal army and check its advance either above
or below. A threatened movement about the middle of January
called General Pendleton to the front. Of his father's visit to
General Jackson, and also of his own promotion on the general's
recommendation, Sandie Pendleton wrote his mother,—

There was no alarm of the enemy's advance after this, and
Mrs. Pendleton's visit was prolonged for some weeks. Much of
this time was passed by General Pendleton in consulting with
other artillery officers, examining and perfecting a plan for reorganizing
the artillery so as to insure its greater efficiency. An
acute attack of rheumatism in his left arm added to the trials
borne at this season. The condition of affairs along the front
may be learned from Major Pendleton's letters:

We have seen how religious interest and services had been
kept up among the artillery from the beginning of the war under
General Pendleton's direction and guidance. A similar state of
things was found in many places among the infantry, and log
chapels had been built in different localities by Jackson's men in
their winter-quarters. To systematize this religious work and
influence and to provide every portion of his command with devout,
faithful chaplains was a subject which greatly engaged
General Jackson's attention. As a first step towards doing it
effectively he invited the Rev. Tucker Lacy to come to him as a
sort of "staff chaplain," and gave him every aid in doing missionary
work among the men of the Second Corps. In the
letter above quoted Sandie Pendleton wrote of Mr. Lacy's joining
them,—

"We have the Rev. Tucker Lacy here now as a permanency.
The general has given him his finest horse and he shares his
room. He can do a large amount of good if he sets earnestly
to work at it in the right way."

A week or two later he wrote,—

"I suppose you have seen in the Southern Churchman the
'Address from Chaplains, Second Corps'? It was written by
Mr. Lacy, and is, I think, very good. He has stirred up the
chaplains a great deal and infused some of his own energy into
them, and is doing a good work."

About the middle of March General Jackson moved up nearer
to the front in expectation of an opening campaign, and a stir of
anticipation was felt throughout the army. Letters still give the
most lively picture of affairs.

On March 16 General Pendleton wrote to his daughters in
Lexington,—

"My dear Children,—After a ride of several miles this
morning before seven o'clock, I will write a line to go by Major
Rogers. He kindly offered to take up a little sugar (thirty
pounds) in a bag to you. . . . On Saturday your mamma, Aunt
Anne Rose, and Rose left Dr. Anderson's. They went in an ambulance
to Mrs. Cooke's. I accompanied them. That evening
Sandie came to my camp and Dudley lent him one of the wagon
horses, so that he soon joined us. We all spent together there a
happy day yesterday. I read the service and made a lecture to
the assembled household."

The rumor of movements proved premature, and on April 4
he wrote again,—

". . . You must not be disappointed if your ma and Rose stay
longer. My despatches from General Lee indicate that we may
be quiet still awhile. Your ma and Rose came to camp to-day
in an ambulance, and have dined with me. We go on to Dr. Nelson's
presently. The wind blows prodigiously, and I fear rain or
snow to-morrow; if the weather permits, we hope to go to the

old Fork Church. Bishop Johns is to preach there. My right
arm and hand are nearly helpless from rheumatism."

On the same date Sandie Pendleton wrote of the opening of
the spring weather,—

". . . Yesterday I was in one place greeted by a cloud of dust.
We look for the Yankees every day. They started for this side
of the river on the 22d of March, but the snow delayed them.
. . . We are in fine condition. The army stronger than I have
ever known it, and in an admirable state of organization and discipline.
The armament and equipment good also. Stuart has
lately gotten two Whitworth guns. I wish you could get us one
or two more for Hardaway."

The good weather was the signal for Mrs. Pendleton's return
home. To her General Pendleton wrote April 15,—

". . . I went up day before yesterday, saw General Lee, spent
the night at General Jackson's camp, and had a good deal of chat
with Sandie. Rev. Mr. Lacy has arranged for a weekly meeting
of all the chaplains. It was to take place yesterday at Grace
Church. They begged me to be present. I agreed; was there
at eleven; a sermon; then business, each as he chose telling of
his own work, etc. I was asked to address them, and did so to
good purpose, I trust. By unanimous resolution, I was asked to
preach to them on the conditions of their work at such time and
place as I might designate. I readily consented, and will do it,
the Lord being my helper, as soon as I can. While in the
church I received a note from General Lee, telling me of a despatch
from General Stuart that the enemy, with a large cavalry
force, was menacing again at Kelley's Ford, and notifying me to
prepare the artillery to repel an attack, as not impossible. . . .
Colonel Cutts has returned. He says there are quantities of
provisions in his part of Georgia and thousands of beef-cattle in
Florida. By God's blessing we shall get along sufficiently well,
I doubt not, though with hard pinching, owing to the distance
between the food and the mouths.

"My arm is better; still very sore, but not so helpless or so

painful. General Lee has been very sick. He is now nearly
well."

Two days later he wrote that pouring rains had prevented his
going to the chaplains' meeting, and added, "Bear up cheerfully.
We have a Friend on high who will, as we love Him, make all
things work together for our good."

During the winter General Lee had so thoroughly fortified his
whole line[1] that General Hooker, who had succeeded General

Burnside in command of the Federal army, had little prospect of
success by any direct attack in front. He therefore determined
to make a feint upon Fredericksburg and move the main body
of his army by the right flank, cross the Rappahannock at the
upper fords, and strike General Lee on his left and rear. Accordingly,
a large force under General Sedgwick was thrown across
the river on April 28, very near the point where General Franklin's
grand division had crossed in December, while the main
army was marched in the opposite direction. The attempt to
deceive General Lee proved futile, as he was kept informed by
the cavalry under General Stuart of the Federal movement up
the river and of the crossing of large bodies of troops at the upper
fords, and arrangements were immediately made to meet and foil
their efforts to surprise and flank the Confederate army. To his
wife General Pendleton wrote on the 29th of April,—

"By the time this reaches you, you will already have heard
otherwise of what is going on at Fredericksburg. I have sent up
a good deal of artillery to the front to-day, and all hands march
at dawn to-morrow. General Lee telegraphed me the enemy
crossing just below the town, as they did before. I suppose they
will also come round in large force higher up the river, unless
the whole thing is a sham. It is raining, and we shall have a
rough time on the march if it continues. The Almighty will, I
trust, order in kindness for us, as heretofore."

The Army of the Potomac under General Hooker numbered
at the beginning of May not less than one hundred and twenty
thousand infantry and artillery, twelve thousand cavalry, and
over four hundred guns. The infantry was divided into seven
corps,—First, Second, Third, Fifth, Eleventh, Twelfth. To these
numbers was opposed, under General Lee, a force of less than
fifty thousand infantry, artillery, and cavalry.

By nightfall of Thursday, April 30, General Hooker had
accomplished the first part of his plan to turn General Lee's
position, and had concentrated four of his army corps at Chancellorsville.[2]

These were joined next day by Sickles's Third
Corps and Reynolds's First Corps, giving a force of ninety
thousand men at Chancellorsville, besides the twenty-two thousand
men under Sedgwick at Fredericksburg.[3] General Hooker
was so confident of success that he issued on the evening of
April 30 the following order:

"It is with heart-felt satisfaction that the commanding general
announces to the army that the operations of the last three days
have determined that the enemy must either ingloriously fly, or
come out from behind his defences and give us battle on our
own ground, where certain destruction awaits him."

His sanguine anticipations were soon to be signally blasted.
General Lee was promptly informed of the arrival of the Federal
army at Chancellorsville, and made immediate dispositions to
meet and check its advance. Anderson's division had been sent
forward on the night of the 29th towards Chancellorsville, and
finding the enemy advancing in such strong force, took up a
position near Tabernacle Church and threw up breastworks.
McLaws joined him on the right on the morning of May 1.
General Lee had now determined to leave Early's division and
Barksdale's brigade of infantry—nine thousand men—and General
Pendleton with the reserve artillery of forty-five guns to
confront Sedgwick at Fredericksburg, while he took the rest of
Jackson's corps—twenty-two thousand—and the twelve thousand
of Anderson and McLaws against Hooker's great host at Chancellorsville.
This move began early on the 1st of May. At
eleven A.M. General Jackson had taken command of the whole
force, and the advance beyond Anderson's intrenched position
was begun by Anderson's division, led by Colonel Alexander's
battalion of artillery. General Hooker had sent forward several
divisions,—apparently to seize the heights several miles from
Chancellorsville towards Fredericksburg. This force was soon
encountered by the Confederate advance, and was constantly

pressed back, with sharp skirmishing of infantry and artillery,
upon the main army at Chancellorsville.

The Federal position here was a strong one, and the commanding
general, for all his boast of dealing "certain destruction"
to his opponent, had intrenched his host with lines of breastworks
on the east and south, had ordered up the First Corps to
assist it, and in trepidation waited to see what his adversary
would do.[4] General Lee, in the mean time, was examining and
consulting as to the best course for discomfiting the greatly
superior force in front of him. The country round Chancellorsville
was covered with a dense growth of trees and undershrubs,
rendering it very difficult to handle troops, and especially unfavorable
for the efficient use of artillery.

A direct attack was found unadvisable. But the withdrawal
of the Federal advance before his forces had indicated a lack of
spirit, and the woods screened his movements from observation.
General Lee therefore decided upon the bold measure of again
dividing his army for a flank attack. He accordingly directed
Jackson, with his corps, to deflect by a road leading southwest
from Chancellorsville, and by a détour of fifteen miles reach a
point on the right flank and rear of Hooker's fortified position,
while he himself with the twelve thousand men of Anderson
and McLaws, and twenty pieces of artillery, held the ground in
Hooker's front. This passage of troops towards the south was
detected by the Federal pickets, and was supposed by General
Hooker to indicate "a retreat," and General Sickles, with two
divisions and Pleasonton's cavalry, were sent to reconnoitre and
ascertain the truth. They attacked the rear of Jackson's column
near the Furnace, and were checked by a part of Colonel J.
Thompson Brown's artillery and a small infantry support. To
engage Hooker's attention, General Lee throughout the day
made several demonstrations along the front, and repeatedly
opened with artillery along the front and right.[5]

At three P.M. Jackson and his army had marched fifteen miles,
and reached a point several miles west of Chancellorsville, and
sufficiently in rear of the enemy to insure the success of his
great exploit.

Howard's Eleventh Corps held the extreme right of the Federal
army, and from a hill near by the men could be seen sitting
about in groups,—their arms stacked some distance in front,—
talking, lounging, and cooking their suppers,—unsuspecting the
presence of any enemy in their vicinity. Upon these men so
unconscious of their danger, like a thunderbolt from a clear sky,
an avalanche from a snowless mountain, burst the onset of Jackson's
Invincibles: Rodes's and then Colston's divisions rushed
forward in attack, making the woods resound with the piercing
Southern war-cry. Notwithstanding their long, toilsome march,
the men were full of spirit and eager for the fray, and in a few
moments the Eleventh Corps, terror-stricken and demoralized,
was transformed into a flying rabble, abandoning cannon, caissons,
arms, accoutrements, clothing, everything in their headlong flight.
Across the fields, over the first intrenched position at Talley's
farm, up and over the hill at Hawkins's, where Schurz made a
stand for a few moments, pressed the Confederate force. The
thick and thorny bushes tear their clothing and their flesh; the
difficulty of the way breaks up their lines; now and again they
stop to fire into a body of the enemy who do not retreat fast
enough; but still they press on eager and undaunted, until, when
reaching the earthworks at Melzi Chancellor's, two miles only
from Hooker's head-quarters, the whole advance of Rodes's
and Colston's men pour in a disorganized but determined mass
over the defences, breaking up the enemy, and capturing his
artillery and many prisoners. So far the success had been complete,
and had daylight lasted an hour longer, the victorious host
would doubtless have seized the heart of Hooker's position and
destroyed his army. But night had fallen. Jackson's men had
marched twenty miles, and fought for three of them; their
ammunition was nearly out; their brigade and regimental lines
were broken and confused, so that he found it necessary to bring
A. P. Hill's fresh troops to the front before attempting the night-attack
to which he was inclined. While, this change was being
made, General Jackson and some of his staff rode forward to reconnoitre
the enemy's position. As the party returned to their
own lines, they were taken, in the darkness, for a squadron of
the enemy's cavalry, and fired into by the Confederate advance.
Two of them were instantly killed and several wounded, among

them General Jackson himself.[6] Up to this point the nature of
the ground and the headlong retreat of the enemy had prevented
the use of any Confederate artillery, but beyond Melzi
Chancellor's house two Napoleons and a Parrott gun were stationed
on the plank road and opened fire, to which the enemy's
artillery responded furiously. Shortly after General Jackson was
shot, and while he was being borne on a litter to the rear for surgical
attendance, there was a second tremendous cannonade from the
enemy, which did considerable damage to the Confederate artillery,
and wounded severely Colonel Crutchfield, Jackson's chief
of artillery. General A. P. Hill, Jackson's successor in command,
was also disabled by this artillery fire. Brigadier-General
Rodes was then the senior officer on the field, and he immediately
made arrangements for renewing the attack the next morning,
but at the same time, with his characteristic self-devotion,
concurred with the other brigadiers as to the wisdom of sending
for Major-General J. E. B. Stuart and placing the command in
his hands.[7] Major Pendleton, Jackson's assistant adjutant-general,
had already sent one of General A. P. Hill's aides to General
Stuart five miles away, and on his arrival on the battle-field,
Hill formally turned the command over to him.[8]

On the front and left General Lee had so effectively occupied
the enemy's attention during the day, and especially after the
sound of Jackson's guns announced his attack, that no reinforcements
had been sent to the right. Now, about midnight, the commanding
general received at the same time from General Stuart
information of Jackson's great success, of his being wounded,
and of Stuart's assuming the command. In reply, General Lee

instructed General Stuart to continue the attack upon Hooker's
position, and directed Anderson to support him, leaving McLaws
still in the front.

Finding it inexpedient to renew the battle that night, General
Stuart allowed the men to rest while he passed along the lines,
acquainting himself with the ground and the disposition of the
troops.[9] More artillery came up in the night and was posted by
dawn upon commanding positions selected during the night by
Colonel E. P. Alexander, who succeeded Colonel Crutchfield in
command of the artillery.

At dawn on Sunday, May 3, the attack upon the Federal position
was renewed. General Hooker had increased his defences
during the night, and his men fought more resolutely than they
had done before. But the Confederates had also rested; they
were encouraged by their previous successes, and animated by a
desire to avenge the injury to their beloved Jackson. The ground
now was also more favorable for the use of artillery. A. P. Hill's
division in the advance, under General Heth, charged the enemy's
breastworks one hundred and fifty yards in their front, drove them
out, and carried in the same way a second and third line. Thirty
pieces of artillery were concentrated upon the ridge held the day
before by the Eleventh Corps, and by their accurate and tremendous
fire greatly assisted in the vigorous assault upon the enemy.
From point to point, from one intrenchment to another, the impetuous
attack of the Second Corps swept on.[10] As the enemy
was driven from one breastwork to another, the Confederate
artillery was advanced and engaged the enemy's batteries on the
heights of the central position at Chancellorsville. All three of

Stuart's lines were now in action. General Lee himself was in
their midst, encouraging them by his beloved presence and his
splendid coolness in the midst of danger. Twice the assaulting
columns on the left of the plank road stormed the works in their
front, and were driven out by a flank attack of the enemy. The
third attack was more successful, the works were held, and the
artillery was pushed forward to their crest; a tremendous fire
from the guns and sharp-shooters was opened, and in a few moments
—by ten a.m.—Chancellorsville was won. Anderson's division
had before this united with Jackson's corps and assisted in
driving the enemy, while McLaws, on the right, had kept Couch
and Hancock, of the Second Corps, from moving to aid the troops
opposed to Anderson, and had plied them so effectively with
artillery as to inflict upon them very heavy losses.[11]

The Federal army now retired within a heavy line of intrenchments
farther back upon the Rappahannock. General Hooker
had been stunned by the concussion of a shell at Chancellorsville,
and there seems to have been no head left to the force, which
was still more than double that of the victorious Confederates,—
with two corps, the First and Fifth, which had not been at all
engaged. The woods around Chancellorsville and the house
itself were in flames from the shells thrown into them. To care
for the wounded men, and especially for the Federal soldiers in
the burning house at Chancellorsville, was General Lee's first
object. His attention and General Stuart's was then given to
reforming the scattered and battle-weary troops, with a view to
renewing the attack upon the Federal army in its new and strong
position. But this movement was prevented by information from
Fredericksburg.

On Friday, May 1, General Early had been left with nine thousand
men, and forty-five guns under General Pendleton, to hold
the position at Fredericksburg, with instructions that if the enemy
should withdraw from his front and move up the river, he also
should join General Lee with as much of his force as could be
spared from his lines. Near mid-day of Saturday, the 2d, General
Chilton, General Lee's assistant adjutant-general, brought in
person an order to General Early to send most of his artillery,

especially the heaviest guns, to the rear where they would be out
of the enemy's reach, and, leaving one brigade behind as a guard,
to move with the rest of his command to Chancellorsville. The
objections against this move and the difficulties of withdrawing the
troops and guns in view of the greatly superior force of the enemy
were obvious. But as General Chilton's orders were peremptory,
steps were at once taken to put them into execution. General
Pendleton immediately ordered twenty-two of his best guns to
move by the telegraph road back to the neighborhood of Chesterfield
Depot, and others were made ready to follow, leaving
only fifteen in position. General Early committed the defence to
General Hays's brigade and one regiment of General Barksdale's,
and moved with the rest of his force by the plank road to join
General Lee. This movement from their front was perceived by
the Federal signal-officers and communicated to their commander,
who at once began to take advantage of the weakening of the
Confederate lines and made ready to advance in heavy force.
General Early learned at the same time of the danger in his rear
and that the order under which he had left Fredericksburg was
an erroneous one. He therefore reversed the head of his column,
and marched back in time to prevent the small force at Fredericksburg
from falling back to avoid being captured in the night
by the overwhelming force of the enemy, and the defensive line
was reoccupied as it had been in the morning. Unfortunately, the
artillery sent back under General Chilton's order had proceeded
too far to be speedily recalled.

Late in the afternoon of the 2d General Hooker was informed
by General Sedgwick that the enemy were evacuating their position
at Fredericksburg, as many men, artillery, and wagons were
seen moving to the rear. In reply General Hooker said, "Their
horses are poor. They cannot but be panic-stricken if you give
them a sharp blow in the night."[12] About the time of this despatch
—six p.m.—Jackson struck and doubled up the Eleventh
Corps, and produced such consternation in the army and commander
at Chancellorsville that General Hooker ordered General
Sedgwick to move at once to his assistance, seizing Fredericksburg
and its defences on the way and destroying any force which

might oppose his advance. All this he was to do in the night,
and reach General Lee's rear by daylight.

General Sedgwick did move during the night by the flank to
Fredericksburg, the Confederate skirmishers falling slowly back
before him, fighting all the way. This change of direction brought
the Federal force immediately in front of the line, three miles long,
defended only by Barksdale's brigade and the artillery under General
Pendleton. Learning of the demonstration against the centre,
General Early sent Hays's brigade to support Barksdale on the
left. Attempts were made to turn the Confederate flanks. That on
the right was defeated by General Early, while Wilcox, coming
from Banks's Ford, joined Hays on the left in preventing success
there.

Marye's Hill, the key to the Confederate position, was held by
two regiments of Barksdale's and a part of the New Orleans
"Washington Artillery,"—the same guns which had defended it
so splendidly in December, 1862. Two assaults upon it had
already been repulsed. While massing his forces for a third
attack the enemy sent a flag of truce, under pretext of caring for
their wounded. This was incautiously received by one of the
regimental commanders, and, the weakness of the defence being
thus ascertained, the Federal column, twenty thousand strong,
advanced in three lines against the position occupied by Barksdale,
attacking at once on the right, left, and centre. On the
right and left they were driven back by the infantry and artillery.
At Marye's Hill a desperate resistance was made, but the defence
was too weak in men, and especially in guns, to resist the enormous
odds against them,—"ten times their numbers,"[13] —and were
overpowered and captured, losing a large proportion of the infantry
and all the guns. To avoid being surrounded, the hills on
the right and left of the captured crest were now relinquished.
Barksdale and the artillery fell back on the telegraph road, and
Hays and Wilcox by the plank road, the enemy following on
both roads.

Two miles back from Marye's Hill General Early halted the
force on the telegraph road, which, being joined by Hays's and
Gordon's brigades, checked the advance of the enemy in that

direction. General Sedgwick then pressed forward by the plank
road to join Hooker at Chancellorsville. Wilcox, with one
brigade and Lewis's four guns, fell slowly back to Salem Church,
disputing every step of Sedgwick's advance.[14]

Information of Sedgwick's success at Marye's Hill and of his
advance to Salem Church, where Wilcox was holding him in
check, made it necessary for General Lee to meet and defeat the
effort to attack him in the rear. McLaws's division and one
brigade from Anderson's were therefore sent to reinforce Wilcox.
These troops had a severe contest with the Sixth Corps, which
made strenuous efforts to seize and hold the heights around the
church. After a sharp struggle the attack was repulsed with
great slaughter, and the enemy driven back upon his reserves.
Night put an end to the combat. On the morning of May 4
General Early, in Sedgwick's rear, moved back towards Fredericksburg
and recaptured the heights in front of the town.[15] General
Lee came from Chancellorsville with the rest of Anderson's
division, and a combined attack was made late in the day by
McLaws on the right, Anderson on the left, and Early in the rear.
The enemy was driven back to the river, and under cover of
darkness and a dense fog which settled on the field fell back to
Banks's Ford, and succeeded in crossing to the north side of the
river in spite of a close pursuit and heavy artillery fire from the
adjacent heights. It was now General Lee's purpose to throw
himself upon Hooker's intrenched position at Chancellorsville, and
McLaws and Anderson were marched back thither. A violent
storm prevailed during the night, and when the skirmish-line was
thrown forward to assault the Federal army, at daylight on the
6th, it was gone. On the previous day General Hooker had sent
a flag of truce to General Lee, requesting "the privilege of sending
a burial-party on the field of Chancellorsville to bury the
dead and care for the wounded."[16] This request was declined by
General Lee on the ground that "the necessities of war forbid

compliance with it."[17] This reply made it clear that the victorious
Confederate general and army were on the spot and determined
to fulfil "the necessities of war," and General Hooker
delayed not a moment in putting his force beyond reach of an
attack.

Great as was the Confederate success in the three days' fighting
at Chancellorsville, and afterwards at Salem Church, it would apparently
have been complete but for the order by which Early
and so much of the artillery were made to leave Sedgwick's
front. Had the heights at Fredericksburg been crowned with
powerful guns the Federal assault might have been entirely
repulsed, and General Lee left free to drive Hooker out from
his second position on the afternoon of Sunday, May 3. As it
was, the Army of the Potomac was greatly demoralized and
terribly punished. Its losses reached seventeen thousand one
hundred and eighty-seven; five thousand of these were prisoners,
and four thousand nine hundred and twenty-five from Sedgwick's
corps. There were also captured thirteen pieces of artillery,
nineteen thousand five hundred stands of arms, seventeen colors,
and much ammunition.

The victory was dearly bought on the Southern side by the
loss of ten thousand two hundred and eighty-one men and eight
pieces of artillery. The gallant Paxton, brigadier-general of the
"Stonewall Brigade," Jackson's original command, was killed,
and other general officers severely wounded. But beyond all
other losses was that of Jackson himself.[18] The wound received
by him on the night of May 2 required the amputation of his

left arm. Fever and pneumonia set in, and on Sunday, May 10,
one week after the victory won by his masterly flank movement
upon Hooker, he breathed his last. On hearing of his wound
General Lee had said, "Any victory is a dear one that deprives
us of the services of Jackson for even a short time." His loss to
the Confederate cause was felt more and more as time went on.
Other commanders were as brave, as patriotic, as devoted as he,
but no one was found who united his rare qualities,—his keen
insight into the military situation, his immediate detection of the
enemy's weak point, daring boldness of plan, swiftness of march,
and vehement rapidity of vigorous attack; no one, like him, inspired
his own men with absolute confidence in their leader and
themselves, and struck dismay and apprehension into the enemy
wherever he appeared.

The part borne by the artillery in the Confederate successes at
Chancellorsville and against Sedgwick was most important. As
at Fredericksburg in December it had done such gallant service
in repelling Burnside's attack, so in this campaign did it
aid materially in assaulting Hooker and driving his hosts from
one stronghold to another. General Lee said of it in his
report,—

"To the skilful and efficient management of the artillery the
successful issue of the contest is in great measure due. The
ground was not favorable for its employment, but every suitable
position was taken with alacrity, and the operations of the infantry
supported and assisted with a spirit and courage not second
to their own. It bore a prominent part in the final assault which
ended in driving the enemy from the field at Chancellorsville,
silencing his batteries, and by a destructive enfilade fire upon his
works opened the way for the advance of our troops.

"Colonels Crutchfield, Alexander, and Walker, and Lieutenant-Colonels
Brown, Carter, and Andrews, with the officers and men
of their commands, are mentioned as deserving special commendation.
The batteries under General Pendleton also acted with
great gallantry."

The Union reports also speak of the "accurate," "heavy,"
"tremendous," "galling" fire of the guns at Chancellorsville; of

their "great accuracy and terrible execution;"[19] and of "very
heavy losses from the enemy's artillery;"[20] and the same strong
expressions are used of the artillery fire at Fredericksburg and
Salem Church.

Note.—The defeat and demoralization of the Federal army at Chancellorsville, following
so close upon Hooker's promise of "certain destruction" to his adversary, bewildered
and alarmed the authorities at Washington. At 4.35 P.M. on Sunday, May 3,
President Lincoln telegraphed to Major-General Butterfield, chief of staff,—

To which pregnant inquiries General Butterfield replied,—

"General Hooker is at Chancellorsville. General Sedgwick, with fifteen thousand
to twenty thousand men, is at a point three or four miles out of Fredericksburg, on the
road to Chancellorsville. Lee is between.". . .