tics became clear. As
Jackson's advanced guards approached Chancellorsville, the resistance
of the Federal skirmishers, covering the retreat, became more
stubborn. From the low ridge, fringed by heavy timber, on which the
mansion stands, the fire of artillery, raking every avenue of
approach, grew more intense, and it was evident that the foe was
standing fast on the defensive.

The Confederate infantry, pushing forward through the undergrowth,
made but tardy progress; the cavalry patrols found that every road
and bridle-path was strongly held, and it was difficult in the
extreme to discover Hooker's exact position. Jackson himself, riding
to the front to reconnoitre, nearly fell a victim to the recklessness
he almost invariably displayed when in quest of information. The
cavalry had been checked at Catherine Furnace, and were waiting the
approach of the infantry. Wright's brigade was close at hand, and
swinging round northwards, drove back the enemy's skirmishers, until,
in its turn, it was brought up by the fire of artillery. Just at this
moment Jackson galloped up, and begged Stuart to ride forward with
him in order to find a point from which the enemy's guns might be
enfiladed. A bridle-path, branching off from the main road to the
right, led to a hillock about half a mile distant, and the two
generals, accompanied by their staffs, and followed by a battery of
horse-artillery, made for this point of vantage. "On reaching the
spot," says Stuart's adjutant-general, "so dense was the undergrowth,
it was found impossible to find enough clear space to bring more than
one gun at a time into position; the others closed up immediately
behind, and the whole body of us completely blocked up the narrow
road. Scarcely had the smoke of our first shot cleared away, when a
couple of masked batteries suddenly opened on us at short range, and
enveloped us in a storm of shell and canister, which, concentrated on
so narrow a space, did fearful execution among our party, men and
horses falling right and left, the animals kicking and plunging
wildly, and everybody eager to disentangle himself from the
confusion, and get out of harm's way. Jackson, as soon as he found
out his mistake, ordered the guns to retire; but the confined space
so protracted the operation of turning, that the enemy's cannon had
full time to continue their havoc, covering the road with dead and
wounded. That Jackson and Stuart with their staff officers escaped
wa