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.

Sedgwick was fighting his way with desperation now to force Marye's
Heights and strike Lee's rear.

Once more the stone wall blazed with death for the gallant men in blue.
They dashed themselves against it wave on wave, only to fall back in
confusion. They tried to flank it and failed. Hour after hour the mad
charges rolled against this hill and broke in deep red pools at its
base. There were but nine thousand men holding it against forty
thousand, but it was afternoon before the grey lines slowly gave way and
Sedgwick's victorious troops poured over the hill toward Lee's lines.
Hooker had asked him to appear at daylight. The long rows and mangled
heaps of the dead left on Marye's bloody slopes was sufficient answer to
all inquiries as to his delay.

But the way was still blocked. The receding line of grey was suddenly
supported by Early's division detached from Lee's reserves. Again
Sedgwick was stopped and fought until dark.

[Illustration: "Waving his plumed hat ... he put himself at the head of
his troops and charged."]

As the sun was sinking over the smoke-wreathed spring-clothed trees of
the wilderness, Stuart gathered Jackson's corps for a desperate assault
on Hooker's last line of defense. Waving his plumed hat high above his
handsome bearded face, he put himself at the head of his troops and
charged, chanting with boyish enthusiasm his improvised battle song:

"Old--Joe--Hooker,
Won't you come out o' the Wilderness!
Come out o' the Wilderness!
Come out o' the Wilderness!

Old--Joe--Hooker--
Come out o' the Wilderness--
Come--come--I say!"

The cheering grey waves swept all before them and left Lee in full
possession of Chancellorsville and the whole position the Federal army
had originally held.

As the Confederates rolled on, driving the fiercely fighting men in blue
before them, Lee himself rode forward to encourage his men and then it
happened--the thing for which the great have fought, and longed, and
dreamed since time dawned--the spontaneou