General A. L. Long, of General Lee's staff, in his ‘Memoirs of Robert E. Lee,’ published in 1886, says:
It was obvious that the Federal position was too formidable to be attacked in front with any hope of success; therefore, Lee proceeded to devise a plan by which the position of Hooker might be turned and a point of attack gained from which no danger was apprehended by the Federal commander. General Lee was informed that the Rev. Mr. Lacy, a chaplain in Jackson's corps, was familiar with the country about Chancellorsville. Mr. Lacy informed the General that he had been pastor of a church near Chancellorsville, and was well acquainted with all the roads in that neighborhood, and that troops could be conducted to a designated point beyond Chancellorsville by a road sufficiently remote from the Federal position to prevent discovery. With this information Lee determined to turn the Federal position and assail it from a point where an attack was unexpected. The execution of a movement so much in accordance with his genius and inclination, was assigned to General Jackson, Captain Carter acting as guide. The above statement is made from personal knowledge of the writer, gained on the ground at the time; still, since some of Jackson's biographers have allowed their partiality for him to so far outstrip their knowledge of facts as to claim for him
