The Wounding of Stonewall Jackson—Extracts from a Letter of Major Benjamin Watkins Leigh.
[The following extracts from a private letter of Major Leigh, who was then serving on General A. P. Hill's staff, have never been in print, and will be appreciated as shedding additional light on the events of which they treat.]
Camp near Hamilton's Crossing,
Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia, 12th May, 1863.
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"On Friday the 1st, D. H. Hill's, Trimble's and A. P. Hill's divisions—that is to say, all of Jackson's corps, except Early's division—marched from the vicinity of Hamilton's crossing to a point on the Plank road, about eight miles westward of Fredericksburg. Early's division was left to watch a body of the enemy who had crossed the Rappahannock at a point opposite to Hamilton's crossing, whilst the rest of the corps marched towards Chancellorsville, where the enemy's main force had been concentrated. The greater part of Anderson's and McLaws' divisions had been driven from their positions near Chancellorsville by the advance of the enemy, and we were marching to the support of those divisions.
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"Saturday the 2d I found General A. P. Hill with his staff at a point about three-fourths of a mile from Chancellorsville. General Lee, General Anderson, General Pender, and a number of general officers were here. There was some skirmishing going on in our front and several minnie balls from the enemy's skirmishers passed near us.
"Jackson's corps had already commenced the flank movement.
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"D. H. Hill's division, under Brigadier-General Rodes, had gotten out of our way, and had been followed by Trimble's division, under Brigadier-General Colston. A. P. Hill's division came last. We left the Plank road at a point so near the enemy that his balls whistled over our heads, and marching from 9 o'clock in the morning till 3 in the evening—a distance of ten or twelve miles, through a dense wilderness—found ourselves at the other end of our detour, on the right flank of the enemy, and not more than three or four miles from the point at which we had left the Plank road. A part of our march was alongside of a road in plain view of the enemy and under fire from one of his batteries. Why he did not attack
