Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 34.djvu/30

 22 Southern Historical Society Papers.

road. This is the only column that we can find in this direc- tion. What has become of the other two? "Meade appears to be falling back.

"I am very respectfully, yours, etc.,

"R. E. LEE, General."

It must have been soon after sending this that he received General Jackson's message saying the enemy had made a stand- at Chancellorsville, and moved forward on the Plank Road to the meeting with General Jackson, which, fqr reasons already stated, could not have occurred later than 6:30 or 7:00 P. M., after which time they were in close proximity until the next morning; yet we are told by Hotchkiss that no plan of attack was decided on, and no orders for the movement of troops were given until several hours after daylight Saturday morning.

Hotchkiss makes it appear that owing to imperfections in the maps prepared by the Confederate engineers before the Bat- tle of Chancellorsville, General Jackson did not know how to reach Hooker's rear until the morning of May 2nd, when he (Hotchkiss) obtained information of a hitherto unknown road, which met all the requirements of a detour around Hooker's right, and laid it down on the map for General Jackson's informa- tion and guidance. Jackson's chief engineer, Captain Boswell, was still alive on the morning of May 2nd, and it was to him that General Jackson would naturally look for such information, and not to Hotchkiss, who was one of Captain Boswell's subordi- nates. Furthermore, from the account given by Dr. Dabney, it appears that it was from the Rev. B. T. Lacy that General Jackson sought information Saturday morning, of some shorter route than that by the Furnace and Brock roads, which had been indicated by General Lee the night before.

In order to show what information Generals Lee and Jack- son had before them, and what was proposed when they were in conference Friday night, I submit herewith an enlarged copy of part of Campbell's map of Spotsylvania county, upon which I have noted the Federal position as it was at that time, the Confederate lines in front of Chancellorsville, the movement of Jackson's Corps, and its position for attack at 6 P. M., on Saturday, May