estimates of the strength of our adversaries, Hooker had not this reason
to allege for having retired to await Lee's attack. For he had just
received excellent information from Richmond, to the effect that Lee's
rations amounted to fifty-nine thousand daily; and we have seen that he
told Slocum, on Thursday, that his column of nearly forty thousand men
was much stronger than any force Lee could detach against him. Hooker
acknowledges as much in his testimony before the Committee on the
Conduct of the War, when, in answer to the question, "What portion of
the enemy lay between you and Gen. Sedgwick?" he replied:--

"Lee's army at Fredericksburg numbered sixty thousand, not including the
artillery, cavalry, and the forces stationed up the river, occupying the
posts at Culpeper and Gordonsville. 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.