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 me that you are wounded. I cannot express my regret at the occurrence. Could I have directed events, I should have chosen, for the good of the country, to be disabled in your stead. "I congratulate you upon the victory which is due to your skill and energy. "Very respectfully, your obedient servant, "GENERAL." It was quick, bloody work next day for the Southerner to turn and spring on Sedgwick with the ferocity of a tiger, crush and hurl his battered and bleeding corps back on the river. Under cover of a storm General Couch, in command of Hooker's army, retreated across the Rappahannock. The blue and grey picket lines that night were so close to each other the men could talk freely. The Southern boys were chaffing the Northerners over their oft repeated defeats. Through the darkness a Yankee voice drawled: “Ah, Johnnie, shut up—you make us tired! You're not so much as you think you are. Swap Generals with us and we'll come over and lick hell out of you!" A silence fell over the boasting ones and then the listening Yankee heard a low voice chuckle to his comrade: "I'm damned if they wouldn't, too!" When the grey dawn broke through the storm they began to bury the dead and care for the wounded. The awful struggle had ended at last. The Northern army had lost seventeen thousand men, the Southerners thirteen thousand. It was a great victory for the South, but a few |