Sedgwick's vigorous
and energetic attempt to comply with Hooker's order would have led to a
different result of the battle, Warren answered: "Yes, sir! and I will
go further, and say that I think there might have been more fighting
done at the other end of the line. I do not believe that if Gen. Sedgwick
had done all he could, and there had not been harder fighting on the
other end of the line, we would have succeeded."
If, at eleven P.M., when Sedgwick received the order, he had immediately
marched, regardless of what was in his front, straight through the town,
and up the heights beyond, paying no heed whatever to the darkness of
the night, but pushing on his men as best he might, it is not improbable
that he could have gained the farther side of this obstacle by daylight.
But is it not also probable that his corps would have been in
questionable condition for either a march or a fight? It would be
extravagant to expect that the organization of the corps could be
preserved in any kind of form, however slight the opposition. And,
as daylight came on, the troops would have scarcely been in condition to
offer brilliant resistance to the attack, which Early, fully apprised of
all their movements, would have been in position to make upon their
flank and rear.
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