Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 34.djvu/32

 24 Southern Historical Society Papers.

Si.vth. That the movement by which the enemy's position was turned and the fortunes of the day decided, was conducted by General Jackson.

The strategy at Chancellorsville was General Lee's, and nowhere does he even intimate that General Jackson was en- titled to the credit of originating' it : but he was most careful and particular in according to General Jackson credit, for the tactical skill displayed by him in the execution of the plan of attack.

General Lee never shirked responsibility, even when his orders were not properly carried out, and always accorded to his subordinates full measure of recognition for what they con- tributed to his success. Where criticism was due, it can be discovered in his reports, if at all, only by his failure to com- mend : but he could not by silence assume to himself credit that properly belonged to another.

General Lee says in his letter to Dr. Bleclsoe, that the movement of Jackson's Corps (as a part of the Army of North- ern Virginia), or his command (when detached), could not have been independent of the general plan of operations, for every movement of an army must be well considered and pro- perly ordered, and Jackson was too good a soldier to violate this fundamental military principle.

Even when General Jackson was operating in the Valley of Virginia, in 1862, the movements of his command were a 'part of the general plan of operations, under the direction and control of General Lee as commanding general, as may be easily seen from the official correspondence between Lee and Jackson at that time. Colonel Taylor calls attention to this correspondence, and gives one of General Lee's letters in April, 1862, of which he retained the original draft ; but it was not until Colonel Hen- derson published his book in 1897, that the inspiration of Jack- son's Valley campaign was made clear as a part of Lee's gen- eral plan of operations in the State of Virginia, based not only upon conditions as they existed in the Valley of Virginia, but on the general situation and movements of the enemy against Richmond via the Peninsula and Fredericksburg.