"
Gen. Howe had been simultaneously directed to move on the left of Hazel
Run, and turn the enemy's right; but he found the works in his front
beset, and the character of the stream between him and Newton precluded
any movement of his division to the right.
By the time, then, that Sedgwick had full possession of the town,
and Gibbon and Howe had returned from their abortive attempt to turn the
enemy's flanks, the sun was some two hours high. As the works could not
be captured by surprise, Sedgwick was reduced to the alternative of
assaulting them in regular form.
It is not improbable that an earlier attack by Gibbon on Marye's heights,
might have carried them with little loss, and with so much less expense
of time that Sedgwick could have pushed beyond Salem Church, without
being seriously impeded by troops sent against him by Gen. Lee.
And, as the allegation of all-but criminal delay on the part of
Gen. Sedgwick is one of the cardinal points of Hooker's self-defence
on the score of this campaign, we must examine this charge carefully.
Sedgwick asserts with truth, that all despatches to him assumed that he
had but a handful of men in his front, and that the conclusions as to
what he could accomplish, were founded upon utterly mistaken premises.
Pages:
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220