e narrated were occurring, the "Harris Light" was
not idle. Under the command of their favorite Kilpatrick, they made a
dashing raid, and completely encircled the rebels under Lee, penetrating
to within seven miles of Richmond. Such duties as were assigned them
were effectively performed, and yet, General Hooker's object in
detaching his cavalry from the main army remained unaccomplished, either
by reason of General Stoneman's want of comprehension, or want of
energy. This general, instead of hurling his thirteen thousand troopers
like a thunderbolt upon the body of the Confederates, divided and
frittered away the strength under his command by detaching and
scattering it into mere scouting parties, to "raid on smoke-houses and
capture hen-roosts." General Hooker was very naturally exasperated by
this conduct. The detachment from the main army of such a splendid body
of horse, was a measure he had taken after mature deliberation, and with
the view of cutting off Lee's communications with Richmond; thus
precluding the possibility of his being reinforced during the grand
attack which Hooker contemplated upon that leader at Chancelorsville.

The Federal general attributed the loss of that battle in a great degree
to Stoneman's failure to carry out the spirit of his orders. In a letter
to the author, long after that field of carnage had bloomed and
blossomed with the flowers and fruits of Peace, when the heart-burning
and fever engendered by the contest had subsided, and it was possible to
obtain access to men's judgments, General Hooker wrote: "Soon after
Stonewall Jackson started to turn my right (a project of which I was
informed by a prisoner), I despatched a courier to my right corps
commander informing him of the intended movement, and instructing him to
put himself in readiness to receive the attack. This dispatch was dated
at nine o'clock A. M., and yet, when 'Stonewall' did attack, the men of
this corps had their arms stacked some distance from them, and were
busily engaged in cooking their supper. When the attack came these men
ran like a flock of sheep. _This_, in a wooded country, where a _corps_
ought to be able to check the advance of a large army. To make this more
clear, I must tell you that the corps commander, General Howard,
received the dispatch while on his bed, and, after reading it, put it in
his pocket, where it remained until after the battle of Gettysburg,
without communicating its contents to his di