It wasn’t long after Joseph E. Hooker crossed the Rapidan that Robert E. Lee got word of the movement. He was in a dangerous position – three Union corps were moving to his flank, while he was still facing a large Union force at Fredericksburg. Most generals in this position would have instantly decided to retreat, but not Robert E. Lee. He would go on the offensive. He decided to leave a skeleton force of 10,000 men to watch Sedgwick at Fredericksburg, while he moved with the other 50,000 men of the army to crush Hooker around Chancellorsville. The Confederates would begin moving on April 30th, 150 yeas ago today, and only the next day the armies would meet in the thickets of the Wilderness.
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