But, if he needed evidence of the enemy's plans, he had
acquired full knowledge, shortly after dawn, that the bulk of Stuart's
corps was still confronting Sickles and Williams, where they had fought
the evening before; and that Anderson and McLaws had not materially
changed their position in front of Geary and Hancock. He could have
ascertained, by an early morning reconnoissance, (indeed, his corps-
commanders did so on their own responsibility,) that there was no enemy
whatsoever confronting his right and left flanks, where three corps,
the First, Fifth, and Eleventh, lay chafing with eagerness to engage the
foe. And the obvious thing to do was to leave a curtain of troops to
hold these flanks, which were protected by almost insuperable natural
obstacles, as well as formidable intrenchments, and hold the superfluous
troops well in hand, as a central reserve, in the vicinity of
headquarters, to be launched against the attacking columns of the enemy,
wherever occasion demanded.
Hooker still had in line at Chancellorsville, counting out his losses of
Saturday, over eighty-five thousand men. Lee had not exceeding half the
number.
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