" In his testimony before the Committee on the Conduct of the War,
Hooker says, "The problem was, to throw a sufficient force of infantry
across at Kelley's Ford, descend the Rappahannock, and knock away the
enemy's forces, holding the United-States and Banks's Ford, by attacking
them in the rear, and as soon as these fords were opened, to re-enforce
the marching column sufficiently for them to continue the march upon the
flank of the rebel army until his whole force was routed, and, if
successful, his retreat intercepted. Simultaneous with this movement on
the right, the left was to cross the Rappahannock below Fredericksburg,
and threaten the enemy in that quarter, including his depot of supplies,
to prevent his detaching an overwhelming force to his left."
Hooker, moreover, not only told Hunt that he expected to fight near
Banks's Ford, but instructed him to get all his artillery to that point
from below, where it had been massed to cover Sedgwick's crossing.
There was every reason why the army should be got out of the Wilderness,
in the midst of which lies Chancellorsville. This is, of all places in
that section, the least fit for an engagement in which the general
commanding expects to secure the best tactical results.
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