ten o'clock
If it is a cloudy day they are ignorant even of the points of the compass . It may be said , generally , that a soldier 's knowledge of what is going on about him is coterminous with his official relation to it and his personal connection with it ; what is going on in front of him he does not know at all until he learns it afterward . At nine o'clock on the morning of the 27th Wood 's division was withdrawn and replaced by Stanley 's . Supported by Johnson 's division , it moved at ten o'clock to the left , in the rear of Schofield , a distance of four miles through a forest , and at two o'clock in the afternoon had reached a position where General Howard believed himself free to move in behind the enemy 's forces and attack them in the rear , or at least , striking them in the flank , crush his way along their line in the direction of its length , throw them into confusion and prepare an easy victory for a supporting attack in front . In selecting General Howard for this bold adventure General Sherman was doubtless not unmindful of Chancellorsville , where Stonewall Jackson had executed a similar manoeuvre for Howard 's instruction . Experience is a normal school : it teaches how to teach . There are some differences to be noted .