Before the close of the action Hooker was importuned for reinforcements, but to no avail. Perhaps he intended to send them, for about this time he rushed out and made a passionate appeal to Geary's men to charge and retake the works they had lost; promising to aid them by throwing in a heavy force on the enemy's left flank. At this appeal the exhausted troops put their caps on their bayonets, waved them aloft, and with loud cheers charged on the rebels and drove them out once more; but sixty guns opened upon them at close range with terrible effect; the promised reinforcements did not come; they were surrounded with ever increasing enemies, and forced to give up everything and retreat. Stuart and Anderson then formed their lines on the south of and parallel to the Plank Road, facing north, and began to fortify the position.
Had they been disposed to follow up the retreat closely they would have been unable to do so, for now a new and terrible barrier intervened; the woods on each side of the Plank Road had been set on fire by the artillery and the wounded and dying were burning in the flames without a possibility of rescuing them. Let us draw a veil over this scene, for it is pitiful to dwell upon it.
There was no further change in Stuart's line until the close of the battle; but Anderson's division was soon after detached against Sedgwick.
The new line taken up by the Union Army was a semi-ellipse, with the left resting on the Rappahannock and the right on the Rapidan. Its centre was at Bullock's House, about three-fourths of a mile north of Chancellorsville. The approaches were well guarded with artillery, and the line partially intrenched. The enemy did not assail it. They made a reconnoissance in the afternoon, but Weed's artillery at the apex of the line was too strongly posted to be forced, and Lee soon found other employment for his troops, for Sedgwick was approaching to attack his rear.
In the history of lost empires we almost invariably find that the cause of their final overthrow on the battle-field may be traced to the violation of one military principle, which is that the attempt to overpower a central force of converging columns, is almost always fatal to the assailants, for a force in the centre, by the virtue of its position, has nearly double the strength of one on the circumference. Yet his is the first mistake made by every tyro in generalship. A strong blow can be given by a sledge- hammer, but if we divide it into twenty small hammers, the blows will necessarily be scattering and uncertain. Let us suppose an army holds the junction of six roads. It seems theoretically possible that different detachments encircling it, by all attacking at the same time, must confuse and overpower it; but in practice the idea is rarely realized, for no two routes are precisely alike, the columns never move simultaneously, and therefore never arrive at the same time. Some of this is due to the character of the commanders. One man is full of dash, and goes forward at once; another is timid, or at least over-cautious, and advances slowly; a third stops to recall some outlying detachments, or to make elaborate preparations. The result is, the outer army has lost its strength and is always beaten in detail. One portion is sure to be defeated before the others arrive. We shall have occasion to refer to this principle again in reference to the battle of Gettysburg. The history of our own war shows that an attack against the front and rear of a force is not necessarily fatal. Baird's division at Chickamauga defended itself successfully against an assault of this kind, and Hancock faced his division both ways at Chancellorsville and repelled every attempt to force his position. But Hooker thought otherwise. He felt certain that if Sedgwick assailed Lee in rear, while he advanced in front, the Confederate army was doomed. When the time came, however, to carry out this programme, if we may use a homely simile borrowed from General De Peyster, Hooker did not hold up his end of the log, and the whole weight fell upon Sedgwick.
About this time a pillar of the Chancellorsville House was struck by a cannon-ball, and Hooker, who was leaning against it at the moment, was prostrated and severely injured. He revived in a few minutes, mounted his horse and rode to the rear, but it was some time before he turned over the command to Couch, who was second in rank. After this stroke he suffered a great deal from paroxysms of pain, and was manifestly unfit to give orders, although he soon resumed the command.
The historian almost refuses to chronicle the startling fact that 37,000 men were kept out of the fight, most of whom had not fired a shot, and all of whom were eager to go in. The whole of the First Corps and three-fourths of the Fifth Corps had not been engaged. These, with 5,000 of the Eleventh Corps, who desired to retrieve the disaster of the previous day and were ready to advance, made a new army, which had it been used against Stuart's tired men would necessarily have driven them off the field; for there were but 26,000 of them when the fight commenced. To make the matter worse, a large part of this force—the First and Fifth Corps—stood with arms in their hands, as spectators, almost directly on the left flank of the enemy; so that their mere advance would have swept everything before it. Hancock, too, says that his men were fresh enough to go forward again.
Couch succeeded to the command after Hooker was wounded, and made dispositions for the final stand around the Chancellorsville House, where the battle lasted some time longer, and where a battery of the Fifth Corps was sacrificed to cover the retreat of the troops. He did not, however, take the responsibility of renewing the contest with fresh troops, perhaps deterred by the fact that Anderson's and McLaws' divisions had now effected a junction with Stuart's corps; so that the chances were somewhat less favorable than they would have been had Sickles and French had been reinforced before the junction took place. He says, at the close of the action, that fifty guns posted to the right and front of the Chancellorsville House would have swept the enemy away.
I think Hooker was beset with the idea of keeping back a large portion of his force to be used in case of emergency. It appears from a statement made by General Alexander S. Webb, who had made a daring personal reconnoissance of the enemy's movement, that he was present when Meade—acting on his (Webb's) representations, and speaking for himself and Reynolds—asked Hooker's permission to let the First and Fifth Corps take part in the battle. It is fair, however, to state that Hooker, having been injured and in great pain, was hardly accountable for his want of decision at this time. Indeed, General Tremaine, who was a colonel on Sickles' staff, says that Hooker did intend to use his reserve force as soon as the enemy were utterly exhausted. President Lincoln seems to have had a presentiment of what would occur, for his parting words to Hooker and Couch were, to use all the troops and not keep any back.
I have stated that both Meade and Reynolds wished to put their corps in at the vital point, but were not allowed to do so. General Tremaine also states that, subsequently, when Hooker was suffering a paroxysm of pain, he was the bearer of a communication to him requesting reinforcements, which Hooker directed to be handed to General Meade, who was present, for his action. Meade would not take the responsibility thus offered him at so late a period in the action, though strongly urged to do so both by Tremaine and Colonel Dahlgren, without the express order of General Hooker, or the sanction of General Couch, who was his superior officer, and who was absent. Perhaps he was afraid that Hooker might resume the command at any moment and leave him to shoulder the responsibility of any disaster that might occur, without giving him the credit in case of success. Still he should have put the men in, for the success of the cause was above all personal considerations. A single division thrown in at this time would have retrieved the fortunes of the day. The delay of finding Couch would have been fatal; for immediate action was demanded.