ntages secured by it. The left of General Hooker's line, nearest
the river, was at least five miles in advance of Chancellorsville, and
commanded Banks's Ford, thereby shortening fully one-half the distance
of General Sedgwick's march from Fredericksburg, by enabling him to
use the ford in question as a place of crossing to the south bank, and
uniting his column with the main body. The centre and right of the
Federal army had in like manner emerged from the thickets of the
Wilderness, and occupied cleared ground, sufficiently elevated to
afford them great advantages.

This was in the forenoon of the 1st of May, when there was no force in
General Hooker's front, except the eight thousand men of Anderson
at Tabernacle Church. Jackson had marched at midnight from the
Massaponnax Hills, with a general order from Lee to "attack and
repulse the enemy," but had not yet arrived. There was thus no serious
obstacle in the path of the Federal commander, who had it in his
power, it would seem, to mass his entire army on the commanding ground
which his vanguard already occupied. Lee was aware of the importance
of the position, and, had he not been delayed by the feint of General
Sedgwick, would himself have seized upon it. As it was, General Hooker
seemed to have won the prize in the race, and Lee would, apparently,
be forced to assail him on his strong ground, or retire in the
direction of Richmond.

The movements of the enemy had, however, been so rapid that Lee's
dispositions seem to have been made before they were fully developed
and accurately known to him. He had sent forward Jackson, and now
proceeded to follow in person, leaving only a force of about six
thousand men, under Early, to defend the crossing at Fredericksburg.
The promptness of these movements of the Confederate commander is
noticed by Northern writers. "Lee, with instant perception of the
situation," says an able historian, "now seized the masses of his
force, and, with the grasp of a Titan, swung them into position, as
a giant might fling a mighty stone from a sling." [Footnote: Mr.
Swinton, in "Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac." Whether the force
under Lee could be justly described as "mighty," however, the reader
will form his own opinion.]

Such were the relative positions of the two armies on the 1st of May:
General Hooker's forces well in advance of Chancellorsville, and
rapidly forming line of battle on a ridge in open country; General
Lee's, stre