t with him. The first was, the
extreme impatience of the Northern authorities and people at the small
results of the bloody fighting of the year. Gettysburg had seemed
to them a complete defeat of Lee, since he had retreated thereafter
without loss of time to Virginia; and yet three months afterward the
defeated commander had advanced upon and forced back his victorious
adversary. That such should be the result of the year's campaigning
seemed absurd to the North. A clamorous appeal was made to the
authorities to order another advance; and this general sentiment is
said to have been shared by General Meade, who had declared himself
bitterly disappointed at missing a battle with Lee in October. A
stronger argument in favor of active operations lay in the situation,
at the moment, of the Southern army. Lee, anticipating no further
fighting during the remainder of the year, opposed the enemy on the
Rapidan with only one of his two corps--that of Ewell; while the
other--that of Hill--was thrown back, in detached divisions, at
various points on the Orange and the Virginia Central Railroads, for
the purpose of subsistence during the winter. This fact, becoming
known to General Meade, dictated, it is said, his plan of operations.
An advance seemed to promise, from the position of the Southern
forces, a decisive success. Ewell's right extended no farther than
Morton's Ford, on the Rapidan, and thus the various fords down to
Chancellorsville were open. If General Meade could cross suddenly, and
by a rapid march interpose between Ewell and the scattered divisions
of Hill far in rear, it appeared not unreasonable to conclude that
Lee's army would be completely disrupted, and that the two corps, one
after another, might be crushed by the Federal army.

This plan, which is given on the authority of Northern writers,
exhibited good soldiership, and, if Lee were to be caught unawares,
promised to succeed. Without further comment we shall now proceed to
the narrative of this brief movement, which, indecisive as it was in
its results, was not uninteresting, and may prove as attractive to the
military student as other operations more imposing and accompanied by
bloodier fighting.

General Meade began to move toward the Rapidan on November 26th,
and every exertion was made by him to advance with such secrecy and
rapidity as to give him the advantage of a surprise. In this, however,
he was disappointed. No sooner had his orders been issu