A small
portion of the captured ground was recovered at a frightful loss--and no
man knows to this day how many gallant men in blue were shot down by
their own comrades in the darkness and confusion of that mad assault.
Hooker sent a desperate call to Sedgwick to hurry to his relief by
carrying out his plan of sweeping Marye's Heights and falling on Lee's
rear.
At dawn Stuart in command of Jackson's corps led the new charge on
Hooker's lines, his grey veterans shouting:
"Remember Jackson!"
Through the long hours of the terrible third day of May the fierce
combat of giants raged. During the morning Hooker's headquarters were
reached by the Confederate artillery and the old Chancellor House,
filled with the wounded, was knocked to pieces and set on fire. The
women and children and slaves of the Chancellor family were shivering in
its cellar while the shells were hurling its bricks and timbers in
murderous fury on the helpless wounded who lay in hundreds in the yard.
The men from both armies rushed into this hell and carried the wounded
to a place of safety.
General Hooker was wounded and the report flew over the Federal army
that he had been killed. To allay their fears the General had himself
lifted into the saddle and rode down his lines and out of sight, when he
was taken unconscious from his horse.
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