All his great forces would be massed in the morning.

Now and then he heard in the east the far sound of cannon like muttering thunder on the horizon, but after a while it ceased entirely.

He heard that distant thunder in the south, too, but it passed farther and farther away, and he felt sure that it came from his valiant guns hanging on the rear guard of the retreating Jackson.
One wonders what must be the feelings of a man who, sitting in apparent security, is suddenly plunged into a terrible pit.

Commanders less able than Hooker have had better luck.

What had he to fear?
With one hundred and thirty thousand veterans of the Army of the Potomac within call, almost any other general in his place would have felt a like security.