A SUDDEN CONVERSION, SUICIDE IN HAWAII, SYLVESTER KEYS, AND THE WELLINGTON GORGE

 

King Peter I.

Cortland Semi-Weekly Standard, Friday, June 19, 1903.

A SUDDEN CONVERSION.

Servian Editor Laid Aside Predilection For a Republic

IN ORDER TO SAVE HIS HEAD.

Was Then Made Minister of Justice. Thought That the New Government Will Be a Military Dictatorship and That King Peter Will Be Only a Royal Captive.

   Belgrade, June 17.—The position of King Peter I promises to be little more than that of a royal captive. The real government of the country will be a military dictatorship under the leaders of the revolution, Colonel Maschin and Colonel Mitschitsch. The new king is almost without any adherents, and the ruling spirits of the army, it is thought probable, would just as readily murder him as they did his predecessor, should he oppose their aims.

   At the present moment the whole country is under military rule and although no prefects in the country districts have been removed, each is accompanied by an army officer who attends the prefect wherever he goes. There has been no disorder however.

   Extremely forcible arguments were found necessary to suppress the Radical aspirations for a republic. The foremost advocate of a republican form of government was Ljubomir Schiokovics, editor of the Belgrade Odjek. Finding him impervious to arguments, the conspirators invited him to a dinner at the Officer’s club. His hosts told him that unless he agreed to support King Peter there would be one head less in Belgrade. The editor yielded to the force of this reasoning and accepted the situation. He is now minister of justice in the new government.

   The deliberations of the members of the senate and skupshtina on the question of a republic were materially hastened by the attendance of Colonel Mitschitch. He took no part in the proceedings, but his presence was significant enough to induce the members to accept the army’s choice.

   Premier Avakumovics told the deputies that it was useless to talk of a republic, as neither Russia nor Austria would permit it. He further urged that the proposed new constitution would give King Peter far less power that that enjoyed by the president of the United States.

   In spite of the semi-official statements that the delegations of the national assembly, elected to submit the crown to the newly chosen king, had already started, the delegates are still here. The government declares that the number of its members, 24, would entail too great cost on the country in the way of traveling expenses, but the real reason of the delay in its departure is that the government found some of its members to be adverse to King Peter.

   These members sought the opportunity to become reconciled to him at the expense of the country. Now that the ministry has cut off their traveling expenses their desire to make the journey will be greatly diminished and the delegates will probably consist of a dozen members at most.

   Inquiries in official circles everywhere elicit the assurance that the people are delighted with the action of the government, but conversations heard in public places indicate that the people, especially those living outside the capital, know little and care little about the trend of national politics.

   It is believed that the army will try to make secret terms with the new king by which it will retain the supremacy gained by the tragedy, but whether the king will agree to the conditions is uncertain.

   One of the highest officials of the present government asked a number of foreign journalists what Europe thought of the way in which the Servian revolution was carried out. He was told bluntly that it was considered a brutal act. He thereupon explained that from his point of view the assassinations of the king and queen were an act of mercy, as by utterly destroying the dynasty instead of deporting the sovereigns, the likelihood of a civil war was precluded.

 

Czar Nicholas II.

Czar’s Congratulations.

   Geneva, June 17.—The czar has telegraphed to King Peter as follows: “Learning that the senate and the skupshtina had formally proclaimed you King of Servia I venture to express to your majesty sincere wishes for the prosperity of your country and the hope that God may come to your assistance in the enterprise you have undertaken for the happiness of your people. NICHOLAS.”

 

AMERICAN’S SUICIDE IN HAWAII.

E. R. Newman of Ithaca Kills Himself at Honolulu.

   Honolulu, June 9, via San Francisco, June 16.—Edwin R. Newman, formerly of Ithaca, N. Y., committed suicide on June 5 by shooting himself through the head. Newman first came to the islands in 1887 as druggist on the United States ship Vandalia and settled here as a druggist.

   After two years he returned to Ithaca, but came back here four months ago and brought a stock of drugs. He found that a new law required an examination in pharmacy which he could not pass. He tried to sell his stock of drugs but failed, and it is thought that in a fit of depression he took his life. The very afternoon before he shot himself the other druggists had agreed to buy his stock, but he did not know of it. His remains have been cremated and will be sent to Ithaca. He left a widow and two children.  

 

SYLVESTER KEYS

A Strange Death—Post Mortem Held—Further Examination.

   Sylvester Keyes died at about 2:30 o’clock Tuesday afternoon at the home of M. B. Austin, 4 East-ave., Cortland, N. Y. His age was about 70 years.

   Mr. Keyes has had a room at this house for some time, engaging it from month to month. Very little is known about his family except that he has a wife and several children living somewhere, but he himself has been a resident of Cortland for several years. Two years ago he drove the horse for Dr. C. D. Ver Nooy for a couple of months and seemed to be a peaceable old man.

   About a week ago Mr. Keys returned from a visit with friends in Marathon and from that time has not been well. He complained of suffering much pain in one shoulder and said it hurt him. One eye was blackened. He offered no explanation, however, as to how these came about. As the days passed his speech became more and more unintelligible and his tongue seemed paralyzed. He was unable to swallow anything except liquids, and even medicine in form of tablets he could not swallow. At times his mind seemed clouded and even the attempts at speaking showed that he was irrational.

   Death came Tuesday and the next morning a post mortem examination was made by Dr. Ver Nooy assisted by Dr. Carpenter at the request of Coroner Dr. Santee. An abscess was found that extended from the base of the brain clear down between the heart and lungs. This would account for the inability to speak and to swallow, and the absorption of pus from this caused blood poisoning which was the cause of death.

   But the cause of the abscess is now the perplexing question. It would seem to have resulted from an injury, a blow perhaps, and the black eye which he had would also indicate a blow. Whether this blow was the result of an accident or of intent is the question that will probably be investigated by the coroner.

   Dr. Ver Nooy says that from his acquaintance with the deceased two years ago he knows that he was one of the class who have no confidence in banks. He has told him that he never deposited any money in a bank, but always carried on his person whatever he possessed. When he died he had about $100 in his clothing.

   The matter is now being investigated.

 

THE WELLINGTON GORGE.

A Beautiful Spot and One Little Known to the Public.

   One of our subscribers calls attention to the fact that one of the most beautiful spots in this county and also one of the least generally known is the gorge or canyon that extends from the Wellington farm house between Cortland and McGraw back up into the hill for 3/4 of a mile. It extends through a deep grove of hemlock trees. Part way up the gorge is a cave large enough for a man to crawl through. In the early days of the settlement of Cortland County a man named Thompson killed a panther there and her young ones, and for that reason it has since been known as the panther’s cave. Fifteen rods below is a spring of exceedingly pure and cold water, and above the cave is a narrow canyon with very high walls upon each side. There are several pretty waterfalls up the canyon. High on the rocks upon one side of the canyon are three large letters. They seem to have been carved in the rock by an expert, but how he reached the place is a query, for the place is higher up than the tallest building in Cortland, and there is nothing near it to give a foothold while performing the work.

   Over forty years ago Artemus Ward and his friend Jack Ryder visited this place, and the former was so much pleased with it that he wrote an interesting item about it for the old Gazette and Banner, a newspaper then published in Cortland, The trolley cars on the McGraw line pass very near the entrance to this gorge.

 

ELECTION OF A KING, FOR A STRONG NAVY, COLUMBIA AND THE PANAMA CANAL, AND GADDING GIRLS

 

King Peter I.

Cortland Semi-Weekly Standard, Friday, June 19, 1903.

ELECTION OF A KING.

Servian Parliament Took Up the Matter Today.

DESIRE FOR A NEW CONSTITUTION.

Murdered Premier Resigned A Few Hours Before His Assassination. Differed With the King as to Arrest of Opposition Leaders and Editors. Autopsy on King’s Body.

   Belgrade, June 15.—Politicians and members of the skupschtina have been holding conferences, and while there are rumors of minor differences the election of Prince Karageorgevitch appears absolutely assured.

   The skupschtina and the senate met jointly at 9 o’clock this morning. It is stated that the ministry desired that the skupschtina should immediately proceed to elect the king by acclamation. The members of the senate and the skupschtina, however, would prefer that a new constitution be adopted first.

   The Radical leaders have prepared a platform for the new constitution on the lines of that of 1888. The chief points are: the King shall not be the commander of the army; the civil and military authorities must swear allegiance to the constitution and not to the king; universal suffrage and the abolition of the senate.

Liberal Constitution Approved.

   The constitution of 1888 is of a very liberal character and its adoption was approved at a conference held Sunday of the ministers and many deputies.

   The provisional government has received reports from all parts of the country stating that order prevails.

   Congratulatory addresses have been received by the ministry from a large number of country districts expressing in the warmest terms thanks for its patriotic action at such a critical moment and hoping that it will carry matters to a successful ending.

   The foreign ministry has also received satisfactory dispatches from London, Paris, Berlin, and Rome, all saying that the governments there have not the slightest intention of intervening in Servia’s internal affairs and expressing the hope that peace and order in the political situation will soon be restored.

   It is now known that the murdered Premier Markovics resigned his portfolio only a few hours before his assassination. His action was the result over a difference of opinion with King Alexander concerning the meeting of the skupschtina.

   The king, fearing disturbances, proposed to the premier that the leading members and the editors of the opposition parties should be arrested before the opening session of parliament, and later tried on the charge of lese majeste, or disturbing public order.

   M. Markovics did not oppose the arrest of these men, but objected to the after procedure and therefore resigned. On returning home he told his wife that he brought good news; that he had resigned his post.

   Many people visited the cemeteries and the royal vault Sunday afternoon and persons were heard saying that what had happened was good and necessary for the nation.

   Twenty graves were dug by the troops immediately after the assassinations but only the bodies of two officers and that of General Petrovics were buried therein. At his widow’s request the remains of the general were afterwards removed by night to his family vault. The bodies of Premier General Markovics and his son-in-law Captain Milkovics were buried in their own graves. The widow of the later was accouched of a son almost at the moment her husband was murdered.

Queen Lived In Deadly Fear.

   It seems that Queen Draga in an audience with the foreign minister a few weeks ago said she lived in deadly fear not knowing what day or night might bring forth. She knew, she added, that she was hated by the people and that King Alexander was also detested by his subjects, and she was convinced that the country would prove too strong for both of them.

   Various reports are in circulation regarding the value of the queen’s estate. It has been said to amount to $2,200,000, chiefly invested in her sister’s name in Switzerland and Belgium. A commission is now engaged in making an inventory of the property of the royal couple and it is thought probable that the total private estate of both will be found not to exceed half the sum mentioned.

   The autopsy on the king’s body showed that he had a skull of extraordinary thickness of 11 millimeters, whereas the skulls of the strongest men usually measure only six millimeters. The brain was found to be in a catarrhal state and the liver unusually large and surrounded by fat, indicating that the king was an excessive eater and drinker.

 

Theodore Roosevelt.

FOR A STRONG NAVY.

Purport of President’s Speech at University of Virginia.

   Charlottesville, Va., June 17.—President Roosevelt wound up his tour of the continent in a visit to the University of Virginia. It was alumni day and the occasion was made memorable by the presence of the president and many men distinguished in public life, some of them graduates of the university. The reception accorded the president was a particularly warm one.

   The president when he arrived was escorted direct to the university grounds and in the famous rotunda building, standing near the statue of Thomas Jefferson, the father of the university, he held a reception. Thence he was escorted to the public hall where he delivered his principal address. Later at a luncheon in the gymnasium he responded to the toast: ‘The United States.”

   Others who replied to toasts were Senator J. W. Daniel, “Virginia;” W. R. Meredith, Richmond, “Our Alma Mater;” Ambassador McCormack, our representative in Russia, “The Louisiana Purchase;” Henry P. Pritchard, president of the Boston School of Technology, “Our Sister Institutions,” and Thomas Nelson Page, “The President.”

   At the conclusion of the luncheon the president and Mrs. Roosevelt mounted horses and rode out to Monticello, the home of Jefferson, where they and others were entertained and at 7 o’clock the special train left for Washington.

   In replying to the toast “The United States” Mr. Roosevelt said in part:

   “I want to say just one word to you in reference to our foreign relations. I want the United States to conduct itself in foreign affairs as you of Virginia believe a private gentleman should conduct himself among his fellows. I ask that we handle ourselves with a view never to wrong the weak and never to submit to injury from the strong. Another thing, a gentleman does not boast, bluster, bully; he does not insult others. I do not wish us ever as a nation to take a position from which we have to retreat. Do not let us assume any position unless we are prepared to say that we have got to keep it.”

   The president then made a strong plea in favor of a powerful navy, in this connection saying:

   I ask that there be no halt in the building up and keeping up of the navy. Not because I wish war—I most earnestly wish and will strive for peace—but because such a navy is the surest guaranty of peace and if, which Heaven forbid, war should come, the guaranty furthermore that the war shall end leaving undimmed the record upon which is written the feats of Americans in arms. I ask you for your assistance in continuing to build up the navy.”

   Continuing the president said:

   “I hope and believe that we shall not as a nation in our time ever have to go to war, and the surest way to invite war is to be opulent, aggressive and unarmed. Now we are opulent and aggressive. Let us avoid being unarmed. Let us so conduct our governmental affairs that it shall never be said that we made a threat which we were unable to back up. Do not make threats at all, but if it becomes necessary to say what in a certain contingency we are going to do, say it and then do it.”

 

PAGE FOUR—EDITORIAL.

Columbia and the Panama Canal.

   The opposition on the part of Columbia to the ratification of the Hay-Herran treaty for the construction of the Panama canal seems to have taken a new form. It is not reported from Bogota that the anti-ratification party will claim that the French canal company had no rights and consequently nothing to sell to the united States.

   When the original concession to the French company expired in 1898 it was renewed by President Saclamente for seven years for a consideration of $1,000,000. It is now claimed that this bargain was never ratified by the Columbian congress, and hence there was no sale, although the money was paid and the goods delivered. An emergency clause of the constitution gives the president the right in time of war to do what he deems best for the general welfare. Columbia was at that time at peace with all foreign nations, though a revolution was in full blast within her own borders.

   Even if it should be held that this latter condition was a state of war and that the president was thus acting within his legal rights, it is further urged by the anti-ratification party that, according to the constitution, all emergency acts of the president must be ratified at the next session of congress. There has been no session since the renewal of the French concession, and this is taken as another ground for asserting that the French title is not valid and that all French rights and property revert to the Columbian government under the terms of the original concession.

   Apparently certain Columbians think they see a chance for the government to pocket the $40,000,000 which this country agreed to pay for the French franchise instead of the smaller sum agreed upon in the pending treaty. According to the terms of the extension, the canal must be completed in 1905. Failing that, Columbia would succeed to the French company’s rights and privileges and be at liberty to dispose of them as she saw fit.

   To a country whose normal condition is bankruptcy this sort of argument appeals with much force, and it remains to be seen whether it will be effective in preventing the ratification of the Hay-Herran agreement.

   It is well, however, that Uncle Sam has two strings to his isthmian canal bow. If the negotiations with Columbia fall through, the deal can be made for the Nicaragua route, as that country would welcome rather than obstruct the construction of the waterway through its territory.

 

William Allen White.

GADDING GIRLS.

What William Allen White of Kansas Thinks on this Subject.

   People who have noticed the congregation of young girls and boys who frequent Cortland’s streets in the evening will read with interest how William Allen White, editor of the Emporia Gazette, Kan., handles this subject out West:

   “The mothers of this town have had a lesson—but it doesn’t seem to have done them any good. There are just as many girls gadding around town after school now, getting their mail from private boxes in the postoffice as there were ten days ago. Two years ago The Gazette went after the mothers of Emporia for neglecting their daughters, and the result was that half a dozen private mail boxes were discontinued and a lot of little girls that were in the habit of gadding too much were kept in for a time.

   “These girls are now developing into fine young women, but another crop of gadding girls has come on and The Gazette hopes no one’s modesty will be shocked by saying that these little hussies ought to be spanked good and red. They are between 14 and 17 years old and are just so everlastingly boy-struck that they can’t sit still. If their mothers knew the type of boys and men—young human pups—these girls are running with their mothers would throw fits.

   “But their mothers know nothing of the situation. They think their little girls are so sweet and pure that nothing can harm them. The truth is that these children are made of the same kind of mud that we all are made of and they are just as liable to temptation as older people and a thousand times less experienced. And their mothers let them gad Commercial-st. after school and flirt with all kinds of men, and then their mothers wonder how the devil got them and think the girls must ‘take after’ their fathers.

   “There are just two things that will keep girls straight at ‘that age;’ one is plain clothes and the other is home duties. The girls who make fools of themselves in Emporia are invariably overdressed. They were duds that women of 30 should hesitate about wearing.

   “A little girl with too many and too costly clothes on her back gets self-conscious and vain and loves admiration—and you grown-up women know the next step. A simple pure-hearted girl who has a place in a home and home duties has her heart there and no boy can steal it. Only when maturity comes and a real man comes and a real affair of her heart comes, will such a girl leave home, and then only after heartaches and heartrending. But a girl whose place in the home is at the table and in bed won’t love that home.

   “Work makes things sacred. The child whose home memories are not hallowed by work, who is not needed and does not feel the need, will not love home. And if she doesn’t love the home of her girlhood she will love no other. She will go anywhere for anything. Home will mean nothing to such a woman, and if she is respectable she will only lack the opportunity to be a bad woman, and is good only through circumstances or by the necessity of an ugly face.  She will curse any man she marries. The mothers of this town who are responsible for the girls who gad Commercial-st. should stop and think what they are doing. These girls are no longer children. They are at the impressionable age. Where will you have their impression come from—from the riff-raff of the street or from home? It is for the mothers of this town to settle the question.”

 

WAR REMINISCENCES: CHAPTER 22

 

Captain William Saxton, Company C, 157th Regiment, New York Volunteers.

Wikipedia map.

Cortland Semi-Weekly Standard, Tuesday, June 16, 1903.

WAR REMINISCENCES.

By Captain Saxton of the 157th Regiment, N. Y. Vols.

THE SPRING CAMPAIGN OPENS.

Roads Lined With Surplus Baggage—The Geographical Location Near Chancellorsville—A Captured Rebel’s Diary—General Hooker’s Fatal Error, Thought There Was Time Enough—Preparations for Battle of Chancellorsville.

CHAPTER 22.

   To the Editor of the Standard:

   Sir—April 27, 1863.— Our company had been sent on picket the night before, but we took everything with us, besides eight days’ rations in our haversacks and knapsacks.

   This morning the pickets were called together and joined the column as it marched by. We marched west and camped at Hartwood church.

Throwing Away Baggage.

   We had just come out of comfortable winter quarters and the boys had taken along overcoats, blankets, and a good many other things they did not like to abandon. Then too we had eight days’ rations, eighty rounds of cartridges to carry, a sufficient load in itself. The day was very warm, and as we trudged along the load seemed heavier and heavier. When we stopped to rest the time was occupied by the men in looking over their belongings and seeing what could be dispensed with, and when we marched on, the roadside was lined with all sorts of abandoned articles that the soldiers upon second consideration had decided they could get along without and were not actually obliged to have. This culling process continued all that day and the next, and I do not think I exaggerate a particle in saying that I saw more overcoats, blankets, clothing and trinkets thrown away on the first two days of that march than could be stored in all the store rooms in this town. When the army had passed by, this abandoned property in most part was gathered up by the few inhabitants in wagon loads and a great part of it eventually found its way into the rebel army. I clung to my overcoat, wool blanket and rubber blanket and our boys roasted me for carrying such a load, but I can assure you that when the all night cold rain of May 5 came, the same boys who had not been killed or wounded and were with the regiment, were wonderfully glad to share the protection that these blankets and overcoat afforded.

Strategic Position.

   At this time General Lee’s lines extended from Port Royal fifteen miles below Fredericksburg to a few miles above, along the Rappahannock [river]. Jackson’s corps occupied the extreme right, but the bulk of Lee’s army was behind entrenchments south of Fredericksburg. Longstreet with two of his divisions, Hood’s and Picket’s, and some artillery was away south of Petersburg. Lee had 60,000 men and 170 pieces of artillery. Stuart’s cavalry was mostly on the upper Rappahannock guarding the fords and scouting. General Hooker had seven infantry corps with accompanying artillery and one corps of cavalry. His force of all arms amounted to about 120,000. These men were encamped within a radius of ten miles around Falmouth, a little hamlet half a mile up the river from opposite Fredericksburg.

Proposed Movement.

   It was General Hooker’s intention to send General Sedgwick and the Sixth Corps together with the First Corps (Reynolds’) and the Third Corps (Sickles’) below Fredericksburg, cross the river and make strong demonstrations as though the whole army were to cross there and make the main attack. While this was being done he would march the Eleventh Corps (Howard’s), the Twelfth Corps (Slocum’s) and the Fifth Corps (Mead’s) rapidly west on different roads back out of sight of the enemy at Kelley’s ford, twenty miles above Falmouth, there to cross the Rappahannock, then march east twelve miles, cross the Rapidan river at Germania ford and concentrate at  Chancellorsville; Couch with two divisions of the Second Corps, Hancock’s and French’s, was to march to the rear of Bank’s ford ready to cross when Hooker’s move had uncovered it. Reynolds’ and Sickles’ Corps to be taken from Sedgwick and marched to United States ford to join Hooker as soon as that crossing would be uncovered. General Stoneman with two brigades of cavalry, Averill’s and Beauford’s was to cross at Kelley’s ford, move south and capture Gordonsville and Culpepper, then move east and cut the railroad between Lee and Richmond. Stoneman’s other brigade of cavalry, Pleasanton’s, was to accompany Hooker. This movement, as I have previously noted, commenced on the part of the right wing on Monday morning, the 27.

The Lay of the Land.

   In order to clearly understand the movements that led up to the battle of Chancellorsville it will be necessary to study the map of this part of Virginia somewhat. The Rappahannock at its usual stage is fordable at several points. Bank’s ford is about five miles above Falmouth. The United States ford is about five miles above Bank’s and one mile below the junction of the Rapidan with the Rappahannock, which joins from the southwest. Kelley’s ford is ten miles above the United States ford. The Rapidan has two fords—Germania at Germania Mills, twelve miles southeast from Kelley’s ford, and Ely’s ford, two mile further down the stream. From each of these fords there is a road leading to Chancellorsville, distant about ten miles. Chancellorsville, which consists of the Chancellor houses and buildings only, is about ten miles west of Fredericksburg, and five miles south of United States ford.

   April 28, Tuesday.—Reveille sounded at 3 a. m. with orders to move at 4, but we did not go till daylight. Passed by Grovewood church. It commenced to rain before noon and we had a hard march.

   Camped two miles north of Kelley’s ford on the Rappahannock. I hunted up the One Hundred and Fifty-four New York and found my cousin Henry Gould.

The Army on the Move.

   When I got back I found our regiment was striking tents. We marched down near the ford and lay down till the pontoon bridge was completed.

   One brigade was already guarding the ford since Stoneman’s first move. The pontoons were unloaded in a creek behind a bluff out of sight. Part of the One Hundred Fifty-fourth New York and the Seventy-third Pennsylvania pushed across the river in boats and drove away the pickets; then the balance of the two regiments crossed over and held the banks while the pontoons were being laid.

   We crossed the Rappahannock about midnight expecting to run amuck Mr. “Johnny Reb” but did not. We marched until 3 a. m., then lay down till daylight.

   That night the left wing moved from its camp and took up a position two miles below Fredericksburg where Franklin had crossed in December.

   April 29, Wednesday.—Got breakfast at 6. Saw a squad of rebel cavalry on a hill to the right taking observations. The colonel galloped toward them about half way, took out his field glass and looked them over, when they made a dash and chased him back.

A Captured Rebel’s Diary.

   The Twelfth Corps crossed over, followed by Stoneman’s cavalry and the Fifth Corps. The wagon trains were sent back and parked near Bank’s and United States fords. Pleasanton with two regiments of cavalry and one battery of horse artillery marched directly to Germania ford on the Rapidan, surprised and captured a picket of fifty of Stuart’s cavalry boys. Among them was an engineer officer in whose diary it was stated that Jackson, Hill, Early and Stuart had had a council previously and concluded that the next battle would be fought at Chancellorsville and that that place must be prepared.

   We marched on at noon, struck a plank road toward night, passed a few houses where women stood in the doorways and told us we would be marching the other way in less than a week. Crossed the Rapidan at 11 p. m. on some timbers that had been laid from rock to rock.

   The Fifth Corps (Mead’s), preceded by one regiment of cavalry, crossed the Rapidan at Ely’s ford nearer the Rappahannock. General Couch marched two divisions of his Corps (the Second) from their camp to the rear of Bank’s ford. Stoneman’s cavalry, with the exception of Pleasanton’s brigade, started on their raid.

   Down on the left wing before daylight Brook’s division of the Sixth Corps crossed the Rappahannock in boats two miles below Fredericksburg and Wadsworth’s division of the First crossed a mile further down at Pollock’s Mills in the same manner. Bridges were ready by daylight and the remainder of the two corps were marched over and some entrenchments thrown up on the plain protected by artillery from the north side.

The Halt at Chancellorsville.

   April 30, Thursday.—It rained during the night and we got quite wet. We marched on at 11 a. m. My feet got dreadfully sore and blistered. Halted for the night in an open field about two miles west of Chancellorsville and eight or ten from the ford.

   The three corps were massed around Chancellorsville that night where Hooker made his headquarters and said “I have Lee’s army in one hand and Richmond in the other.” He promulgated the following order:

   “General Order No. 47, Headquarters Army of the Potomac, camp near Falmouth, Va., April 30, 1863. It is with heartfelt satisfaction that the commanding general announces to the army that the operations of the last three days have determined that our enemy must either ingloriously fly or come out from behind his defenses and give us battle on our own ground where certain destruction awaits him.

   “The operations of the Fifth, Eleventh and Twelfth corps have been a succession of splendid achievements.

   “By command of Maj. Gen. Hooker, S. Williams, Asst. Adj. Gen.”

Didn’t Read His Bible.

   Probably General Hooker had not read the twentieth chapter of Kings for his lesson that morning. In the eleventh verse it says, “Let not him that girdeth up his harness, boast himself as he that putteth it off.”

   We had marched in between Stuart’s cavalry and Lee, and Stoneman’s raid had prevented their communication.

   Pleasanton captured a courier from Lee to McLaws saying he (Lee) had heard that the Union army had concentrated around Chancellorsville and asked why McLaws did not send him word and ordered him to report at headquarters.  

Procrastination the Fatal Error.

   Pleasanton gave Hooker the engineer’s diary and this message from Lee at 2 p. m. and advised him to anticipate Lee’s attack and march three or four miles on towards Fredericksburg which would take him out of the woods into more open country. This move also would have uncovered Bank’s ford, which would shorten the distance to Sedgwick ten miles. Hooker considered it would be time enough to make the move in the morning. When morning came the conditions had changed and Hooker had lost a great opportunity. At night Pleasanton agin went to him and suggested that he move the Eleventh Corps out of its miserable position in the woods and send them to Spotsylvania 8 miles south in more open country and form a line of battle from there to Chancellorsville, to which he did not acquiesce. Pleasanton then suggested that he send some cavalry there and see what was going on outside, to which he consented, and the Sixth New York, under Lt. Col. McVicar, was sent there after dark. They met nothing in going, but in coming back they found the Fifth Virginia cavalry with Stuart and his staff thrown across their patch to prevent their returning. The charge was immediately sounded and they cut their way through and returned to camp, losing their commander—killed. The result of this reconnaissance was reported to Hooker in the morning.

   General Couch with two divisions of his (Second) corps moved up to the United States ford and crossed. At night the Third Corps under Sickles was detached from Sedgwick’s left wing and ordered to march via the United States ford and join Hooker.

A Study in Geography.

   The country around Chancellorsville is uneven and covered with stunted underbrush, in some places very difficult of penetrating—a veritable wilderness with here and there an opening or a small farm. To the north is an opening named White House. Looking south around Chancellorsville is an open space called Fairview. This opening extends to the southwest and connects with another on somewhat higher ground called Hazel Grove. Two miles west of Chancellorsville there are three or four small farms; in the south part is Dowdal’s tavern, at that time occupied by Melzi Chancellor and family. General Howard had his headquarters here. A little further north of Dowdal’s is the Wilderness church, and Hawkins’ farm is a little northwest of this. To the west of Dowdal’s is Tally’s. We camped on Hawkins’ farm near te church. The openings were altogether too small to handle the army of the Potomac. A turnpike road comes in at Dowdal’s from the direction of Germania ford and continues through Chancellorsville to Fredericksburg. The Orange Plank road from the southwest comes into this pike at Dowdal’s and continues to Chancellorsville, then turns south through Fairview and bends around to the southeast coming in again near Tabernacle church about 3 miles east of Chancellorsville and 7 miles west of Fredericksburg. A road also comes in to Chancellorsville from the northeast from Bank’s ford. On the north of Chancellorsville a road comes in from Ely’s ford and one from United States ford which unites at White House and running on through Chancellorsville and Fairview, and continues southwest through Hazel Grove to the Catherine furnace a mile and a half south. Here was an east and a west road which came into the plank road farther east. Still Farther south was another parallel road at Wolford’s farm.

   I speak of these roads and openings because they were utilized to a great extent during the next few days. So please reread and get them properly located in your mind. W. S.