But, if Hooker
was apprehensive of trusting these men so soon again, he could scarcely
deem them incapable of holding the intrenchments; and this left Meade
available for the work proposed.
Instead, then, of relying upon the material ready to his hand, Hooker
conceived that his salvation lay in the efforts of his flying wing under
Sedgwick, some fifteen miles away. He fain would call on Hercules
instead of putting his own shoulder to the wheel. His calculations were
that Sedgwick, whom he supposed to be at Franklin's and Pollock's
crossings, three or four miles below Fredericksburg, could mobilize his
corps, pass the river, capture the heights, where in December a few
Southern brigades had held the entire Army of the Potomac at bay,
march a dozen miles, and fall upon Lee's rear, all in the brief space of
four or five hours. And it was this plan he chose to put into execution,
deeming others equal to the performance of impossibilities, while
himself could not compass the easiest problems under his own eye.
To measure the work thus cut out for Sedgwick, by the rule of the
performances of the wing immediately commanded by Gen.
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