When Stuart reached the front he found the troops still halted, Rodes
and Colston reforming on the open fields near Dowdall's Tavern, the
Light Division deployed within the forest, and the generals anxious
for their own security.
So far the attack had been completely successful, but Lee's lack of
strength prevented the full accomplishment of his design. Had
Longstreet been present, with Pickett and Hood to lead his splendid
infantry, the Third Corps and the Twelfth would have been so hardly
pressed that Chancellorsville, Hazel Grove, and the White House would
have fallen an easy prize to Jackson's bayonets. Anderson, with four
small brigades, was powerless to hold the force confronting him, and
marching rapidly northwards, Sickles had reached Hazel Grove before
Jackson fell. Here Pleasonton, with his batteries, was still in
position, and Hooker had not yet lost his head. As soon as Birney's
and Whipple's divisions had come up, forming in columns of brigades
behind the guns, Sickles was ordered to assail the enemy's right
flank and check his advance. Just before midnight the attack was
made, in two lines of battle, supported by strong columns. The night
was very clear and still; the moon, nearly full, threw enough light
into the woods to facilitate the advance, and the tracks leading
north-west served as lines of direction.
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