CHAPTER XI.

EXASPERATION IN THE NORTH.-GENERAL HOOKER CROSSES THE RAPPAHANNOCK.-BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE, MAY, 1863.-VICTORY OF THE CONFEDERATES.-DEATH OF JACKSON.

BURNSIDE'S defeat, and his unfortunate efforts to cross the Rappahannock, exasperated the people of the North to the last degree, but only rendered them more than ever determined to push on the war with vigour till final triumph was assured. In order to make a diversion, and excite troubles in the interior of the Confederacy, which, for their suppression would necessitate the employment of troops detached from the army, President Lincoln, on January 1st, 1863, published a proclamation in which he declared all the slaves of the South free. But it did not produce the effect expected; the blacks did not stir.

confidence of the army of the His first care was, by severe

As General Hooker had severely criticised his two predecessors, MacClellan and Burnside, the country expected him to prove his superiority over them, and justify the choice the President had just made. So the new Federal commander put himself to work and tried at first to restore the Potomac, so much disturbed. measures, to stop the desertions which for some time had been very frequent. He reorganized his army, and particularly applied himself to combine the cavalry, which hitherto had been dispersed among the different divisions of the army, into a single corps; this would permit it to act with greater unity and vigour. From this ti

he Federal cavalry, being better mounted and better

equipped, rendered the greatest services, while the Southern cavalry, exhausted by fatigues, and having no further facilities for remounting, owing to the impoverishment of the country, no longer contended with advantage against its enemy, possessing, as the latter did, all that was wanting to the Confederates. The Northern Government refused Hooker nothing; it was but for him to ask and have; thus, at the approach of spring, he was at the head of an army of 120,000 men (infantry and artillery), with a corps of 12,000 cavalry, perfectly equipped, and 400 guns. This fine army, divided into seven corps, inspired such confidence in its commander, that he looked upon the destruction of Lee's army as certain.

On the 16th of March, General Averill for the Federals reconnoitred in force; with six regiments of cavalry and a battery of artillery he started in the direction of Gordonsville. A telegram from Lee warned Stuart to watch the fords of the upper Rappahannock. In spite of this, however, on the morning of the 17th Averill surprised the Confederate sentries, crossed briskly, and continuing his road, was suddenly arrested by Fitz-Lee's cavalry brigade. A long and eager conflict lasted all the afternoon, nor did the Federals retire till they had themselves sustained, and inflicted on the Confederates, heavy loss. A period of repose followed this alarm. It was not till the middle of April that the roads appeared dry and hard enough for military operations.

The Southern army, not having at its disposal the millions of the North, and the inexhaustible resources of America and Europe, was far from presenting a flourishing aspect. Lee had been compelled, at the urgent direction of the Richmond Government, to detach from his army 24,000 men under Longstreet, and send them to the south of the James River, which reduced the forces at his disposal on the Rappahannock to 47,000 men. Hooker, perfectly aware of the great numerical inferiority of his adversary (he himself had just three times as many soldiers as Lee), wished to attack before the reinforcements, urgently asked for by Lee,

could arrive. During the month of April, the Federal cavalry often sought to penetrate through the Confederate lines, and get information about the forces of the enemy, and the positions they occupied, but at each ford Stuart's cavalry was found ready to receive it.

Tired of this, Hooker conceived the plan of crossing the Rappahannock at Kelly's Ford, twenty-seven miles above Fredericksburg, and marching thence on Chancellorsville, which he hoped to occupy before Lee could concentrate his forces. Thanks to this turning movement, he counted on taking Lee on the flank, and forcing him either to accept battle or retire on Richmond. In order to mask this operation, General Sedgwick was, at the head of 22,000 men, to cross the river below the town, and so deceive the Confederates, making them believe that Hooker intended to attack the heights of Fredericksburg. 10,000 cavalry were to precede the Federal army, and cut off all the railways which connected the Southern camp with Richmond. the 27th of April, the Union army began to march. On the night of the 28th, the river was crossed at Kelly's Ford, and the Confederate sentries dispersed. On the evening of the 29th, the Northern army crossed the Rapidan likewise.

On

General Sedgwick, on his part, crossed the Rappahannock on the 29th at daybreak, on three bridges, three miles below Fredericksburg. During the 29th and 30th, he made several demonstrations, as if he had the intention of assaulting the Confederate position.

Hooker's plan was skilfully conceived and skilfully executed. Still there was room for criticism. The Northern chief divided his army in two, and sent all his cavalry to a distance, in the face of an adversary who was the man to profit by this blunder. The result proved it.

Convinced that his

For Lee was not taken in by the ruse. right, thanks to its position, was sheltered from every attempt, he expected an attack on his left. He had, therefore, placed for observation nearly 8000 of the troops under General Anderson,

without reckoning Stuart's cavalry, all along the river, enjoining on them the strictest vigilance. On the 29th, he learnt the crossing of the Rappahannock by the Federal army. On the 30th, Hooker was at Chancellorsville. General Anderson had at first retired before the enemy's superior forces to Chancellorsville, and then to Tabernacle Church, where he found Wright's brigade, which Lee had sent to him. Before coming to a final resolution, the Confederate commander wished to assure himself that Sedgwick's movement was not serious, and leave Hooker's plan time to develop itself.

On the evening of the 30th, he learnt that Sedgwick was positively sending a part of his forces to Hooker, and, therefore, that the chief effort of the enemy would be directed against his left. General Jackson consequently received an order to join Anderson immediately. Early's division alone remained to keep Sedgwick in check, should the latter decide on taking the offensive. Starting at midnight, Jackson, the next day, the 1st of May, arrived, at nine o'clock, at Tabernacle Church, a mere isolated church in the heart of the district.

Hooker perceived everything succeeding according to his wish, and already exclaimed to those about him: "The army of the insurgents is ours; its destruction is certain !" Hitherto he had manœuvred well, and his numerical crushing superiority justified his hopes.

Chancellorsville, five miles beyond and to the west of Tabernacle Church, and ten miles to the south-west of Fredericksburg, is a large square house, built of brick, with various outbuildings. It is an inn, situated in a four-cross way. The country, somewhat flat, is everywhere covered by thick brushwood, dwarf pines, and stunted oaks. In many places the ground sinks, it is marshy. The road from the north, which comes from Ely's Ford and United States Ford, the two fords by which the Federal army had crossed, and which are but a few miles apart, leads to Chancellorsville through this dismal and uninhabited district, known under

the name of the Wilderness. The Orange Court House road comes from the west, and here joins the road, which, towards the east, communicates with Fredericksburg. All this country, the roads, the dwellings sparsely scattered, the silence, the interminable brushwood, produce, in this horrible desert, a dreary effect. Everything is wild, sombre, desolate. For miles and miles there is

nothing but an uninterrupted course of woods, of stunted oaks; here and there a road, where one meets nobody.

It was madness to fight a battle there. The hostile armies were not visible to each other. As to cannon, it could not be manoeuvred, the cavalry could not deploy, even foot-soldiers could hardly thread their way through the woods. That an army of 120,000 men should have chosen such a place to fight another of 40,000 in, still appears the height of absurdity.

It is, however, to be said in the Federal general's favour, that the idea of allowing himself to be shut up in this horribly impracticable country, where all hope of manœuvring so great an army was forbidden him, did not proceed from him. It was Lee who made choice of the Wilderness about Chancellorsville as the field of battle. Hooker, indeed, tried not to be thus enclosed by woods. Driving before him the feeble Confederate columns which had opposed his passage, and pursuing them in the direction of Fredericksburg, he emerged into the plain, and hastened to form up his troops in order of battle on a spot very favourable to the development of a numerous army. His left the wing nearest the river-commanded all the fords, even that of Banks, and was five miles in front of Chancellorsville, thus shortening, by one half, the road which Sedgwick would have to travel in order to rejoin him at Fredericksburg. His centre and right

likewise were out of the woods in the open country.

Thus passed the 1st of May, 1863. Hooker had in front of him only Anderson's 8000 men. Nothing, therefore, hindered him from massing his entire army in the advantageous positions formed by an elevation of ground, sufficiently high, at the point