dgment. There was little to be feared now from General
Hooker, large as the force still was under that officer. He was
paralyzed for the time, and would not probably venture upon any
attempt to regain possession of Chancellorsville. With General
Sedgwick it was different. His column was comparatively fresh, was
flushed with victory, and numbered, even after his loss of one
thousand, more than twenty thousand men. Compared with the entire
Federal army, this force was merely a detachment, it was true, but it
was a detachment numbering as many men, probably, as the effective of
Lee's entire army at Chancellorsville. He had carried into that fight
about thirty-four thousand men. His losses had been heavy, and the
commands were much shaken. To have advanced under these circumstances
upon General Hooker, without regard to General Sedgwick's twenty
thousand troops, inspired by recent victory, would have resulted
probably in disaster.

These comments may detract from that praise of audacity accorded to
Lee in making this movement. It seems rather to have been the dictate
of common-sense; to have advanced upon General Hooker would have been
the audacity.

It was thus necessary to defer the final blow at the main Federal army
in his front, and General Lee promptly detached a force of about five
brigades to meet General Sedgwick, which, with Early's command, now in
rear of the Federal column, would, it was supposed, suffice.

This body moved speedily down the turnpike to check the enemy, and
encountered the head of his column about half-way, near Salem Church.
General Wilcox, who had been sent by Lee to watch Banks's Ford, had
already moved to bar the Federal advance. When the brigades sent by
Lee joined him, the whole force formed line of battle: a brisk action
ensued, continuing from about four in the afternoon until nightfall,
when the fighting ceased, and General Sedgwick made no further attempt
to advance on that day.

These events took place, as we have said, on Sunday afternoon, the
day of the Federal defeat at Chancellorsville. On Monday morning (May
4th), the theatre of action on the southern bank of the Rappahannock
presented a very remarkable complication. General Early had been
driven from the ridge at Fredericksburg; but no sooner had General
Sedgwick marched toward Chancellorsville, than Early returned and
seized upon Marye's Heights again. He was thus in General Sedgwick's
rear, and ready to prevent him from re