HOOKER’S COMMENTS ON CHANCELLORSVILLE.

Once used by the sth PennsylvaniaCAVALRY (RUSH’S LANCERS).

BY SAMUEL P. BATES , HIS LITERARY EXECUTOR.

N October, 1876, I accompanied General Hooker to the battle-fields- of Fredericksburg , Cliancellorsville, and Antietam,— fields on whichhe had borne conspicuous parts. It was the onlyoccasion on which he visited them after the battles.He had previously placed in my hands his officialpapers and memoranda for the preparation of a his-tory of the Battle of Chancellorsville, at the sametime requesting me to make this journey with him,that I might have the advantage of a thoroughknowledge of the field, and of his interpretation of the manner in whichthe battle was fought. At this period he was partly paralyzed from theinjury received in the Chancellorsville battle, and he could move only^h great difficulty by the aid of his valet.

After our arrival at Fredericksburg , General Hooker was the recipient ofar 'y courteous attentions from the leading citizens, and at night he wasre uaded, when a great crowd assembled in front of the hotel, to whosePeated cheers he made a brief response, in which he said that he had visitede n* city but once before, and although his reception now was not nearly so, 1 . Dl a s on that former day, yet it was far more agreeable to him,—a conceitnicli greatly pleased his hearers.

Our drive over the Fredericksburg field, which we visited on the way,j s 011 one of the most perfect of autumnal days, and at every turn^ esh reminiscences of that battle were suggested. As we approached theS'Staff of the National Cemetery, on the hill adjoining Marye’s Heights,ere more than fifteen thousand of the Union dead of Fredericksburg ,tr ail °ellorsville, the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania are buried, General°°ker said:

j>, - 1 never think of this ground but with a shudder. The whole scene is indel-y fixed in my mind, as it appeared on that fatal day. Here on this grounde ranged the enemy’s cannon, and the heights farther to his left were thickly'ted with pieces; all the infantry he could use was disposed behind eartli-all S an< ^ s t° lie walls. How this could have been selected as the point, aboves i °thers, for attack, and followed up until four whole divisions had been0 £ “iced, I cannot comprehend. As I stand here to-day, the impossibilityMie ai,1 ' yiUg S ronn( l hy direct assault is no more apparent than it wasfo® 11 1 made my observation preparatory to ordering Humphreys’s divisionSe |. ai ' ( h But it is evident that General Burnside never forgave me for coun-n ^ him on that occasion as I did, for on January 23d he drew up an order,as General Orders, No. 8, of his series, dishonorably dismissing methe service, together with three other prominent general officers, at the

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