The next question that arises is, why did Gen. Mansfield suppose the 10th
Maine was firing into Union troops?
While the corps was waiting in the vicinity of Joe Poffenberger's, (marked
6:20 on the map) from about 6:20 to 7:20 A. M., Gen. Mansfield was seen
frequently by almost every soldier of the corps. In hundreds of letters,
from the various regiments and batteries, there is a common agreement that
the General was moving around the field continually. He seemed to be
everywhere. Although he appeared like a calm and dignified old gentleman
when he took command of the corps two days before, on this fatal morning
he was the personification of vigor, dash and enthusiasm. As before
stated, he remained some minutes at the northwest corner of East Woods (W
on the map), observing the battle. One gets a fine view of the field from
there and he must have got a good insight into the way Hooker's corps was
fighting. Presumably the tide was turning against Hooker, and as likely
Mansfield had been called upon by him for reinforcements, but when
Mansfield left the northwest corner to set his corps in motion, the East
Woods, if I have rightly interpreted the reports and correspondence, was
still in possession of Union troops. Probably, almost at the same time
that Mansfield quitted his lookout, the Confederate brigade of Law (Hood's
division) came charging out of West Woods, the 4th Alabama on the right
running up the Smoketown road, as before stated, and entering the woods at
the south-west corner where the Georgia battalion joined on its right. The
movements of all of Hood's troops were exceedingly rapid.
How much time elapsed from Mansfield's leaving his lookout to his being
wounded, I can only roughly estimate at from fifteen to twenty minutes,
but it was time enough to change the condition of affairs very
materially, and I cannot help thinking the time passed very quickly to
him, and that he did not realize the fact that the remnants of Rickett's
division had been driven out of the woods and cornfield, nor even did he
suppose it was possible. Wise or unwise, it was entirely in keeping with
everything else the General did during the three days he was with us, for
him to come himself and see what we were doing; and like everything else,
he did it with the utmost promptness. It was this habit of personal
attention to details, and his other characteristic of rapid flying here
and there, that make it so difficult for many of the soldiers of the 12th
corps to believe he was wounded when and where he was.