Chancellorsville and Gettysburg | Page 8

Howard to be Commander of the Eleventh Corps, he disliked to show a
want of confidence in him at the very beginning of his career, and
therefore yielded to his wishes and ordered the reinforcements to return
and report to Sickles again.
Chancellorsville being a great center of communication with the plank
road and turnpike heading east and west, and less important roads to
the south, and southeast, Hooker desired above all things to retain it;
for if it should once fall into the hands of the enemy, our army would
be unable to move in any direction except to the rear.
General Lee formed his line with Wickham's and Owens' regiments of
cavalry on his right, opposite Meade's corps, supported by Perry's

brigade of Anderson's division; Jackson's line stretched from the Plank
Road around toward the Furnace.
Before night set in, Wright and Stuart attacked an outlying part of
Slocum's corps and drove it in on the main body. They then brought up
some artillery and opened fire against Slocum's position on the crest of
the hill. Failing to make any impression they soon retired and all was
quiet once more.
The enemy soon posted batteries on the high ground a mile east of
Chancellorsville, and opened on Hancock's front with considerable
effect. They also enfiladed Geary's division of Slocum's corps, and
became very annoying, but Knap's battery of the Twelfth Corps replied
effectively and kept their fire down to a great extent.
As the Union army was hidden by a thick undergrowth, Lee spent the
rest of the day in making a series of feigned attacks to ascertain where
our troops were posted.
When night set in, the sound of the axe was heard in every direction,
for both armies thought it prudent to strengthen their front as much as
possible.
The prospect for Lee as darkness closed over the scene was far from
encouraging. He had examined the position of the Union army carefully,
and had satisfied himself that as regards its centre and left it was
unassailable. Let any man with a musket on his shoulder, encumbered
with a cartridge-box, haversack, canteen, etc., attempt to climb over a
body of felled timber to get at an enemy who is coolly shooting at him
from behind a log breastwork, and he will realize the difficulty of
forcing a way through such obstacles. Our artillery, too, swept every
avenue of approach, so that the line might be considered as almost
impregnable. Before giving up the attack, however, Stuart was directed
to cautiously reconnoitre on the right, where Howard was posted, and
see if there was not a vulnerable point there.
CHAPTER III.

THE DISASTROUS SECOND OF MAY.
At dawn of day General Lee and General Jackson were sitting by the
side of the plank road, on some empty cracker boxes, discussing the
situation, when Stuart came up and reported the result of his
reconnoissance. He said the right flank of Howard's corps was
defenceless and easily assailable. Jackson at once asked permission to
take his own corps--about 26,000 muskets--make a detour through the
woods to conceal his march from observation, and fall unexpectedly
upon the weak point referred to by Stuart. It was a startling proposition
and contrary to all the principles of strategy, for when Jackson was
gone Lee would be left with but a few men to withstand the shock of
Hooker's entire army, and might be driven back to Fredericksburg or
crushed. If the Eleventh Corps had prepared for Jackson's approach by
a line properly fortified, with redoubts on the flanks, the men protected
in front by felled timber and sheltered by breastworks, with the artillery
at the angles, crossing its fire in front, Jackson's corps would have been
powerless to advance, and could have been held as in a vise, while Lee,
one- half of his force being absent, would have found himself helpless
against the combined attack of our other corps, which could have
assailed him in front and on each flank.
There was, therefore, great risk in attempting such a manoeuvre, for
nothing short of utter blindness on the part of the Union commanders
could make it successful.
Still, something had to be done, for inaction would result in a retreat,
and in the present instance, if the worst came to the worst, Jackson
could fall back on Gordonsville, and Lee toward the Virginia Central
Railroad, where they could reunite their columns by rail, before Hooker
could march across the country and prevent the junction. Jackson
received the required permission, and started off at once by a secluded
road, keeping Fitz Hugh Lee's brigade of cavalry between his column
and the Union army to shield his march from observation.
At 2 A.M., Hooker sent orders for the First Corps, under Reynolds, to
which I