THE CHANCELLORSVILLE CAMPAIGN.

1 57

pneral in person. | The Eleventh Corps crossed the Rappahannock, fol-°'W’ed in the morning by the Twelfth and Fifth corps—the two formerpiking for Germanna Ford, a crossing of the Rapidan, the latter for Ely’s0r d, lower down the same stream. Both columns, successfully effectingbossings with little opposition from the enemy’s pickets, arrived thatfuming, April 30th, at the point of concentration, Chancellorsville. It hadee n a brilliantly conceived and executed movement,hi order to confound Lee, orders were issued to assemble the Sixth, Third,ari( i First corps under Sedgwick at Franklin’s Crossing and Pollock’s Mill,s °ttLe three miles below Fredericksburg , on the left, before daylight of the^orning of the 29th, and throw two bridges across and hold them. This was° Tle under a severe fire of sharp-shooters. The Second Corps, two divisions,fUarehed on the 28th for Banks ’s Ford, four miles to the right; the otherVision, Gibbon’s, occupying Falmouth, near the river-bank, was directed to^ffiain in its tents, as they were in full view of the enemy, who would readilyq Ser ve their withdrawal. On the 29th the two divisions of the Secondurps reached United States Ford, held by the enemy; but the advance ofe light wing down the river uncovered it, whereupon a bridge of pontoonsas thrown across and the corps reached Chancellorsville the same night as. e Fifth, Eleventh, and Twelfth. The same day, the 30th, Sedgwick wasstructed to place a corps across the river and make a demonstration upont o e e nemy’s right, below Fredericksburg , and the Third Corps received ordersJoin the right wing at Chancellorsville, where the commanding general^ived the same evening, establishing his headquarters at the Chancellor°Use, which, with the adjacent grounds, is Chancellorsville. All of theuty lying there that night were in exuberant spirits at the success of theiraera l in getting “on the other side” without fighting for a position. As Iue into Chancellorsville that night the general hilarity pervading the camps^ s particularly noticeable; the soldiers, while chopping wood and lightingas ) Were singing merry songs and indulging in peppery camp jokes.

^J-he position at Chancellorsville not only took in reverse the entire systemto m le euerQ y’ s fiver defenses, but there were roads leading from it directly% ''" e comm unication. [See maps, pp. 155, 158.] Butin order to gain

e advantages now in the commanding general’s grasp he had divided hisrj,jj rj y u do two wings, and the enemy, no ordinary enemy, lay between them,p e ^ n e of communication connecting the wings was by way of United States s -d uud twenty miles long. It was of vital importance that the line be°Uened in order to place the wings within easy support of each other. Thesession of Banks ’s Ford, foreshadowed in the instructions given to Slocum,r UL accomplish all that at present could be wished,here were three roads over which the right wing could move upon Fred-Ksburg: the Orange turnpike, from the west, passed through Chancellors-

Sifih ner al Hooker sent for me on the night of the command. Although anticipating the narrative,6)tpi a - 0 r ’de over to his headquarters, where he I may say I think it was a signal misfortune toPaigii 6< ^ me ’ as next hi rank, his plan of cam- our arms that he did not delay joining that wingh’gen -^ e informed me that, under certain con- until the morning of May 1st, when he would haveCles , the right wing would he placed at my found Banks’s Ford in our possession.— D. N. C.