There will be more to say of Harrison before losing him. On the whole he appears to have been a daring Southerner, hating Yankees most bitterly, but loving their greenbacks, and fond of secret, perilous adventure. Latrobe recently heard from him in Baltimore, in want, and asking some small assistance.
Upon rejoining our army after Chancellorsville we were, of course, eager questioners and listeners for everything about the battle.
Gratifying it was to hear on all sides of the conduct of our two divisions, which bore so large a part of the attacks on Lee. Anderson and McLaws had never fought better; while Lee, to hold his position and beat off Hooker, had to have the very best every man could give him. It was a battle most extraordinary in its execution and development. The powerful movement on Lee's rear by Sedgwick's force from Fredericksburg was enough to disconcert any ordinary commander. Lee, calm and undismayed, met it by thinning out his lines to almost a frazzle, and throwing a good division before John Sedgwick, while he and Jackson were preparing the blow that made "Fighting Joe Hooker's" head split with surprise and agony and sent him flying back across the Rappahannock.
The great flank movement of Stonewall had been carefully planned by Lee and most brilliantly executed by the Lieutenant. But the army had suffered the irreparable loss of that hero. Struck down in the gloaming and thick foliage of the forest, by his own men, his dauntless spirit clung to his army for a week, among ever-hopeful soldiers, and then took its warrior's flight to its Supreme Maker. There was none left in his place; there was but one Jackson.
When Marye's Hill was attacked by Sedgwick in Lee's rear, the battery in action there had to make a hurried escape. One of its officers, a dear friend of mine, Lieut. Frederick Habersham, had been killed at his section. His comrades determined to have his body, and lashed it to the trail of a gun, and there it hung, firmly bound, a sight not often witnessed, while the battery, already late in retiring, was at a gallop in escape from the pursuing enemy. It was accomplished handsomely, and the brave fellow received his interment by the hands of loving wife and friends at his home in Savannah. It was my brother, Doctor Sorrel, in Richmond, who, with many difficulties, arranged for the care and transportation home of the slain artillerist.
CHAPTER XX
Preparing for Gettysburg
Preparations for summer campaign—Army reorganized—Three Army Corps—A. P. Hill made lieutenant-general, commanding Third Corps—Lieutenant-General Ewell commanding Second Corps—Stuart's cavalry reviewed—Its fine condition—Longstreet and his scout Harrison—Lee's intricate operations—Stuart's cavalry movements—He crosses below—The loss to Lee—The march through Maryland and Pennsylvania—No depredations—Halt at Chambersburg—Scout Harrison reports Meade in command, superseding Hooker—Ewell ordered to leave—March resumed, A. P. Hill leading, gaining decided success.