The Wichita daily eagle., 1891-10-10

wall was the central figure of that circle,
! and like the foemen of Bozzaris at MisSo-
! longhi, he
Woke to hear his sentries shrek.
To armsl They comel
Kissing his babe and bidding his wife to
| hasten from the scene that must soon be-
come battlefield, he rode TO the front to
! Join his troops. When next his wife saw
| him he was on his deathbed, and in the
/ meantime had become the hero of the most
/ renowned military feat of the war-the
/ flank attack on Hooker's army at Chan
| cellorsville.
1t was no ordinary crisis that called
Jackson from his repose, not even for war.
The Union army, led by Fighting Joe"
| Hooker, was crossing to the attack, some
miles distant from Lees camps intending
to march around and strike In the rear.
1t outnum bered Lees force two to one. 1t
was necessary for Jackson to change front
or turn away from the river heights back
to the interior, and while doing so to still
guard the heights The Union general
wanted to get possession Of the heights
without fighting a bloody battle on their
slopes, and had taken a roundabout course
to get the Confederates to abandon them
Jackson controlled four divisions of about
&C, 600 men. He knew that Hooker could
easily set apart 10000 or more out of the
120, 900 men in blue to attempt the heights
on the river front while the remainder as
sailed the Confederate rear, and SO he left
one division to defend the heights and
with the other three hurried westward to
meet the main Union columns. These had
crossed north Of Fredericksburg and had
literally gone around Lea
Hooker had in fact set apart one CORDS
the Sixth, under Sedgwick, % 600 strong, to
cross at fredericksburg and offer direct
attack, and on May l, after two days Of
bloodless mRneuver, the situation was a
a. dlock. Neither side would strike the
opening blow for fear of getting the worst
of it. Jackson had stationed one division
on the riGsr heights facing eastward
against Sedgwick, and bis other three di-
visions lay across Hooker's pathway f
miles in the interior at a place called Tabe
nacle Church With Jackson at this point
were two divisions of another corps led by
Lee in person. HOoker's main body was
strung out still to the westward five miles
from Tabernacle Church to Wilderness
Church. One good road leading to Fred
ericksburg intersected both the Union and
Confederate positions. Reference to the
diagram will show that the Confederates
were between the two Union fires on May
l. On May 2 Hooker was between two
Confederate fires. and on this sudden re-
versal hangs Sbonewall's remarkable fame.
On the morning of the ID Jackson's three
divisions disappeared from Tabernacle
Church and started westward across the
long front of Hooker's vast army. The
narrow space between Jackson's route and
Hooker's outposts was patroled by the
watchful eyes of Jeb Stuart's troopers,
in order that no chance reconnaissance
from the Union lines should reveal the
mysterious march Skillful guides were at
the head of the column to point out by
roads and concealed ways that would
shorten the distance and insure secrecy.
At one point the column ran into one of
Hooker's outposts, fight ensued, and the
movement of the Confederstes westward
was fairly disclosed and reported to Union
headquarters Jackson then turned his
column farther south to avoid another col
hsion and pressed on, making a march of
fifteen miles in all and bringing up square
ly on Hooker's right rear at Wilderness
Church.
1t was o'clock in the afternoon, May
2 Twenty-four hours had changed the |
face of things. Hooker and his 10000
were now beset by enemies on the east and /
on the west, and in spite of all were un-
warned of the blow about to fall The /
march of Confederates westward as re-
ported from the scene of the little fight on !
the Union outposts was believed by the
Union general to be a retreat from Fred /
ericksburg toward Richmond. Hooker had (
sent his cavalry corps away on wild ride /
along the railroads between those two cit |
les, and hence the eyes of the army were |
absent. There was no scouting. no recon-
noitering, no alert up-and-a-doing spirit |
at Union headquarters. In this lay Jack
Eon,s nnnnrtnnitv for had Hooker inter |