in highway to Fredericksburg. From the north come in
roads from United States and Ely's Fords; Germanna Ford is northwest;
from the south runs the "Brock Road" in the direction of the Rapidan,
passing a mile or two west of the place.

The whole country, the roads, the chance houses, the silence, the
unending thicket, in this dreary wilderness, produce a sombre effect.
A writer, familiar with it, says: "There all is wild, desolate, and
lugubrious. Thicket, undergrowth, and jungle, stretch for miles,
impenetrable and untouched. Narrow roads wind on forever between
melancholy masses of stunted and gnarled oak. Little sunlight shines
there. The face of Nature is dreary and sad. It was so before the
battle; it is not more cheerful to-day, when, as you ride along, you
see fragments of shell, rotting knapsacks, rusty gun-barrels, bleached
bones, and grinning skulls.... Into this jungle," continues the same
writer, "General Hooker penetrated. It was the wolf in his den, ready
to tear any one who approached. A battle there seemed impossible.
Neither side could see its antagonist. Artillery could not move;
cavalry could not operate; the very infantry had to flatten their
bodies to glide between the stunted trees. That an army of one hundred
and twenty thousand men should have chosen that spot to fight forty
thousand, and not only chosen it, but made it a hundred times more
impenetrable by felling trees, erecting breastworks, disposing
artillery _en masse_ to sweep every road and bridle-path which led to
Chancellorsville--this fact seemed incredible."

It was no part of the original plan of the Federal commander to permit
himself to be cooped up in this difficult and embarrassing region,
where it was impossible to manoeuvre his large army. The selection of
the Wilderness around Chancellorsville, as the ground of battle, was
dictated by Lee. General Hooker, it seems, endeavored to avoid being
thus shut up in the thicket, and hampered in his movements. Finding
that the Confederate force, retiring from in front of Ely's and United
States Fords, had, on reaching Chancellorsville, continued to fall
back in the direction of Fredericksburg, he followed them steadily,
passed through the Wilderness, and, emerging into the open country
beyond, rapidly began forming line of battle on ground highly
favorable to the manoeuvring of his large force in action. A glance at
the map will indicate the importance of this movement, and the great
adva