Note.—The defeat and demoralization of the Federal army at Chancellorsville, following
so close upon Hooker's promise of "certain destruction" to his adversary, bewildered
and alarmed the authorities at Washington. At 4.35 P.M. on Sunday, May 3,
President Lincoln telegraphed to Major-General Butterfield, chief of staff,—
"Where is General Hooker? Where is Sedgwick? Where is Stoneman?
To which pregnant inquiries General Butterfield replied,—
"General Hooker is at Chancellorsville. General Sedgwick, with fifteen thousand
to twenty thousand men, is at a point three or four miles out of Fredericksburg, on the
road to Chancellorsville. Lee is between.". . .
