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position of corps commander to that of general-in-chief, and appointed to take command of the
fifth attempt against
Richmond.
He was an immense braggart.
His popular designation was “Fighting
Joe Hooker.”
He had made himself famous in the newspapers by his fierce criticisms of
McClellan's campaigns; had predicted certain capture of
Richmond under his own leadership; and was just the man whose boastful confidence might kindle anew the hopes of the credulous people of the
North.
The battle of Chancellorsville.
On the 27th of April
Hooker began his grand movement over the
Rappahannock.
His great numerical force enabled him to divide his army, and yet to maintain his superiority at all points.
His left wing, under
Sedgwick, crossed at
Fredericksburg, intending to attack and occupy the heights above the town, and seize the railway to
Richmond.
Meanwhile the stronger portion of his army crossed the river some miles above
Fredericksburg, at the
United States', Ely's, and Germania fords, and began to move toward
Chancellorsville — the name of a place marked by a large house, formerly a tavern, and a few out-houses, about eleven miles above
Fredericksburg, and about four miles south of the point of confluence of the
Rapidan and the
Rappahannock.
On the 30th April, having got all his forces across the river, he issued a flaming address, announcing that “the operations of the last three days have determined that our enemy must ingloriously fly, or come out from behind their defences and give us battle on our own ground, where certain destruction awaits him.”
So confident was he of success that he declared that
Lee's army was “the property of the Army of the Potomac.”
Indeed, his chief concern appears to have been to cut off
Lee's retreat; and as his army crossed the river, the cavalry was to move around the
Confederate position, one body under
Averill, marching on
Gordonsville, the other under
Stoneman, interposing between
Lee's army and
Richmond, to cut the lines of rail and destroy his communications.
The disposition of forces was such that the
Northern newspapers declared that it was at once conclusive of the fate of
Lee and of the
Confederacy itself.
Never
