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Turning the wrong direction on purpose

Date published: 6/22/2002

Part 16 of a series on the
1863 Battle of Chancellorsrville

WHEN INQUISITIVE Feder-
als under Gen. Daniel Sick-
les captured Col. Emory F. Best's Georgian rearguard not far south of Catharine Furnace, they bid fair to turn Confederate plans into a snarled tangle. Pushing south and then west in pursuit of the column led by Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson would turn the troop configurations into a sort of military club sandwich. Confederates marching on a supposedly secret route would have Federalists marching right behind them. In rear of those Yankees, more Confederates stood near where Jackson had started, with still more Northerners to their north and northwest. Such chaos would hardly bode well for a Southern plan that hinged on secrecy, daring, brisk marching, and firm execution.

Fortunately for Jackson, some officers near the tail of his column took it upon themselves to resolve the problem. Stonewall looked askance at initiative among subordinates. His stern world view made the general rigidly hierarchical in both directions: He always did precisely what superior officers ordered him to do, and expected similar rote adherence from those who answered to him. In the aftermath of the March 1862 Battle of Kernstown, Jackson had savaged Gen. Richard B. Garnett for exercising his judgment at a crucial moment, when it seemed obvious to Garnett that old orders had become outmoded and no longer relevant. Everyone in the army knew of that incident, and of others like it.

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Date published: 6/22/2002