standing he was fired on by his own men and borne from the field fatally wounded. A shiver of horror thrilled the Southerners when when the news of Jackson's fall was whispered through the darkness. At midnight Sickles led his division back into the dense woods and for three terrible hours the men on both sides fought as demons in the shadows. The long lines of blazing muskets in the darkness looked like the onward rush of a forest fire. At times two solid walls of flame seemed to leap through the tree tops into the starlit heavens. A small portion of the captured ground was recovered at a frightful loss— and no man knows to this day how many gallant men in blue were shot down by their own comrades in the darkness and confusion of that mad assault. Hooker sent a desperate call to Sedgwick to hurry to his relief by carrying out his plan of sweeping Marye's Heights and falling on Lee's rear. At dawn Stuart in command of Jackson's corps led the new charge on Hooker's lines, his grey veterans shouting: "Remember Jackson!" Through the long hours of the terrible third day of May the fierce combat of giants raged. During the morning Hooker's headquarters were reached by the Confederate artillery and the old Chancellor House, filled with the wounded, was knocked to pieces and set on fire. The women and children and slaves of the Chancellor family were shivering in its cellar while the shells were hurling its bricks and timbers in murderous fury on the helpless wounded who lay in hundreds in the yard. The men from both armies rushed into this hell and carried the wounded to a place of safety. General Hooker was wounded and the report flew over the Federal army that he had been killed. To allay their fears the General had himself lifted into the saddle and rode down his lines and out of sight, when he was taken unconscious from his horse. Sedgwick was fighting his way with desperation now to force Marye's Heights and strike Lee's rear. Once more the stone wall blazed with death for the gallant men in blue. They dashed themselves against it wave on wave, only to fall back in confusion. They tried to flank it and failed. Hour after hour the mad charges rolled against this hill and broke in deep red pools at its base. There were but nine thousand men holding it against forty thousand, but it was afternoon before the grey lines slowly gave way and Sedgwick's victorious troops poured over the hill toward Lee's lines. Hooker had asked him to appear at daylight. The long rows and mangled heaps of the dead left on Marye's bloody slopes was sufficient answer to all inquiries as to his delay. But the way was still blocked. The receding line of grey was suddenly supported by Early's division detached from Lee's reserves. Again Sedgwick was stopped and fought until dark. As the sun was sinking over the smoke-wreathed spring-clothed trees of the Wilderness, Stuart gathered Jackson's corps for a desperate assault on Hooker's last line of defense. Waving his plumed hat high above his handsome bearded face, he put himself at the head of his troops and charged, chanting with boyish enthusiasm his improvised battle song: "Old-Joe-Hooker, Won't you come out o' the Wilderness! Come out o' the Wilderness! Old-Joe-Hooker Come out o' the Wilderness- The cheering grey waves swept all before them and left Lee in full possession of Chancellorsville and the whole position the Federal army had originally held. As the Confederates rolled on, driving the fiercely fighting men in blue before them, Lee himself rode forward to encourage his men and then it happened— the thing for which the great have fought, and longed, and dreamed since time dawned-the spontaneous tribute of the brave to a trusted leader. His victorious troops went wild at the sight of him. Above the crash and roar of battle rose the shouts of the Southerners: "Hurrah for Lee!" "Lee!" "Lee!" From lip to lip the thrilling name leaped until the wounded and the dying turned their eyes to see and raised their feeble voices: "Lee!-Lee!-Lee!" It was at this moment that he received the note from Jackson announcing that he was badly wounded. With the shouts of his men ringing in his ears, he drew his pencil and wrote across the pommel of his saddle: "GENERAL: I have just received your note informing |