The Confederate army still held the lines it had occupied for the past four months. Jackson’s army corps extended from Hamilton’s Crossing to Port Royal. McLaws’ and Anderson’s divisions occupied Lee’s Hill and the ridge northward, and a brigade watched Banks’ Ford. Stuart was with his main body, some 2,400 strong, at Culpeper, observing the great mass of Federal horsemen at Warrenton Junction, and the line of the Rappahannock was held by cavalry pickets.
The strength of the Army of Northern Virginia, so far as can be ascertained, did not exceed 62,000 officers and men.
Second Corps
|
A. P. Hill’s Division Bodes’ Division Colston’s (Jackson’s own) Division Early’s Division Artillery | 11,500 9,500 6,600 7,500 2,100 |
|
Anderson’s Division McLaws’ Division Artillery |
8,100 8,600 1,000 |
Cavalry
| Fitzhugh Lee’s Brigade W. H. F. Lee’s Brigade (two regiments) Reserve Artillery Add for reinforcements received since March 1, date of last return | 1,500 900 700 4,000 ——— |
| Total | 62,000 |
| and 170 guns. | |
Thus the road to Richmond, threatened by a host of 130,000 men and 428 guns, was to be defended by a force of less than half the size. Ninety-nine generals out of a hundred would have considered the situation hopeless. The Confederate lines at Fredericksburg were certainly very strong, but it was clearly impossible to prevent the Federals outflanking them. The disparity in strength was far greater than at Sharpsburg, and it seemed that by sheer weight of numbers the Southern army must inevitably be driven back. Nor did it appear, so overwhelming were the Federal numbers, that counter-attack was feasible. The usual resource of the defender, if his adversary marches round his flank, is to strike boldly at his communications. Here, however, Hooker’s communications with Aquia Creek were securely covered by the Rappahannock, and so great was his preponderance of strength, that he could easily detach a sufficient force to check the Confederates should they move against them.
Yet now, as on the Antietam, Lee and Jackson declined to take numbers into consideration. They knew that Hooker was a brave and experienced soldier, but they had no reason to anticipate that he would handle his vast masses with more skill than McClellan. That the Northern soldiers had suffered in moral they were well aware, and while they divined that the position they themselves had fortified might readily be made untenable, the fact that such was the case gave them small concern. They were agreed that the best measures of defence, if an opening offered, lay in a resolute offensive, and with Hooker in command it was not likely that the opportunity would be long delayed.