within the intrenchments at Hazel Grove.  All was going well.  A desultory firing broke out at intervals to the eastward, but it was not sustained; and three miles to the south, where, as Hooker believed, in pursuit of Jackson, Sickles and Pleasonton were, the reports of their cannon, growing fainter and fainter as they pushed further south, betokened no more than a lively skirmish.  The quiet of the Wilderness, save for those distant sounds, was undisturbed, and men and animals, free from every care, were enjoying the calm of the summer evening.  It was about half-past six.  Suddenly the cannonade swelled to a heavier roar, and the sound came from a new direction.  All were listening intently, speculating on what this might mean, when a staff-officer, who had stepped out to the front of the house and was looking down the plank road with his glass, exclaimed:  “My God, here they come!” Hooker sprang upon his horse; and riding rapidly down the road, met the stragglers of the Eleventh Corps—­men, waggons, and ambulances, an ever-increasing crowd—­rushing in blind terror from the forest, flying they knew not whither.  The whole of the right wing, they said, overwhelmed by superior numbers, was falling back on Chancellorsville, and Stonewall Jackson was in hot pursuit.

The situation had changed in the twinkling of an eye.  Just now congratulating himself on the complete success of his manoeuvres, on the retreat of his enemies, on the flight of Jackson and the helplessness of Lee, Hooker saw his strong intrenchments taken in reverse, his army scattered, his reserves far distant, and the most dreaded of his opponents, followed by his victorious veterans, within a few hundred yards of his headquarters.  His weak point had been found, and there were no troops at hand wherewith to restore the fight.  The centre was held only by the two brigades of the Twelfth Corps at the Fairview Cemetery.  The works at Hazel Grove were untenanted, save by a few batteries and a handful of infantry.  The Second and Fifth Corps on the left were fully occupied by McLaws, for Lee, at the first sound of Jackson’s guns, had ordered a vigorous attack up the pike and the plank road.  Sickles, with 20,000 men, was far away, isolated and perhaps surrounded, and the line of retreat, the road to United States Ford, was absolutely unprotected.

Messengers were dispatched in hot haste to recall Sickles and Pleasonton to Hazel Grove.  Berry’s division, forming the reserve north-east of the Chancellor House, was summoned to Fairview, and Hays’ brigade of the Second Corps ordered to support it.  But what could three small brigades, hurried into position and unprotected by intrenchments, avail against 25,000 Southerners, led by Stonewall Jackson, and animated by their easy victory?  If Berry and Hays could stand fast against the rush of fugitives, it was all that could be expected; and as the uproar in the dark woods swelled to a deeper volume, and the yells of the Confederates, mingled with the crash of the musketry, were borne to his ears, Hooker must have felt that all was lost.  To make matters worse, as Pleasonton, hurrying back with his cavalry, arrived at Hazel Grove, the trains of the Third Army Corps, fired on by the Confederate skirmishers, dashed wildly across the clearing, swept through the parked artillery, and, breaking through the forest, increased the fearful tumult which reigned round Chancellorsville.