Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 3.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

A few musket-shots are soon heard along the road, and before Gilsa's brigade has had time to seize its arms the sentinels and pickets, followed closely by the Confederates, are seen rushing in. Jackson's battalions, without losing their order of battle, have traversed sixteen or eighteen hundred yards of a wood of such density that they emerge from it with their clothes torn to tatters; joining their skirmishers, they rush at once upon all the points of the line occupied by the brigade of Gilsa. The Federals defend themselves as well as they can, but individual prowess cannot check the impetus of O'Neal's and Doles' brigades, which surround them on all sides: the former, getting over the abatis, is already advancing in the midst of Gilsa's bivouacs for the purpose of attacking the works occupied by McLean's brigade on the farm in the rear; the latter has taken possession of two pieces of cannon which had been posted by Devens on the road, and, soon after, of the remainder of the battery. Before McLean has been able to form his troops into line the Federal fugitives and the Confederates arrive in their midst almost at the same time; the intrenchments are attacked in the rear; the commanders, isolated like their soldiers, can neither guide nor rally them. The Federals, however, do not yield their ground without fighting; musket-shots are fired in every direction, hitting the victims at short range; but the surprise has been too complete to admit of any remedy. In less than a quarter of an hour sixteen hundred men, out of four thousand of which Devens' division was composed, have either been captured or placed hors de combat; nearly all the superior officers are wounded. The remainder precipitate themselves in great confusion, with the wagons, the ambulances, and a large number of unharnessed horses, along the road in the direction of the church of the Wilderness. The position of Talley farm is in the hands of Doles and O'Neal, who alone have participated in the fight; for Iverson, on the left, has not encountered the Federals, while Colquitt, on the right, has remained in the rear in order to keep an imaginary enemy in check.

Without waiting a moment's time, the Confederates continue their march in the direction of Chancellorsville; the clearings