it covers the name of the Wilderness of Spotsylvania, and in its midst the Federal army was now involved.  Never was ground more unfavourable for the manoeuvres of a large army.  The timber was unusually dense.  The groves of pines were immersed in a sea of scrub-oak and luxuriant undergrowth.  The soil was poor.  Farms were rare, and the few clearings were seldom more than a rifle shot in width.  The woodland tracks were seldom travelled; streams with marshy banks and tortuous courses were met at frequent intervals, and the only debouchee towards Fredericksburg, the pike, the plank road, an unfinished line of railway a mile south of their junction, and the river road, about two miles north, were commanded from the Confederate position.

8 A.M.

When Jackson arrived upon the scene, Anderson, with the help of Lee’s engineers, had strongly intrenched the whole front.  A large force of artillery had already taken post.  The flanks of the line were covered; the right, which extended to near Duerson’s Mill, by Mott’s Run and the Rappahannock; the left, which rested on the unfinished railroad not far from Tabernacle Church, by the Massaponax Creek.  For the defence of this position, three miles in length, there were present 45,000 infantry, over 100 guns, and Fitzhugh Lee’s brigade of cavalry, a force ample for the purpose, and giving about nine men to the yard.  On the rolling ground eastward there was excellent cover for the reserves, and from the breastworks to the front the defiles, for such, owing to the density of the wood, were the four roads by which the enemy must approach, might be so effectively swept as to prevent him from deploying either artillery or infantry.

But Jackson was not disposed to await attack.  Only 10,000 men remained in the Fredericksburg lines to confront Sedgwick, and if that officer acted vigorously, his guns would soon be heard in rear of the lines at Tabernacle Church.  Work on the intrenchments was at once broken off, and the whole force was ordered to prepare for an immediate advance on Chancellorsville.

10.45 A.M.

Before eleven o’clock the rear brigades had closed up; and marching by the pike and the plank road, with a regiment of cavalry in advance, and Fitzhugh Lee upon the left, the Confederate army plunged resolutely into the gloomy depths of the great forest.  Anderson’s division led the way, one brigade on the pike, and two on the plank road; a strong line of skirmishers covered his whole front, and his five batteries brought up the rear.  Next in order came McLaws, together with the two remaining brigades of Anderson, moving by the pike, while Jackson’s three divisions were on the plank road.  The artillery followed the infantry.