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to march at once upon his foe, for the terms of enlistment of a majority of his men would soon expire.
He directed
General Stoneman to proceed cautiously with his cavalry up the eastern side of the
Rappahannock; cross above the Orange and Alexandria railway; strike and disperse
Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry at Culpepper Court-House, estimated at two thousand men; push on to
Gordonsville, and, turning to the left, strike the Fredericksburg and Richmond railway at Saxton's Junction, and destroy it, its bridges, stations, and rolling stock, with the telegraph wires along its line, so as to sever
Lee's communication with
Richmond.
Hooker charged
Stoneman to move with celerity, and to make his watchword and order, “Fight,
fight, fight!”
He was instructed to harrass the retreating columns of the foe, for
Hooker did not doubt that
Lee would find it necessary to abandon
Fredericksburg and fly toward
Richmond.
But his efforts were foiled, and his plans were modified by heavy rains, which so filled
the
Rappahannock that a division which had already crossed was recalled, and, on swimming horses, passed back to the left bank of the river.
Hooker paused for a fortnight, when he put his whole army in motion for the purpose of flanking
Lee, drawing him from his defenses, and fighting him out of shelter.
Ten thousand horsemen were prepared for a raid on the railways in
Lee's rear, and on Monday, the 27th of April,
the turning column, composed of the corps of
Meade (Fifth),
Howard (Eleventh), and
Slocum (Twelfth), was put in motion.
Its destination was
Chancellorsville, a point ten miles southwest of
Fredericksburg, in
Lee's rear.
Stealthily the column moved up the
Rappahannock, and crossed it
on a pontoon bridge at
Kelly's Ford, twenty-seven miles above
Fredericksburg, the march well masked by the passage of a heavy force below and near that city.
The turning column pushed rapidly forward, and wading the
Rapid Anna, armpit deep (the Fifth corps at Elly's Ford, and the Eleventh and Twelfth at Germania Ford), that night, in the light of huge bonfires, reached
Chancellorsville on the afternoon of the 30th in excellent spirits, to find that the
Confederate General,
R. H. Anderson, had retired with his troops toward
Fredericksburg that morning.
It had been a most extraordinary march of thirty-seven miles in two days, with artillery and baggage, over heavy roads and across two rivers, with a loss of not more than half a dozen men. Meanwhile portions of
Couch's corps (Second) had been waiting in concealment near
Banks's and
United States Fords, leaving the remainder, under
General Gibbon, at
Falmouth, in full view of the
Confederates, so as to conceal the movement.
So soon as the other three corps were making their way toward the
Rapid Anna, the detachment of the Second crossed on a pontoon bridge, and marched rapidly on
Chancellorsville,
