For two days after Jackson was wounded, the fight went on and raged with great fury. General Hooker was struck by a piece of wood split off by a cannon ball, and for a time was thought dead.
Lee made bold plans and his brave men carried them out. Stuart, who had taken Stonewall Jackson’s command, led his men to battle, singing “Old Joe Hooker, won’t you come out of the wilderness.”
At last the battle of Chancellorsville was won and Hooker was forced back to his old camp at Fredericksburg.
Chancellorsville was Lee’s greatest battle, but its glory was clouded by Jackson’s death. General Lee wrote to his wife, May 11, 1863:
“You will see we have to mourn the loss of the good and great Jackson. * * * I know not how to replace him, but God’s will be done.”
In this battle Lee had only fifty-three thousand men, one-third as many men as Hooker.
GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON
In June, 1863, Lee again crossed the Potomac and met an army under General Meade at Gettysburg, in Pennsylvania.
Lee had two reasons for this move. One was to get food for his men and horses; and the other to draw the Northern army away from its strong forts around Washington city. He gave strict orders to his men not to steal and rob. This is a part of his order: