ny considerable
opposition, Sedgwick could have marched the fifteen miles to
Chancellorsville in the few hours allotted him. Nor is it claimed by
Hooker that it was possible for Sedgwick to obey the order of ten P.M.
literally; for it was issued under the supposition that Sedgwick was
still on the north bank of the river. But Hooker does allege that
Sedgwick took no pains to keep him informed of what he was doing; whence
his incorrect assumption. To recross the river for the purpose of again
crossing at Fredericksburg would have been a lame interpretation of
the speedy execution of the order urged upon Sedgwick. He accordingly
shifted his command, and, in a very short time after receiving the
despatch, began to move by the flank on the Bowling-Green road towards
Fredericksburg, Newton's division in the advance, Howe following, while
Brooks still held the bridge-head.

It was a very foggy night; which circumstance, added to the fact that
Sedgwick was, in common with all our generals, only imperfectly familiar
with the lay of the land, and that the enemy, active and well-informed,
enveloped him with a curtain of light troops, to harass his movement in
whatever direction, materially contributed to the delay which ensued.

And Sedgwick appears to have encountered Early's pickets, and to have
done some skirmishing with the head of his column, immediately after
passing west of Franklin's Crossing, which, moreover, gave rise to some
picket-firing all along the line, as far as Deep Run, where Bartlett
confronted the enemy. As the outskirts of the town were entered, four
regiments of Wheaton's and Shaler's brigades were sent forward against
the rifle-pits of the enemy, and a gallant assault was made by them. But
it was repulsed, with some loss, by the Confederates, who, as on Dec.
13, patiently lay behind the stone wall and rifle-pits, and reserved
their fire until our column was within twenty yards. Then the regiments
behind the stone wall, followed by the guns and infantry on the heights,
opened a fire equally sudden and heavy, and drove our columns back upon
the main body. The assault had been resolute, as the casualties testify,
"one regiment alone losing sixty-four men in as many seconds" (Wheaton);
but the darkness, and uncertainty of our officers with regard to the
position, made its failure almost a foregone conclusion. This was about
daylight. "The force displayed by the enemy was sufficient to show
that the intrenchme