Owing to his great preponderance of force, Hooker had little reason to doubt that the result would be favorable to our arms.

To carry out this plan and make it a complete surprise to the enemy it became necessary to leave Gibbon's division of Couch's corps behind, for as his encampment at Falmouth was in full view of the Confederate forces on the opposite side, to withdraw it would have been to notify them that some unusual movement was going on.

So far the idea was simply to crush the opposing army, but Hooker's plan went farther and involved the capture of Lee's entire force.

To accomplish this he directed Stoneman to start two weeks in advance of the main body with ten thousand cavalry, cross at the upper fords of the Rappahannock, and sweep down upon Lee's communications with Richmond, breaking up railroads and canals, cutting telegraph wires, and intercepting supplies of all kinds.

As the rebel commissariat found great difficulty in keeping more than four days' rations on hand at a time, Stoneman's raid would almost necessarily force Lee to fall back on his depots and give up Fredericksburg.