rtainly suffered severely;
for, during this brief engagement, Leppien's battery lost all its
horses, officers, and cannoneers, and the guns had to be removed by an
infantry detail, by hand.
The Confederate army now occupied itself in refitting its shattered
ranks upon the plain. Its organization had been torn to shreds, during
the stubborn conflict of the morning, in the tangled woods and marshy
ravines of the Wilderness; but this had its full compensation in the
possession of the prize for which it had contended. A new line of
battle was formed on the plank road west of Chancellorsville, and on
the turnpike east. Rodes leaned his right on the Chancellor House, and
Pender swung round to conform to the Federal position. Anderson and
McLaws lay east of Colston, who held the old pike, but were soon after
replaced by Heth, with part of A. P. Hill's corps.
In the woods, where Berry had made his gallant stand opposite the fierce
assaults of Jackson, and where lay by thousands the mingled dead
and wounded foes, there broke out about noon a fire in the dry and
inflammable underbrush. The Confederates detailed a large force, and
labored bravely to extinguish the flames, equally exhibiting their
humanity to suffering friend and foe; but the fire was hard to control,
and many wounded perished in the flames.
XXIV. THE NEW LINES.
The new lines, prepared by Gens. Warren and Comstock, in which the Army
of the Potomac might seek refuge from its weaker but more active foe,
lay as follows:--
Birney describes the position as a flattened cone. The apex touched
Bullock's, (White House or Chandler's,) where the Mineral-Spring road,
along which the left wing of the army had lain, crosses the road from
Chancellorsville to Ely's Ford.
Bullock's lies on a commanding plateau, with open ground in its front,
well covered by our artillery. This clearing is north of and larger
than the Chancellor open, and communicates with it. The position of the
troops on the left was not materially changed, but embraced the corps
of Howard and Slocum. The right lay in advance of and along the road
to Ely's, with Big Hunting Run in its front, and was still held by
Reynolds. At the apex were Sickles and Couch.
The position was almost impregnable, and covered in full safety the line
of retreat to United-States Ford, the road to which comes into the Ely's
Ford road a half-mile west of Bullock's.
To these lines the Second, Third, and Twelfth C
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