Colonel, you are all right; the ball has struck a
rib and followed it around and out." It was one of the hundreds of
remarkable freaks performed by those ugly minie-balls during the war.
Why that brigade should have been allowed to march into that ambuscade,
from which we had so narrowly escaped, I could not understand. It was
one of the early _faux pas_ of that unfortunate comedy, rather tragedy
of errors,--battle.

In view of the events of the next two days, it will be interesting to
recall the somewhat windy order published to the army by General Hooker
on the morning of the 1st of May, the date of the first day's battle, on
which the events narrated in the last chapter occurred. This is the
order:

HEAD-QUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, CAMP NEAR FALMOUTH, VA.,
April 30, 1863.

It is with heartfelt satisfaction the commanding general announces
to the army that the operations of the last three days have
determined that our enemy must either ingloriously fly or come out
from behind his defences and give us battle on our own ground, when
certain destruction awaits him.

* * * * *

By command of Major-General Hooker.

S. WILLIAMS,
_Asst. Adjt.-Gen'l._

My recollection recalls a phrase in this order reading something like
this: "We have got the enemy where God Almighty can't save him, and he
must either ingloriously," etc. I have been surprised not to find it in
the records, and my memory is not alone in this respect, for a
lieutenant-colonel of Portland, Me., in his account of this battle
alludes to Hooker's blasphemous order.

The purpose of this order was to encourage the men and inspire them with
the enthusiasm of forthcoming victory. But when we consider that the
portion of the army operating around Chancellorsville was at that very
moment apparently as thoroughly caged up in a wilderness of almost
impenetrable undergrowth, which made it impossible to move troops, and
into which one could not see a dozen feet, as though they were actually
behind iron bars, it will be seen how little ground there was for
encouragement. I can think of no better comparison of the situation than
to liken it to a fleet of ships enveloped in a dense fog endeavoring to
operate against another having the advantage of the open.

It will be remembered that when this movement commenced the Army of the
Potomac numbered from one hundred and twenty thousand