The one thing of which
he never dreamed was that Lee would dare, in the face of such a death
trap, to divide his own small army. And yet this is exactly what the
Southerner decided to do contrary to all the rules of military science
or the advice of the strange, silent figure on the little sorrel horse.
When Lee, Jackson and Stuart rode along the lines of Hooker's front that
fatal May morning, Jackson suddenly reined in his little sorrel and
turned his keen blue eyes on his grey-haired Chief:
"There's just one way, General Lee. The front and left are too strong. I
can swing my corps in a quick movement to the rear while you attack the
front. They will think it a retreat. Out of sight, I'll turn, march for
ten miles around their right wing, and smash it from the rear before
sundown."
Lee quickly approved the amazing plan of his lieutenant, though it
involved the necessity of his holding Hooker's centre and left in check
and that his nine thousand men behind the stone wall on Marye's Heights
should hold Sedgwick's forty thousand. He believed it could be done
until Jackson had completed his march.
He immediately ordered his attack on the centre and left of his enemy.
The artillery horses were cropping the tender dew-laden grass with
eagerness. They had had no breakfast. The riders sprang to their backs
at seven o'clock and they dashed into position.
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