cious of its strength," the
General continued, "the Army of the Potomac will give or decline
battle whenever its interest or its honor may demand." The General
thought "the events of the past week may swell with pride the heart
of every officer and soldier in the army. By your celerity and
secrecy of movement our advance was undisputed; and on our withdrawal,
not a rebel ventured to follow." The questionable character of
these compliments exposed General Hooker to ridicule, and increased
the public sense of his unfitness for high command, though he was
a gallant and brave soldier and admirably fitted for a division or
a corps. The Union loss was serious. The killed and wounded
exceeded eleven thousand. The year thus opened very inauspiciously.
The gloom of 1862 was not dispelled. The shadows had not lifted.
The weightiest anxiety oppressed both the government and the people.
The Confederacy had sustained a heavy loss in the death of Stonewall
Jackson. He had a genius for war, and in a purely military point
of view it would perhaps have been better for the Confederates to
lose the battle than to lose the most aggressive officer in their
Army.

The spirit of the Confederates rose high. They believed they would
be able to hold the line of the Mississippi against the army of
Grant, and in the defeat and demoralization of the army of the
Potomac they saw their way clear to an invasion of Pennsylvania,
for which General Lee began his preparations with leisure and
completed them with thoroughness. After General Hooker's failure
at Chancellorsville, and his remarkable order which followed it,
he evidently lost the confidence of the President. Some of the
hasty notes and telegrams sent to General Hooker after his defeat
are in Mr. Lincoln's most characteristic vein. June 5 the President
wrote, "If you find Lee coming to the north of the Rappahannock,
I would by no means cross to the south of it. . . . In one word,
I would not take any risk of being entangled up on the _river like
an ox jumped half over a fence, liable to be torn by dogs, front
and rear, without a fair chance to gore one way or kick the other_."
Later, on June 10, the President wrote, "Lee's Army and not Richmond
is your true objective point. If he comes towards the upper Potomac,
follow on his flank on the inside track, shortening your lines
while he lengthens his. Fight him when opportunity offers. If he
stays where he is _fret him and fret him