otomac returned to its old camp on the hills above
Fredericksburg, and Lee reoccupied his position on the opposite
ridge. Stoneman, who had scoured the whole country to within a few
miles of Richmond, returned to Kelly's Ford on May 8. The raid had
effected nothing. The damage done to the railroads and canals was
repaired by the time the raiders had regained the Rappahannock. Lee's
operations at Chancellorsville had not been affected in the very
slightest degree by their presence in his rear, while Stoneman's
absence had proved the ruin of the Federal army. Jackson, who had
been removed by the Commander-in-Chief's order to Mr. Chandler's
house, near Gurney's Station, on the morning of May 5, was asked what
he thought of Hooker's plan of campaign. His reply was: "It was in
the main a good conception, an excellent plan. But he should not have
sent away his cavalry; that was his great blunder. It was that which
enabled me to turn him without his being aware of it, and to take him
in the rear. Had he kept his cavalry with him, his plan would have
been a very good one." This was not his only comment on the great
battle. Among other things, he said that he intended to cut the
Federals off from the United States Ford, and, taking a position
between them and the river, oblige them to attack him, adding, with a
smile, "My men sometimes fail to drive the enemy from a position, but
they always fail to drive us away." He spoke of General Rodes, and
alluded in high terms to his splendid behaviour in the attack on
Howard. He hoped he would be promoted, and he said that promotion
should be made at once, upon the field, so as to act as an incentive
to gallantry in others. He spoke of Colonel Willis, who had commanded
the skirmishers, and praised him very highly, and referred most
feelingly to the death of Paxton, the commander of the Stonewall
Brigade, and of Captain Boswell, his chief engineer. In speaking of
his own share in the victory he said: "Our movement was a great
success; I think the most successful military movement of my life.
But I expect to receive far more credit for it than I deserve. Most
men will think I planned it all from the first; but it was not so. I
simply took advantage of circumstances as they were presented to me
in the providence of God. I feel that His hand led me--let us give
Him the glory."

It must always be an interesting matter of speculation what the
result would have been had Jackson accomplished hi