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

---

[44] at the west. It was four o'clock when he was recalled from this position, which had been so uselessly assigned to him. Hooker was beginning to experience the difficulties which the density of the woods threw in the way of the movements of an army like that under his command: it would seem that this fact ought to have afforded him an additional reason for wishing to get out of the forest quickly.

Sykes' column thus found itself in advance of those on the right and on the left; and as Mahone, on the Confederate side, who was following in the centre the same route as himself, but in a contrary direction, had also placed himself in advance, it was between these two bodies of troops that the first encounter was to take place. The Federal mounted men fell back before Mahone, holding him in check as well as they could, but without being able seriously to impede his march. The road along which the combat was about to take place is bordered at the north by woods which cover the slopes of small ravines whose waters meet to form Mott's Run. These ravines, which the road crosses generally at a right angle, afford excellent defensive positions, but they can all be turned from the south side, where the country is considerably open. The principal hill between these ravines is that on which stands the Newton house, the first to be met after crossing the marshy stream called Big-Meadow Swamp, on the west side of which is the edge of the forest. Higher than all the surrounding hills, it commands both the clearings which border the road to Fredericksburg at the east and the plateau of Chancellorsville at the west; it extends northward as far as the hills crowned by the River Road, from which it is only separated by a small ravine, and southward to the ridge that the Plank Road follows, and which it strikes again at the Aldrich house, between the points where the road to Catharine Furnace and the road to Todd's Tavern connect with the Plank Road. Just as Mahone's soldiers were reaching the summit of this hill, Sykes' troops were ascending it from the opposite side. The latter belonged to the regular brigade that we have seen fighting so valiantly at Gaines' Mill the preceding year. Without allowing their adversaries time to take possession of it, they rush upon them and capture the position before they have been able to receive any reinforcement.