I think my information on this
point was reliable, as I had made use of unusual means to ascertain.
The enemy left eight thousand men to occupy the lines about
Fredericksburg; Jackson marched off to my right with twenty-five
thousand; and Lee had the balance between me and Sedgwick."
It will be well to remember this acknowledgment, when we come to deal
with Hooker's theories of the force in his own front on Sunday and
Monday.
XII.
JACKSON'S MARCH, AND SICKLES'S ADVANCE.
Lee and Jackson spent Friday night under some pine-trees, on the plank
road, at the point where the Confederate line crosses it. Lee saw that
it was impossible for him to expect to carry the Federal lines by direct
assault, and his report states that he ordered a cavalry reconnoissance
towards our right flank to ascertain its position. There is, however,
no mention of such a body having felt our lines on the right, in any of
the Federal reports.
It is not improbable that Lee received information, crude but useful,
about this portion of our army, from some women belonging to Dowdall's
Tavern. When the Eleventh Corps occupied the place on Thursday, a watch
was kept upon the family living there.
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