"
But, apart from the innuendo, all this bears the stamp of an after-
thought. If an army was ever driven from its position by fair fighting,
our troops were driven from Chancellorsville. And it would seem, that,
if there was any reasonable doubt on Saturday night that the Army of the
Potomac could hold its own next day, it would have been wiser to have at
once withdrawn to the new lines, while waiting for the arrival of
Sedgwick. For here the position was almost unassailable, and the troops
better massed; and, if Lee had made an unsuccessful assault, Hooker
would have been in better condition to make a sortie upon the arrival of
the Sixth Corps in his vicinity, than after the bloody and disheartening
work at Fairview.
Still the inactivity of Hooker, when Sedgwick did eventually arrive
within serviceable distance, is so entire a puzzle to the student of
this campaign, that speculation upon what he did then actually assume as
facts, or how he might have acted under any other given conditions,
becomes almost fruitless.
XXVI.
SEDGWICK'S CHANGE OF ORDERS.
Let us return to the Sixth Corps of the Army of the Potomac, where
operations now demanded Lee's undivided skill.
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