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the Third and other corps hurried to the threatened point, and formed line with an alacrity and confidence not a whit diminished by the mass of fugitives who still continued to pour along the road, calling out for "the pontoons," or fairly howling with fright.* All observers of that field on that disastrous afternoon agree that the stampede did not in the slightest degree affect the self-possession and discipline of the troops on the Chancellor plain, who, indeed, were rather disposed to chaff their unfortunate brethren from Dowdall's Tavern, and, for themselves, showed no sign of alarm as Jackson's victorious divisions closed in from the west.

But, much to the surprise of all, the worst proved to be over. Jackson's men had become disordered by the very greatness of their success and by their rapid movements; they had suffered not a little from the stand made by some of the Eleventh Corps brigades; night was coming on to embarrass their further advance; at any moment they might, so far as they knew, receive a blow on their left flank; while in front of them a grim line of batteries, supported by infantry and cavalry, barred the way to

* Some of the fugitives were so completely beside themselves with fear that they ran past the Chancellor House, down the Fredericksburg pike, through Hancock's line, and into the hands of the Confederates, without being stopped. One ingenuous German approached Hancock and begged to be directed to the pontoons. The answer he received has been handed down by tradition; but it is best not to put it into cold and unsympathetic type.

Hooker's headquarters. After their first onset had been repelled by canister from a score of guns, they contented themselves with feeling our line here and there in the growing darkness, and at last came to a complete halt. An hour later the adventurous and daring captain who had organized this great stroke fell mortally wounded by the fire of his own men while riding back from a reconnoissance of Hooker's position. This great disaster would alone have put a stop to any attempt on the part of the Confederates to push further their advantage that night.

The morning of the 3d of May (Sunday) found the Union forces at Chancellorsville in no degree discouraged, except for the strange, uncanny feeling which the conduct of general headquarters had created. The rout of the Eleventh Corps, which to the Confederates had seemed a great victory, had, in fact, affected the real Army of the Potomac scarcely at all. Indeed, after the first shock there was more of a disposition to make a jest of it than to treat it as an important matter. The Eleventh Corps had never been regarded as belonging to the Army of the Potomac. It had come up only after the battle of Fredericksburg, and had then encamped far in the rear of the army, so that almost no intercourse had taken place between these troops and the older divisions. The venerable joke about "fighting mit Sigel" had gone the rounds so many times that it was difficult to take Sigel's men very seriously when

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they appeared. All this was doubtless unjust. The Eleventh Corps, as its subsequent history proved, contained regiments and brigades which for gallantry, discipline, and endurance could not be excelled. But soldiers are creatures of camp rumors and camp-fire stories. Of the remaining troops, of the Second, Third, Fifth, and Twelfth Corps, then at Chancellorsville, not a single brigade had up to this time had more than fighting enough to bring it to its "second wind." Moreover, the First Corps, under Reynolds, was now up and ready to join in the sport, having left Sedgwick, with the Sixth Corps and Gibbon's division, below. Here, then, were, at the lowest count, seventy thousand men, not including Howard's corps, all veteran troops, ready and even eager for the fray. Lee had, first and last, both of those confronting Sedgwick and of those. under his own eye at Chancellorsville, barely fiftyfive thousand. Small wonder that the Army of the Potomac was confident on the 3d of May!

But the army was to have that day a far, far harder trial than it dreamed of. The position at the Chancellor House was a thoroughly bad one. The high ground which Hooker had surrendered to the enemy, of his own fatal motion, or of which he had allowed himself to be dispossessed, completely commanded the plain on which his troops were drawn up. Over that plain shells from a hundred and eighty degrees of the circle were to fly screaming and exploding

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