May 6, 1863, The New York Herald
THE GENERAL ENGAGEMENT.
THE LATEST REPORTS FROM THE BATTLE FIELD.
NEAR THE BATTLE FIELD, MONDAY NIGHT, May 4, 1863.
Heavy firing in the direction of Chancellorsville began at an early hour today, and has continued ever since. There has been a great battle in that immediate vicinity. Large reinforcements had come up for the enemy, apparently from Richmond, which seems to render it probable that the railroad had not been cut. In regard to what has been done in this expedition to cut the railroad, and as to the whereabouts of General Stoneman, all in doubt and uncertainty. No positive advises of the success of the expedition have been received. We have only rumors and hopes. Had General Stoneman’s force met with disaster we would have heard of it from the enemy men. But, had it not, we ought to have heard of it in another way, and very practically before this.
Doubtless this failure in respect to time was severe on the plans of General Hooker. Another delay was perhaps not less so. General Hooker expected assistance from the Sixth corps in the fight on Sunday. He expected that that corps would carry the heights of Fredericksburg by coup de main at or before daylight, march immediately down the plank road and fall upon the enemy’s rear. Had this been done the Sixth corps would have assaulted the rebel rear at the very time that the rebels were temporarily successful against Hooker’s right. A corps on their rear at such a time would have changed the face of affairs immensely. But the heights were found to be a greater obstacle than they had been thought – and it seems very strange that they should have been under estimated when the measure of their strength was so completely taken in December last.
Reports from the field are favorable, and we feel every confidence that General Hooker will be able to hold his position in front of Ely’s ford, which, though his right is swayed back somewhat, is essentially as dangerous a position for the enemy as the one he held at Chancellorsville. Beyond question, however, this must depend upon the extent to which the enemy has received or will receive reinforcements. They have the correct idea in this matter. They do not fear for the loss of Richmond if they can beat Hooker, and they send forward every man, reckless of every other result. And sometimes a battalion more or less has changed the face of a battle.
Large members of prisoners have been sent in. It is peculiarly difficult to form an estimate of the number of prisoners. You see them always in scattered groups at different times, and you are very apt to forget how large the groups were and how many you had seen. So the estimate is as wide as between four and eight thousand.
There is reason to suppose that General Hooker has today engaged the whole rebel army and fought one of the greatest battles of the war.
From a statement made here in reference to the fight at Fredericksburg, on Sunday that rebels were driven out of the first line of rifle pits, the impression has arisen that they still hold pits in the rear of those stormed by the Third division of the Sixth corps; but this impression is erroneous. They were driven out of the first, second and third lines, routed entirely from the whole place, and, though they made some offer to fight on the hills behind their works, they retreated upon the advance of our men and probably joined General Lee. There can be no qualification of the victory at Fredericksburg on Sunday. It was decisive and most important, and to speak of it as loss is to do gross injustice to Sedgwick, Newton, Shaler and the other gallant gentlemen who participated in the action. G.W.M.