should suppose that Lee would part with half his army, and send it away to Gordonsville where there was no enemy and nothing to be done, is more than I can imagine. Jackson was celebrated for making these turning movements; besides, it was easy, by questioning prisoners, to verify the fact that he had no surplus trains with him. Nothing, in short, but ammunition wagons, and ambulances for the wounded; a sure indication that his movement meant fight and not retreat.

From 10 A.M., when Hooker's order was received, to 6 P.M., when the assault came, there was ample time for Howard to form an impregnable line. His division commanders did not share his indifference. General Schurz pointed out to him that his flank was in the air, but he seemed perfectly satisfied with his line as it was, and not at all desirous of changing it in any particular. Schurz, of his own volition, without the knowledge of his chief, posted three regiments in close column of division, and formed them in the same direction as the two regiments and two guns which were expected to keep Jackson back, but the shock, when it came, was so sudden that these columns did not have time to deploy. Devens, having two reserve regiments, also faced them that way, of his own accord, behind the other two, but having no encouragement to form line in that direction it is probable both generals hesitated to do so.

Jackson, having debouched from the country road into the plank road, was separated from Lee by nearly six miles of pathless forest. He kept on until he reached the turnpike, and then halted his command in order that he might reconnoitre and form line of battle. He went up on a high hill and personally examined the position of the Eleventh Corps. Finding that it was still open to attack, and that no preparations had been made to receive him, he formed Rodes' and Colston's divisions two hundred yards apart, perpendicular to the plank road, with the road in the centre, and with Hill's division both on the plank road and turnpike as a support to the other two. Fitz Lee's brigade of cavalry was left on the plank road to menace Howard from that direction.

It will be seen by a glance at the map that his lines overlapped that of the Eleventh Corps for a long distance, both in front and rear. The first notice our troops had of his approach did not come from our pickets—for their retreat and his advance were almost simultaneous—but from the deer, rabbits, and other wild animals of the forest, driven from their coverts by his advance. It is always convenient to have a scape-goat in case of disaster, and the German element in the Eleventh Corps have been fiercely censured and their name became a byword for giving way on this occasion. It is full time justice should be done by calling attention to the position of that corps. I assert that when a force is not deployed, but is struck suddenly and violently on its flank, resistance in impracticable. Not Napoleon's Old Guard, not the best and bravest troops that ever existed, could hold together in such a case, for the first men assailed are—to use a homely but expressive word— driven into a huddle; and a huddle cannot fight, for it has no front and no organization. Under such circumstances, the men have but a choice of two evils, either to stay where they are and be slaughtered, without the power of defending themselves, or to run; and the only sensible thing for them to do is to run and rally on some other organization. The attempt to change front and meet this attack on such short notice would have been hopeless enough, drawn up as Howard's men were, even if they had been all in line with arms in their hands; but it is a beautiful commentary on the vigilance displayed, that in many cases the muskets were stacked, and the men lounging about some playing cards, others cooking their supper, intermingled with the pack-mules and beef cattle they were unloading. It will be remembered that in the order previously quoted, Howard was directed "to advance his pickets for the purpose of observation," in order that he might have ample time for preparation. The object of this injunction is plain enough. It was to make sufficient resistance to Jackson's advance to delay it, and not only give time for the Eleventh Corps to form, but enable Hooker to send his reserves to that part of the line. The pickets, therefore, should have been far out and strongly backed with a large force which would take advantage of every accident of ground to delay the rebel column as long as possible. Howard seemed to have no curiosity himself, as he sent out no parties; but Sickles and Pleasonton had their spies and detachments on the watch, and these came in constantly with the information, which was duly transmitted to Howard, that Jackson was actually coming. Schurz also became uneasy and sent out parties to reconnoitre. General Noble, at that time Colonel of the Seventeenth Connecticut Infantry, two companies of whose regiment were on the picket line there, writes as follows: "The disaster resulted from Howard's and Devens' utter disregard and inattention under warnings that came in from the front and flank all through the day. Horseman after horseman rode into my post and was sent to headquarters with the information that the enemy were heavily marching along our front and proceeding to our right; and last of all an officer reported the rebels massing for attack. Howard scouted the report and insulted the informants, charging them with telling a story that was the offspring of their imaginations or their fears."

If this be true, there has been but one similar case in our annals, and that was the massacre of the garrison of Fort Sims, by the savages, in 1813, near Mobile, Alabama; soon after a negro had been severely flogged by the commanding officer for reporting that he had seen Indians lurking around the post.

Adjutant Wilkenson, of the same regiment, confirms General Noble's statement and says, "Why a stronger force was not sent out as skirmishers and the left of our line changed to front the foe is more than I am able to understand."

General Schimmelpfennig, commanding a brigade of Schurz's division, says he sent out a reconnoissance and reported the hostile movements fully two hours before the enemy charged.

The Germans were bitterly denounced for this catastrophe, I think very unjustly, for in the first place less than one-half the Eleventh Corps were Germans, and in the second place the troops that did form line and temporarily stop Jackson's advance were Germans; principally Colonel Adolph Buschbeck's brigade of Steinwehr's division, aided by a few regiments of Schurz's division, who gave a volley or two. Buschbeck held a weak intrenched line perpendicular to the plank road for three-quarters of an hor, with artillery on the right, losing one-third of his force. His enemy then folded around his flanks and took him in reverse, when further resistance became hopeless and his men retreated in good order to the rear of Sickles' line at Hazel Grove where they supported the artillery and offered to lead a bayonet charge, if the official reports are to be believed. Warren says he took charge of some batteries of the Eleventh Corps and formed them in line across the Plank Road without any infantry support whatever.

In reference to this surprise, Couch remarks that no troops could have stood under such circumstances, and I fully agree with him.

An officer of the Eleventh Corps who was present informed General Wainwright, formerly Colonel of the 76th New York, that he was playing cards in the ditch, and the first notice he had of the enemy was seeing them looking down upon him from the parapet above.

As for Devens, who was nearest the enemy, it is quite probable that any attempt by him to change front to the west previous to the attack would have been looked upon by Howard as a reflection upon his own