and is beautifully illustrated in an army fighting without orders.  I am told, my son, on very good authority, that these “first principles,” as applied to fighting battles, never were better developed than at Chancellorville.  I am afraid, my son, we shall never get a complete and accurate history of that extraordinary battle, for the reason that no historian will be found capable of describing it.  It is certain that the battle had not raged long when our army was in a state of uncertainty and confusion.  Sometimes the fight was between different brigades or divisions of our own troops, who were as often brought face to face.  The enemy liked this, for it helped him to fight the battle without reinforcements, and saved him a deal of trouble and loss.  When we had got a great many men killed in this way, and a great many more severely hurt, the great question arose as to who had won the battle, and who got whipped.  There can be little doubt as to the impression made on General Lee’s mind on this point.  General Hooker was sure he had gained a great victory, and yet he was not so sure.  I say he was not so sure, since he found it necessary, before settling the question, to withdraw his army to his old quarters on the other side of the river.  It is clear that the general’s reflections would be less disturbed in his old quarters, and, with a river separating him from the enemy, he could form a more correct judgment as to whether he had beaten the enemy, or the enemy had beaten him.  Feeling, however, that it would not do to let it get out that the enemy had beaten him, he resolved that it must be true that he had beaten the enemy.  This was about the most accommodating settlement he could arrive at.  But, accepting this in good faith, I never could see the necessity for our haste to get back to our old quarters on the hills, notwithstanding the general’s friends said it looked like rain, and he was anxious to get his army over before the shower came on.  I have noticed, also, that the rebel army, when beaten, generally fell back in the direction of Richmond.  In this instance, however, he held his positions, beat his drums, blew his horns, fluttered his flags, and was altogether the most defiant of vanquished enemies.  I noticed, also, that this vanquished enemy packed his knapsacks, put his ammunition in order, and marched off, not backwards, in the direction of Richmond, but forward, in the direction of the North.

Yes, my son, the enemy marched defiantly into Pennsylvania, and sent the peaceable Dutchmen in that remote part of the country into a state of great alarm.  And this I accept as the best proof that the rebels were not beaten at Chancellorville.  I am sure, also, that General Hooker had sufficient reason to share this opinion with me.  He always had the rebels just where he wanted them, and yet I observed that he failed to bring them to a stand before they got on the free soil of Pennsylvania.  Every honest Dutchman in the State was convinced in his own mind that General Hooker, if he had been the general he ought to be, should have driven the enemy into some remote corner of Virginia, and kept him there.