vement, by advancing three corps of his army--the Fifth, Eleventh,
and Twelfth--to the banks of the river, near Kelly's Ford; and, on the
next day, this force was joined by three additional corps--the First,
Third, and Sixth--and the whole, on Wednesday (the 29th), crossed the
river without difficulty. That this movement was a surprise to Lee,
as has been supposed by some persons, is a mistake. Stuart was an
extremely vigilant picket-officer, and both he and General Lee were in
the habit of sending accomplished scouts to watch any movements in the
Federal camps. As soon as these movements--which, in a large army,
cannot be concealed--took place, information was always promptly
brought, and it was not possible that General Hooker could move three
large army corps toward the Rappahannock, as he did on April 27th,
without early knowledge on the part of his adversary of so important a
circumstance.

As the Federal infantry thus advanced, the large cavalry force began
also to move through Culpepper toward the Central Railroad in Lee's
rear. This column was commanded by General Stoneman, formerly a
subordinate officer in Lee's old cavalry regiment in the United States
Army; and, as General Stoneman's operations were entirely separate
from those of the infantry, and not of much importance, we shall here
dismiss them in a few words. He proceeded rapidly across Culpepper,
harassed in his march by a small body of horse, under General William
H.F. Lee; reached the Central Railroad at Trevillian's, below
Gordonsville, and tore up a portion of it; passed on to James River,
ravaging the country, and attempted the destruction of the Columbia
Aqueduct, but did not succeed in so doing; when, hearing probably of
the unforeseen result at Chancellorsville, he hastened back to the
Rapidan, pursued and harassed as in his advance, and, crossing,
regained the Federal lines beyond the Rappahannock.

To return to the movements of the main Federal force, under the
personal command of General Hooker. This advanced rapidly across the
angle between the two rivers, with no obstruction but that offered by
the cavalry under Stuart, and on Thursday, April 30th, had crossed the
Rapidan at Germanna and Ely's Fords, and was steadily concentrating
around Chancellorsville. At the same time the Second Corps, under
General Couch, was preparing to cross at United States Ford, a few
miles distant; and General Sedgwick, commanding the detached force at
Frederic