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

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[91] retire; but it is at a fearful cost, for the officers sacrifice themselves in the hope of influencing the soldiers by their example. The Chancellor dwelling is abandoned. Hancock alone has maintained his position on the left, but he too is obliged to retire, or risk being surrounded. With the assistance of Colonel Miles he effects with much coolness and success the retrograde movement which has become necessary. The Confederates, who are pressing the Federal line too closely, are severely punished, for the latter troops have recovered their energy as soon as the edge of the wood has been reached, while Sickles even captures a number of prisoners. At last this line comes to a halt in the new intrenchments. Each section falls at once into position, and places itself in a state of defence without being seriously molested by the enemy, who is taking a breathing-spell. The latter, however, keeps up a steady skirmish-fire, which adds a serious loss to those already sustained by the Third Federal corps; after the fall of Berry, Whipple, another of its division commanders, is mortally wounded.¹

During this time Lee is in the vicinity of the Chancellor dwelling; his soldiers are in possession of the whole plateau. It is ten o'clock in the morning. It is upon this ground, conquered at the cost of so much blood, that the ranks so terribly thinned by death are at last being formed again, that the officers of the two corps are once more brought in contact, and that Lee can congratulate, not Jackson, who lies stretched upon his bed of suffering at Wilderness Tavern, but his brave soldiers, on the victory achieved by their daring manoeuvre. Out of seventeen general officers, the Second corps has lost six of them. The battle of the 3d of May has been much more disastrous than that of the previous day. The heights of Fairview have been captured by the determination of the troops, whom no want of success has been able to discourage. We cannot avoid pointing out, however, what we consider as an error in the mode of conducting the attacks during these two days. By making a single division display its whole front, and forming the others behind it in successive lines, Jackson, then Stuart, as we have seen, created great confusion in their order of battle at the first serious encounter. The brigades and regiments of the various lines soon became mixed, and each section of the front found itself under the lead