revive my recollections of those events, and have been satisfied with the knowledge I possessed of what transpired. I have, however, learned from others that the various authors of the life of Jackson award to him the credit of the success gained by the Army of Northern Virginia where he was present, and describe the movements of his corps or command as independent of the general plan of operations, and undertaken at his own suggestion and upon his own responsibility. I have the greatest reluctance to do any thing that might be considered as detracting from his well-deserved fame, for I believe that no one was more convinced of his worth, or appreciated him more highly, than myself; yet your knowledge of military affairs, if you have none of the events themselves, will teach you that this could not have been so. Every movement of an army must be well considered and properly ordered, and every one who knows General Jackson must know that he was too good a soldier to violate this fundamental military principle. In the operations around Chancellorsville, I overtook General Jackson, who had been placed in command of the advance as the skirmishers of the approaching armies met, advanced with the troops to the Federal line of defences, and was on the field until their whole army recrossed the Rappahannock. There is no question as to who was responsible for the operations of the Confederates, or to whom any failure would have been charged.
What I have said is for your own information. With my best wishes for the success of the Southern Review and for your own welfare, in both of which I take a lively interest,
I am, with great respect, your friend and servant,
In a little pine thicket close by the scene of this conference, General Lee and staff bivouacked that night. During the evening reports reached him from Early that all was quiet along the Rappahannock. Wilcox was ordered back to Banks' ford, in consequence of other rumors. Lee's orders had been issued, his plans digested—his trusty Lieutenants were to carry them out; the Chieftain slept. Hooker at Chancellorsville, one and a half miles away, was, however, awake, for at 1.55, on the morning of the 2d of May, he dispatched to Butterfield, to order the pontoon bridges taken up below Fredericksburg and Reynolds' corps to march at once to his headquarters.
The morning of May the 2d, 1863, broke clear. General Lee emerged from the little thicket and stood on its edge at sunrise, erect and soldierly, to see Jackson's troops file by. They had bivouacked on his right, and were now commencing the flank movement. About half an hour after sunrise Jackson himself came riding along. When opposite to General Lee he drew rein and the two
