He will
probably fall upon the rear of the forces commanded by Gen. Lee, and
between us we will use him up. Send word to Gen. Gibbon to take
possession of Fredericksburg. Be sure not to fail. Deliver this by
your swiftest messenger. Send word that it is delivered to Gen. Sedgwick.
J. H. VAN ALEN,
Brigadier-General and Aide-de-Camp.
(Copy sent Gen. Sedgwick ten P.M.)
At eleven P.M., when this order of ten o'clock was received, Sedgwick
had his troops placed, and his dispositions taken, to carry out the
orders to pursue, on the Bowling-Green road, an enemy indicated to him
as in rapid retreat from Hooker's front; and was actually in bivouac
along that road, while a strong picket-line was still engaged
skirmishing with the force in his front. By this time the vanguard of
his columns had proceeded a distance variously given as from one to
three miles below the bridges in this direction; probably near the
Bernard House, not much beyond Deep Creek.
It is to be presumed that the aide who bore the despatch, and reached
Sedgwick later than the telegram, gave some verbal explanation of this
sudden change of Hooker's purpose; but the order itself was of a nature
to excite considerable surprise, if not to create a feeling of
uncertainty.
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