" And in his initial orders to Stoneman, in opening the
campaign, came the true ring of the always gallant corps commander,
"Let your watchword be 'Fight!' and let all your orders be, 'Fight,
fight, fight!'"
I might here say that the only attempt, on Fast Day, to exculpate Hooker
for the disaster of Chancellorsville was not of an order which can be
answered. When one speaker asks, "If Gen. Hooker tells us that it was
wise to withdraw across the river, is not that enough for you and me,
my comrades?" I can only say that history is not so easily satisfied.
To another speaker, who states that when Hooker had planted himself in
Lee's flank by crossing the river, Lee ought, by all the rules of war,
to have retreated, but when he didn't he upset all Hooker's
calculations; that when Jackson made his "extra hazardous" march around
Hooker's flank, he ought, by all rules of war, to have been destroyed,
but when he was not he upset all Hooker's calculations, and that
therefore Hooker was forced to retreat,--it is quite beyond my ability
to reply. When Gen. Sickles throws the blame upon Howard for the defeat
of the Eleventh Corps, by reading the 9.
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