For the past couple
of weeks, I've been working on the Chancellorsville chapter of the Branch-Lane
book. In all the accounts that I have read, this one question keeps bothering
me: why Pender?
Once Jackson is wounded (by the 18th NCT, of Lane's
brigade), General A. P. Hill sends out Capt. Benjamin W. Leigh, an
aide-de-camp, to find an ambulance and a surgeon. Leigh returns with Dr.
Richard R. Barr, assistant surgeon, 34th North Carolina Troops, a part of
Pender's brigade. Now, I understand how difficult it would have been for Leigh
to find someone - it was dark, the woods thick (in places), confusion reigned
supreme. Given the events, I imagine that finding someone was a chore, although
Leigh seems to find Barr quickly. But, was there no surgeon or assistant in
Lane's brigade, or Heth's brigade behind them? Pender's brigade was even
further back.
And that leads me to my second “Why Pender?” question: Lane
writes to A. C. Hamlin in 1892: "Genl. Pender rode into the woods, calling
for me. When we met he advised me not to advance, as Genl. Jackson had been
wounded, & he thought by my command." If the map in Sear's Chancellorsville is correct, how does
Pender know? Heth's brigade is stacked in front of him on the Orange Plank
Road. Does Leigh run into Pender looking for a surgeon? Once again, Leigh has
to pass through Lane's lines, through Heth's brigade stacked on the road, just
to find Pender and his brigade.
I looked at Willis'a biography on Pender. He, and several
other sources, have not only Doctor Barr on hand quickly, but General Pender as
well. Was Barr following Pender, kind of like a staff officer? Willis
writes: "A staffer sent by Hill to
locate a doctor stumbled into Dorsey Pender as he came forward to make his own
assessment of what had happened" (207-8). I also
looked through Pender's letters, but he makes no mention of the encounter.
Thoughts?
