Hooker, with seventy thousand splendid troops, had gone behind Lee and now three divisions were united in the forest close to Chancellorsville.

Sedgwick, with his formidable corps, lay in the plain of Fredericksburg, facing Jackson, and thousands of Northern cavalry rode on the Southern flanks.
Harry was bewildered, and so were many officers of much higher rank than he.

It seemed that the Confederate army, surrounded by overwhelming numbers, was about to be crushed.

The exultation of Hooker at the success of his movements against such able foes was justified for the moment.

He issued to his army a general order, which said: It is with heartfelt satisfaction that the commanding general announces to his army that the operations of the last three days have determined that our enemy must either ingloriously fly or come out from behind his defences, and give us battle on our own ground, where certain destruction awaits him.
Hooker, it can be said again, had cause for exultation.