r recur. "Fortune," says Napoleon, "is a woman, who must be wooed
while she is in the mood. If her favours are rejected, she does not
offer them again." The only question was where the attack should be
delivered. Lee himself had reconnoitred the enemy's left. It was very
utrong, resting on the Rappahannock, and covered by a stream called
Mineral Spring Run. Two of Jackson's staff officers had reconnoitred
the front, and had pronounced it impregnable, except at a fearful
sacrifice of life. But while the generals were debating, Stuart rode
in with the reports of his cavalry officers, and the weak point of
the position was at once revealed. General Fitzhugh Lee, to whose
skill and activity the victory of Chancellorsville was in great part
due, had discovered that the Federal right, on the plank road, was
completely in the air; that is, it was protected by no natural
obstacle, and the breastworks faced south, and south only. It was
evident that attack from the west or north-west was not anticipated,
and Lee at once seized upon the chance of effecting a surprise.

Yet the difficulties of the proposed operation were very great. To
transfer a turning column to a point from which the Federal right
might be effectively outflanked necessitated a long march by the
narrow and intricate roadways of the Wilderness, and a division of
the Confederate army into two parts, between which communication
would be most precarious. To take advantage of the opportunity the
first rule of war must be violated. But as it has already been said,
the rules of war only point out the dangers which are incurred by
breaking them; and, in this case, before an enemy on the defensive
from whom the separation might be concealed until it is too late for
him to intervene, the risks of dispersion were much reduced. The
chief danger lay in this, that the two wings, each left to its own
resources, might fail to act in combination, just as within the past
twenty-four hours Hooker and Sedgwick had failed. But Lee knew that
in Jackson he possessed a lieutenant whose resolution was invincible,
and that the turning column, if entrusted to his charge, would be
pushed forward without stop or stay until it had either joined hands
with the main body, or had been annihilated.

Moreover, the battle of Fredericksburg had taught both armies that
the elaborate constructions of the engineer are not the only or the
most useful resources of fortification. Hooker had ordered his