hern commander, did not yet move. The chief
cause was mud. The winter having been very cold in the first half,
was very rainy in the second half. The numerous brooks and creeks and
smaller rivers remained flooded beyond their banks, and the Rappahannock
flowed a swollen and mighty stream. Ponds and little lakes stood
everywhere. Roads had been destroyed by the marching of mighty masses
and the rolling of thousands of heavy wheels. Horses often sank nearly
to the knee when they trod new paths through the muddy fields. There
was mud, mud everywhere.

Hooker, moreover, was confronted by a long line of earthworks and other
intrenchments, extending for twenty miles along the Rappahannock,
and defended by the victors of Fredericksburg. After that disastrous
day the Northern masses at home were not so eager for a battle. The
country realized that it was not well to rush a foe, led by men like
Lee and Jackson.

But Hooker was a brave and confident man. The North, always ready,
was sending forward fresh troops, and when he crossed the Rappahannock,
as he intended to do, he would have more men and more guns than Burnside
had led when he attacked the blazing heights of Fredericksburg. Lincoln
and Stanton, warned too by the great disasters through their attempts to
manage armies in the field from the Capitol, were giving Hooker a freer
hand.

On the other hand, the Confederate president and his cabinet suddenly
curtailed Lee's plans. A fourth of his veterans under Longstreet were
drawn off to meet a flank attack of other Northern forces which seemed
to be threatened upon Richmond. Lee was left with only sixty thousand
men to face Hooker's growing odds.

It was not any wonder that the spirits of the Southern lads sank
somewhat. Harry realized more fully every day that it was not
sufficient for them merely to defeat the Northern armies. They must
destroy them. The immense patriotism of those who fought for the Union
always filled up their depleted ranks and more, and they were getting
better generals all the time. Hancock and Reynolds and many another
were rising to fame in the east.

The Invincibles were posted nearly opposite Falmouth, and Harry had many
chances to see them. On his second visit the chessboard was mended so
perfectly that the split was not visible, and the two colonels sat down
to finish their game. Fifteen minutes later a dispatch from General
Jackson to Colonel Leonidas Talbot arrived, tel