Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 20.djvu/256

 250 Southern Historical Society Papers.

tion of great danger. Hooker presses his grand army down to Chancellorsville, with his right commanded by Howard. Lee con- fronts him at Chancellorsville, and in the meantime Stonewall Jack- son works himself around and strikes, like a thunderbolt, Howard's right wing and doubles it back. Hooker's center is held at bay by Lee, but in the meantime Sedgwick crosses his 30,000 troops over the Rappahannock, and attacks the fortifications in rear of Frede- ricksburg and captures them, and then advances on Lee. Lee, hav- ing checked and to some extent routed Hooker's right and center, withdraws a portion of his troops and assails Sedgwick. After a bloody fight, Sedgwick is driven back across the Rappahannock. Hooker is disabled by a shock of cannon ball, and he turns his army over to General Couch and retires across the river. He had " Lee just where he wanted him," but circumstances made it necessary for him to find safety on the northern bank of the Rappahannock. Soon his whole army crossed to the northern bank, and thus ended Hooker's "On to Richmond."

The losses in this great battle were as follows: Federals Killed, 1,606; wounded, 9,762; captured, 5,919; total, 17,287. Confede- rates Killed, 1,649; wounded, 9,106; captured, 1,708; total, 12,463. (See "Battles and Leaders," Vol. III. p. 233.) Summarized, it is as follows : Federals, 130,000; Confederates, 60,000. Federal loss, 17,287; Confederate loss, 12,463. Excess of Federal army, 70,000; excess of Federal loss, 4,884.

This campaign on the rear of Lee was a brilliant conception on the part of Hooker. Hooker had in this campaign 10,000 more sol- diers than Wellington had on the field of Waterloo, and 48,000 more than marshalled under the banner of Napoleon. Wellington, with his 120,000, crushed Napoleon with his 72,000. Hooker, with his 130,000 fled, leaving Lee, with his 60,000, master of the field. The battle-cloud lifts itself from Chancellorsville and the Wilderness, but not for long, as the coming May will rebaptize these fields with the blood of slaughtered thousands.

Two months from the day when Hooker's splendid army was driven by Lee across the Rappahannock, these same armies con- fronted each other on the heights of Gettysburg. Hooker's official head has gone to sleep in the waste-basket of decapitated generals, with those of Pope, McClellan and Burnside, and General Meade, a brave and cautious soldier, commands all the forces for the defense of the capital at Washington. Lee's army is there, but the wizard of