but his thoughts were still clear, and his speech coherent. "General
Lee," he said, when his aide-de-camp read to him the
Commander-in-Chief's brief words, "is very kind, but he should give
the praise to God."

During the day the pain gradually ceased; the general grew brighter,
and from those who visited the hospital he inquired minutely about
the battle and the troops engaged. When conspicuous instances of
courage were related his face lit up with enthusiasm, and he uttered
his usual "Good, good," with unwonted energy when the gallant
behaviour of his old command was alluded to. "Some day," he said,
"the men of that brigade will be proud to say to their children, "I
was one of the Stonewall Brigade." He disclaimed all right of his own
to the name Stonewall: "It belongs to the brigade and not to me.""
That night he slept well, and was free from pain.

Meanwhile the Confederate army, resting on the heights of
Chancellorsville, preparatory to an attack upon Hooker's second
stronghold, had received untoward news. Sedgwick, at eleven o'clock
in the morning, had carried Marye's Hill, and, driving Early before
him, was moving up the plank road. Wilcox' brigade of Anderson's
division, then at Banks' Ford, was ordered to retard the advance of
the hostile column. McLaws was detached to Salem Church. The Second
Army Corps and the rest of Anderson's division remained to hold
Hooker in check, and for the moment operations at Chancellorsville
were suspended.

McLaws, deploying his troops in the forest, two hundred and fifty
yards from a wide expanse of cleared ground, pushed his skirmishers
forward to the edge, and awaited the attack of a superior force.
Reserving his fire to close quarters, its effect was fearful. But the
Federals pushed forward; a school-house occupied as an advanced post
was captured, and at this point Sedgwick was within an ace of
breaking through. His second line, however, had not yet deployed, and
a vigorous counterstroke, delivered by two brigades, drove back the
whole of his leading division in great disorder. As night fell the
Confederates, careful not to expose themselves to the Union reserves,
retired to the forest, and Sedgwick, like Hooker, abandoned all
further idea of offensive action.

The next morning Lee himself, with the three remaining brigades of
Anderson, arrived upon the scene. Sedgwick, who had lost 5000 men the
preceding day, May had fortified a position covering Banks' Ford, and
occ