The Campaign of Chancellorsville Author:Theodore Ayrault Dodge General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1881 Original Publisher: J.R. Osgood and Co. Description: Merely to characterize as ungenerous this aspersion upon the courage of such men as then served under Hooker savors of error on the side of leniency. Subjects: Chancellorsville, Battle of, Chancellorsville, Va., 1863 C... more »hancellorsville (Va.), Battle of, 1863 History / General History / General History / Military / General History / Military / United States History / Military / Other History / United States / General History / United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877) Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: V. DIFFICULTY OF AN ATTACK. AN attack of Lee's position in front, even had Burn- side's experience not demonstrated its folly, seemed to promise great loss of life without corresponding success. To turn his right flank required the moving of pontoon trains and artillery over the worst of roads for at least twenty miles, through a country cut up by a multitude of streams running across the route to be taken, and emptying into either the Potomac or Rappahannock; all requiring more or less bridging. Lee's spy system was excellent. It has been claimed in Southern reports, that his staff had deciphered our signal code by watching a station at Stafford. And Butterfield admits this in one of his despatches of May 3. He would speedily ascertain any such movement, and could create formidable intrenchments on one side the river, as fast as we could build or repair roads on which to move down, upon the other. Moreover, there was a thousand feet of stream to bridge at the first available place below Skenk- er's Neck. There remained nothing to do but to turn Lee's leftflank; and this co...« less