position to be intrenched in the hope that Lee and Jackson, following
Burnside's example, would dash their divisions into fragments against
them and thus become an easy prey. Lee, with a broader appreciation
of the true tactical bearing of ditch and parapet, determined to
employ them as a shelter for his own force until Jackson's movement
was completed, and the time had come for a general advance. Orders
were at once sent to General McLaws to cover his front, extending
across the pike and the plank roads, with a line of breastworks; and
long before daylight the soldiers of his division, with the scanty
means at their disposal, were busy as beavers amongst the timber.

It only remained, then, to determine the route and the strength of
the outflanking force; and here it may be observed that the
headquarters staff appears to have neglected certain precautions for
which there had been ample leisure. So long ago as March 19 a council
of war had decided that if Hooker attacked he would do so by the
upper fords, and yet the Wilderness, lying immediately south of the
points of passage, had not been adequately examined. Had Jackson been
on the left wing above Fredericksburg, instead of on the right, near
Hamilton's Crossing, we may be certain that accurate surveys would
have been forthcoming. As it was, the charts furnished to the
Commander-in-Chief were untrustworthy, and information had to be
sought from the country-people.

May 2. 2.30 A.M.

"About daylight on May 2," says Major Hotchkiss, "General Jackson
awakened me, and requested that I would at once go down to Catherine
Furnace, which is quite near, and where a Colonel Welford lived, and
ascertain if there was any road by which we could secretly pass round
Chancellorsville to the vicinity of Old Wilderness Tavern. I had a
map, which our engineers had prepared from actual surveys, of the
surrounding country, showing all the public roads, but with few
details of the intermediate topography. Reaching Mr. Welford's, I
aroused him from his bed, and soon learned that he himself had
recently opened a road through the woods in that direction for the
purpose of hauling cord-wood and iron ore to his furnace. This I
located on the map, and having asked Mr. Welford if he would act as a
guide if it became necessary to march over that road, I returned to
head-quarters.

3.30 A.M.

"When I reached those I found Generals Lee and Jackson in conference,
each seated on a cracker box