Colonel Dodge has given us a most excellent book.
Amidst the mass of rubbish yearly printed about the war, it is refreshing to find an author more anxious to get at the truth than to glorify comrades, or vilify his foes; an author with the honesty, intelligence and patience to pick out the facts from the confused and often conflicting testimony, and the ability to state them clearly and fairly.
Colonel Dodge is entitled to the thanks of all fair-minded men belonging to both sides in the late war, for an intelligent and comprehensive discussion of the
Chancellorsville campaign, in which the merits and failures of the respective combatants are stated with impartiality, the plans of the opposing leaders criticized in a fair spirit, and the skill and gallantry of Confederate and Federal alike recognized.
This book is a valuable contribution to history, and is one of the best, if not the very best result so far, of the labors of the
Massachusetts Military Historical Society.
It is because of the high merit of the book, and because of our own conviction that it is destined to hold a permanent place, that we are the more anxious to point out what we consider imperfections in it.
Some criticism might be made upon certain negligences of style which more become the soldier than the scholar, but so clear and straight-forward is the narrative, so interesting from its very simplicity, that minor defects are lost in the general excellence.
One is struck throughout by the severity of
Colonel Dodge's criticism of
General Hooker.
Indeed, the whole book is an arraignment of that
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officer's mode of conducting operations, and at times too much space is given to discussing the exact measure of responsibility which attached to him for various failures.
This, too, has diverted the author's attention from shortcomings of others that might fairly have come in for a larger share of blame than is assigned to them; not that we think
Colonel Dodge is unjust to
General Hooker; he is simply not generous.
Nor, it must be confessed, has
General Hooker, in this matter, any claim to generous treatment.
General Hooker proved his ability and courage on many fields, and left behind him a reputation that may well be dear to his friends.
But the
Chancellorsville campaign, in which, having assumed the offensive at his own time and place, he allowed himself to be thrown upon the defensive, and then beaten by an army less than half as numerous as his own, was a demonstration of incapacity for the chief command of a large army, which needed no additional illustrations to make it satisfactory.
His taste, too, was as faulty as his judgment.
For his proclamations were as bombastic as his performance was impotent.
General Hooker makes an altogether higher and more reputable figure in history than
General John Pope, but his orders and despatches during the
Chancellorsville campaign often recall the rare series with which
Pope illustrated his too brief career in
Virginia the preceding summer.
This, however, was a small matter, compared with selfish and ungenerous efforts that
Hooker always made to throw the blame of his failure on any shoulders other than his own, and which have properly provoked severe treatment from many of his comrades.
But if
Colonel Dodge has criticised
General Hooker not more severely than he deserved, he has been very kind, to say the least, towards
General Sedgwick, and far too lenient, in view of the facts, to
General Howard.
The manner in which
Sedgwick's slowness is explained, and the hesitation with which he is blamed for his feeble handling of the strongest corps in the
Federal army is hardly fair.
Much less so is the failure to criticise
Howard for his mismanagement of the
Federal right flank, a mismanagement which placed his own corps, at the very onset of the struggle,
hors du combat, which initiated a panic whose disastrous effects were probably only checked by the fall of
Jackson, and which led, more than any other one thing, to
Hooker's subsequent defeat.
General Hooker's outlook, at the beginning of the
Chancellorsville campaign, was highly favorable.
He had over 130,000 well-drilled and well-equipped soldiers, the mass of them trained to war in the great struggle of 1862.
He lay on the north side of the
Rappahannock, opposite
Fredericksburg, within a dozen miles by railroad of the
Potomac and his depots of supply.
In his front, on the south side of the
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river, was
General Lee, with less than 55,000 men (see official reports in
Taylor's
Four years with General Lee, and
General Fitzhugh Lee's address before the Association of the Army of Northern Virginia, on
Chancellorsville); his only avenue of supply the Richmond and Fredericksburg railroad, sixty miles in length, already in so worn-out a condition that it was impossible to accumulate more than a few days' supplies ahead.
Limited means of transportation from the
South, and the exhaustion of supplies near at hand had reduced his army to short rations, and the want of food sufficient in quantity and variety was already telling on the health of the
Confederate troops.
The supply of arms and ammunition in the
Confederacy had never been adequate, and it was found in the fall of 1862 that the consumption greatly exceeded the capacity of the
Confederate arsenals to supply.
Hence much anxiety was felt in regard to the approaching campaign, and the most stringent measures had to be taken to stop waste and needless consumption.
Want of forage compelled
General Lee to send most of his cavalry to the rear to recruit, so that he had but 2,700 cavalry present to protect his flanks and guard his communications, against the 10,000 or 12,000 Federal cavalry which
Gen. Hooker had ready to use.
The
Rappahannock formed but a slight barrier to the advance of the
Federal army.
Commanding the river with his artillery,
Burnside had, with no great difficulty, forced a crossing the preceding December in the face of the Confederate army.
He had then attempted to carry
Lee's lines in his front by main force, and had met with disastrous repulse.
But it was easy to turn the
Confederate position by crossing above or below it, thus forcing
Lee to a battle outside of his lines, or to a retreat, to cover his communications.
Hooker decided to turn the
Confederate left flank by crossing the
Rapidan and
Rappahannock above their junction.
He first sent forward his splendid body of cavalry about the middle of April, intending that they should cross in advance of the infantry, and, sweeping round to the
Confederate rear, do all the damage possible to
Lee's depots, and the railroads on which he depended for supplies.
Stoneman, with the cavalry, reached the
Upper Rappahannock, met with a rain-storm, and some opposition from the
Confederates, and then went deliberately into camp near the
Rappahannock, and along the Orange and Alexandria railroad.
The river was past fording for some time, and
Stoneman was allowed to waste two weeks in looking at it, when a day's march would have placed him high enough up the stream to have crossed without difficulty, where only scouts and pickets could have opposed him. At length, on April 27th,
Hooker (after having for some days made demonstrations down
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the
Rappahannock, opposite
Lee's right, in order to deceive his enemy,) began his movements in earnest.
Three corps--Eleventh, Twelfth and Fifth--were moved up the river to
Kelly's Ford.
Here they crossed on the 29th, and proceeded towards Germanna and Ely's fords, on the
Rapidan.
Stoneman, with the mass of his cavalry, set out on the same day from
Kelly's, on his way to the
Confederate rear.
By 2 P. M., on Thursday, April 30th, the three infantry corps had reached
Chancellorsville, where they were joined the same evening by two-thirds of the Second corps, which had crossed at
United States ford.
The Third corps was next ordered up from
Fredericksburg, and reached
Chancellorsville before midday on Friday, May 1st.
Thus
Hooker was rapidly concentrating over seventy thousand men at
Chancellorsville, on
Lee's flank.
Meantime, the First and Sixth corps, and
Gibbons's division of the Second, had been left at
Fredericksburg under
Sedgwick, to make demonstrations and distract the enemy.
Pontoons had been laid down at
Burnside's old crossing places, and troops thrown over the river on the 29th, and the First and Sixth corps, comprising over forty thousand men, there threatened the
Confederate lines in front.
Lee's situation was one of great difficulty and danger.
With but little over fifty thousand men, he had in front over forty thousand under
Sedgwick, while
Hooker was gathering seventy thousand on his flank, and
Stoneman with ten thousand cavalry was in his rear.
To oppose this last force, he had only eight or nine hundred troopers that could be spared.
By the night of Thursday 30th, the inaction of
Sedgwick, and the rapid advance of large bodies to
Chancellorsville, of whose movements
Stuart had kept him informed, convinced
General Lee that the main attack was to proceed from that quarter.
Leaving eight thousand or nine thousand men under
Early to hold the lines in front of
Fredericksburg, and keep
Sedgwick in check, he decided to move out at once with the remainder of his army and give
Hooker battle.
Anderson's division was already on
Hooker's front.
McLaws was ordered to move to
Anderson's support, followed by
Jackson.
The troops were moving during the night of Thursday, and by 8 A. M.
Friday Jackson had reached the
Confederate front near Chancellors-ville, and assumed command until
General Lee, at a later hour, reached the field.
As soon as the
Confederates met the advancing Federals they were formed in line and ordered forward.
The Federal skirmishers were driven in, and the heads of the
Federal columns attacked with vigor, and after a short and not severe fight,
General Hooker ordered a retreat to
Chancellorsville.
This was a great blunder, and it seems to have been entirely
Hooker's. He had reached
Chancellorsville on
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Thursday.
He did not move out towards
Fredericksburg until 11 A. M., Friday, thus wasting nearly a day. He had not proceeded over two miles when he met the advancing Confederates, who had marched ten miles to meet him since the night before.
Lee's attack was vigorous, but
Hooker knew well his adversary's inferiority in numbers, and without any fair trial of strength, he deliberately abandoned his aggressive movement, and with 70,000 men, fell back before less than 45,000.
Much is said by
General Hooker, and other Federal officers, of the unfavorable ground, covered as it was for the most part with dense woods, and of the difficulty of bringing troops into action in such a wilderness.
The difficulty was, no doubt, great, but it was no greater for Federals than for Confederates; and yet,
Lee and
Jackson, in the next two days, attacked and defeated forces vastly superior to their own, in this very wilderness.
General Lee followed close upon the
Federal retreat, and during the afternoon felt
Hooker's lines in his front, to see if they presented any favorable point of attack.
He found the
Federal centre and left flank too strongly posted to invite assault, and on Friday night directed
Jackson to move the next day around the
Federal army, and attack its right flank and rear.
Jackson began this manoeuvre in the early morning, taking some 26,000 infantry, while
General Lee retained
Anderson's and
McLaw's divisions, amounting to 16,000 or 17,000 men, opposite
Hooker's center and left wing.
All day was consumed by
Jackson in moving around the front of the
Federal army, and in getting into position beyond and to the rear of its right flank.
The distance was twelve or fifteen miles, and the route a narrow defile through a dense wilderness.
Though conducted with all possible rapidity, secrecy and skill, this movement was discovered early in the day by
Sickles, whose corps (Third) was next to
Howards (Eleventh), the latter constituting the extreme Federal right flank.
Soon after 8 A. M.,
Sickles was aware of the movement of a strong column across his front.
At half-past 9
Hooker ordered
Slocum and
Howard to look well to the right flank, as the enemy was moving in that direction.
Sickles was authorized to push two divisions of his corps to the front, and cut the
Confederate column.
He did so, captured part of a regiment, and knew with certainty, at 2 P. M., that
Jackson, with a large force, was moving towards the right flank of the
Federal army.
He proposed to attack the rear of this force, and was supported by one of
Slocum's divisions and a brigade from
Howard, who was himself present.
Sickles's movements were feeble in the extreme, for
Jackson's rear, composed of a few batteries and two small brigades (subsequently replaced by two brigades
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from
Anderson's division) was sufficient to keep this large force in check; and the only result of the whole day's manoeuvring, to the
Federals was, that
Sickles was out of supporting distance of
Howard when the Eleventh corps was attacked at 6 P. M.
Howard,
Sickles,
Hooker himself, became possessed with the notion that
Lee was retreating, and irrational as this supposition was, seem to have acted upon no other during the afternoon.
Thus
Hooker despatches
Sedgwick at 4 P. M.: “We know the enemy is flying, trying to save his trains; two of
Sickles's divisions are among them.”
Two hours later
Jackson attacks the
Federal right, under
Howard, with his usual impetuosity.
Though
Jackson's movement had, for ten hours, been known to the
Federal commander; though constant skirmishing had indicated the general direction of his march; though
Hooker had warned
Howard early in the day to be on his guard from a possible flank attack; though pickets and scouts had informed
Howard in the middle of the afternoon that the
Confederates were in force on the Orange Plank-road, entirely on his flank, yet, at 6 P. M., in broad daylight,
Howard is completely surprised, his lines taken in flank and rear, while his men are for the most part at supper, with arms stacked.
The first division met with (
Devon's) is quickly routed.
Colonel Dodge says he “lost 1,600 out of 4,000 men, and nearly all his superior officers, in a brief ten minutes.”
Schutz's division is next overwhelmed, and adds to the fearful panic.
Bushbeck's brigade, of
Steinwher's division, attempts to stay the rout, but is soon carried away.
In an hour
Howard's 10,000 men have been scattered in disgraceful flight, and without the semblance of organization, are carrying dismay in every direction through the
Federal army.
Colonel Dodge seems to think that
Hooker was chiefly responsible for this disaster, and but mildly blames
Howard.
Surely history affords few instances of greater incapacity on the part of a corps commander.
Hooker has enough to bear without being held responsible for the surprise and dispersion of a body of 10,000 men, whose commander, though entrusted with the protection of the right flank of the army (in a wilderness where attack was so difficult and defense so easy that
Hooker was unwilling the day before to move to the attack against half his numbers), though warned of the danger, though aware of the movement of the enemy, allows himself, in broad day, to be so completely surprised as to be beaten before he can form a line of battle.
Sickles is quickly recalled from his fancied attack on
Jackson's rear, to protect his own, and
Pleasanton makes a brilliant dash of cavalry, and quickly concentrates a mass of artillery on the
Confederates.
Berry's division is fortunately near
Chancellorsville, and is rapidly sent
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forward to check, if possible, the advancing wave.
These dispositions have some effect.
More is perhaps due to the impenetrable forest, which renders it impossible for the
Confederates to advance any distance in order.
Night adds to their difficulties.
While they halt to allow the rear line to take the advance, about 8 or 9 P. M.,
Jackson receives his death wound, and this great misfortune finally, and more than all else, puts a stop to further advance in the darkness.
At dawn the battle is renewed.
Stuart, now commanding
Jackson's corps, leads it with reckless valor against the
Federal lines, which have been strengthened during the night.
General Lee throws Anderson and McLaws against the
Federal left and centre.
Sickles bears the brunt of
Stuart's attack, and most gallantly holds the ground for a a time, but is finally driven from his position, as is
Slocum, who joins him on the left.
Hooker permits the centre of his army to be beaten, while the wings are practically unengaged.
Reynolds, with the First corps, had been brought up from
Fredericksburg on Saturday, thus making over 90,000 troops in all that had been concentrated at Chancel-lorsville.
But
Reynolds and
Meade, with the First and Fifth corps, are allowed to remain idle on
Sickles's right while he is being defeated; and on the left wing of the army, the Eleventh and part of the Second corps have no enemy in front.
Thus more than half of the force that
Hooker had at hand did little or nothing towards resisting
Lee's onset.
Meantime, with all these unemployed troops at hand,
Hooker was depending upon
Sedgwick to advance from
Fredericksburg and strike the
Confederate rear.
Sedgwick, who had with him over twenty thousand men, had been ordered to push
Early aside and make a forced march of ten or twelve miles, on the south side of the
Rappahannock, during Saturday night and Sunday morning, so as to reach the rear of
McLaws, who held the right of
Lee's lines.
Early, with less than half the force of
Sedgwick, a force, too, scattered over a line of several miles in length, succeeded in delaying the latter's march so much that the battle was already raging at
Chancellorsville before
Sedgwick was ready to move out from
Fredericksburg.
It was 11 A. M. before
Sedgwick was able, by repeated attacks and at heavy loss, to carry
Marye's heights, and thus open his way to go to
Hooker's assistance, and at this hour
Hooker had already been beaten and driven from
Chancellorsville to the position which he took up in rear of it.
Sedgwick, now opposed by
Wilcox with a single brigade, advanced very cautiously up the plank road towards
Chancellorsville.
At Salem Church, half way between
Fredericksburg and
Chancellorsville,
Wilcox held him in check until
McLaws arrived with four brigades, about the middle of
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the afternoon.
These troops had aided in defeating
Hooker in the morning, and now put a stop to all further progress on
Sedgwick's part, repulsing him with severe loss.
Hooker complains bitterly of
Sedgwick's slowness, and certainly his whole movement showed, at the least, want of boldness and enterprise.
But it is absurd for a commander who was keeping forty thousand men unemployed under his eye, in the crisis of a great battle, to complain of a subordinate who had ten or twelve miles to march, in the face of a determined and skilful, if inferior, foe.
Skill and courage had given the
Confederates great advantages on Sunday, but at nightfall
Gen. Lee's position was still one of great difficulty.
Ten thousand cavalry were making havoc in his rear, to oppose which he could only spare a small brigade of less than one thousand men. A handful of guards was the only protection he could afford to the large mass of transportation he had left at Guinea's Depot, eighteen miles in his rear.
His communications and supplies were necessarily exposed to the greatest danger.
In his front was an army seriously crippled by his blows, but twice as numerous as his own, the half of which had not been really engaged, while his right was threatened, in addition, by a splendid corps of over twenty thousand men, which had broken through his lines at
Fredericksburg, and advanced within a few miles of
Hooker.
Audacity had so far been successful.
Sedgwick's position invited another bold attack.
Lee decided to leave
Stuart with
Jackson's corps, now reduced to twenty thousand men, to watch and hold in check
Hooker's seventy-five or eighty thousand, while he concentrated the divisions of
Anderson,
McLaws and
Early, of twenty-two or twenty-three thousand, against
Sedgwick.
This plan was carried out on Monday.
Early came up behind
Sedgwick;
Anderson and
McLaws pressed him from the
Chancellorsville side.
Much time was occupied in getting the troops into position.
McLaws's movements were very slow.
But at 6 P. M.
Monday Early and
Anderson attacked
Sedgwick, and by nightfall the Sixth Federal corps had been forced back, with heavy loss, to Bank's Ford, under cover of the batteries on the north side of the
Rappahannock.
McLaws from his side followed up the retreating enemy, who was glad to escape over the river before morning.
Hooker remained in his trenches at
Chancellorsville all day, held inactive by
Stuart's twenty thousand men, while
Lee with half his army was overwhelming
Sedgwick but five or six miles off.
This great stroke rendered
Lee's further success reasonably certain.
Now that
Sedgwick was disposed of, he again ordered a concentration
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of his troops at
Chancellorsville, with the intention of throwing his whole available force upon
Hooker.
On
Tuesday Anderson's and
McLaws's divisions, which had been marching and fighting since Friday morning, returned to
Chancellorsville.
Before they reached it a violent rain-storm broke over the battle-field, and, impeded by the storm and the mud, it was late in the day before the wet and weary troops were all in position.
The attack had to be postponed to the morrow.
Meantime
Hooker, unwilling after the defeats of Saturday, Sunday and Monday, to risk the chances of battle further, did the wisest thing within his reach.
He retreated under cover of the night and the storm, across the
Rappahannock.
The raid of
Stoneman's cavalry was a failure.
It accomplished, if possible, less in proportion than the main army.
Colonel Dodge has been misled by many Confederate authorities into giving
Jackson the entire credit of the flank movement on Saturday.
This movement was suggested, as well as ordered, by
General Lee.
(See,
General Fitz. Lee's address before The Army of Northern Virginia, October, 1879.)
Colonel Dodge criticizes the rashness of the manoeurvre, but no
Captain ever won victories against great odds without exposing himself to criticism of this kind.
Jackson executed the movement, and too much praise cannot be given for the splendid manner of its execution.
No breath of rivalry or jealousy ever came between
Lee and
Jackson.
Said
Jackson of
Lee, “He is the only man I would follow blindfold.”
Said
Lee, on hearing of
Jackson's wound, “He has lost his left arm, but I have lost my right.”
These two
Virginians, worthy representatives of the two stocks that have built up that State,
Lee of the
English Cavaliers, Jackson of the
Scotch Irish, had for each other only feelings of the most generous confidence and affection.
Their lives, grand, noble, unselfish; their deaths, such as became soldiers and Christians; their graves within sight of each other in the very heart of the
Virginia of their love; their memories, a priceless legacy to future generations; the fame of neither requires enhancement at the expense of the other.
Colonel Dodge's sketch of
Jackson is appreciative, and in the main correct.
He is mistaken, however, in supposing
Jackson “a bad disciplinarian,” and “without even average powers of organization.”
He was strict in discipline, and a careful organizer.
His judgment of men was often bad, but no one, we believe, ever held subordinates to a stricter accountability, and no one ever obtained more and better work from those under him. To his mind, nothing ever fully excused failure, and it was but rarely that he gave an officer the opportunity of
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failing twice.
Jackson used to say, “The service cannot afford to keep in position a man who does not succeed.”
Nor was he ever restrained from change by the fear of making matters worse.
His motto was: “Get rid of the inefficient man at once, and trust
Providence for finding a better.”
Colonel Dodge well says: “Honesty, singleness of purpose, true courage, rare ability, suffice to account for
Jackson's military success.
But those alone who have served under his eye know to what depths that rarer, stranger power of his has sounded them.
They only can testify to the full measure of the strength of
Stonewall Jackson.”