80 



AKMY OPERATIONS. 



Jt- 



II in 



Kelly's Ford. About forty of Gen. Averill's 

 force were disabled, and about eighty of the 

 enemy made prisoners. 



On the 13th of April, an expedition of cav- 

 alry, infantry, and artillery, under Major-Gen. 

 Stoneman, proceeded in detachments to "War- 

 renton, Bealton, Rappahannock bridge, and Lib- 

 erty. Small bodies of Partisan Rangers were 

 met with, but no opposition was encountered. 

 Thence he moved to the fords of the Rapidan 

 and took possession of them. These operations 

 were made in advance of a general movement 

 of the army across the Rappahannock to attack 

 Gen. Lee. The stormy weather which ensued 

 delayed this movement until the 27th of April. 



The army of Gen. Lee, in its encampments 

 near Fredericksburg, held a lino running from 

 northwest to southeast ; its right wing was ex- 

 tended as far down as Port Royal on the Rap- 

 pahannock, and its left wing rested above 

 Fredericksburg on the same river. In this 

 position it had only two main lines of retreat, 

 one toward Richmond by railroad, and the 

 other toward Gordonsville. The strength of 

 this army was about seventy thousand men. 



The army of Gen. Hooker consisted of seven 

 corps, and numbered about one hundred and 

 twenty thousand men. Under his plan of at- 

 tack three corps were massed below Freder- 

 icksburg, to cross there and make a feint attack 

 on the enemy, when two of the corps were to 



return immediately after crossing and join the 

 other four corps, meanwhile crossing at several 

 fords ten and twenty miles above Fredericks- 

 burg. The object of Gen. Hooker by moving 

 down on the left of the enemy, was to force him 

 to fight outside of his intrenchments, or to fall 

 back on Richmond. 



Falmouth, the position occupied by Gen. 

 Hooker's army, is nearly opposite Fredericks- 

 burg, on the north bank of the Rappahannock. 

 About twelve miles above, the Rapidan, a small 

 river, unites with a stream heretofore called 

 the North Fork, to form the Rappahannock. 

 Lately, however, the North Fork has been 

 called Rappahannock, and the Rapidan has 

 been spoken of as a tributary. The United 

 States Ford is about one mile below the mouth 

 of the Rapidan. Banks's Ford is about midway 

 between the United States Ford and Falmouth. 

 Kelly's Ford, where the four corps crossed the 

 North Fork, or the Rappahannock as it is now 

 called, is about twenty miles above Falmouth. 

 Germania Ford, where the same force crossed 

 the Rapidan, is about twelve miles south of 

 Kelly's Ford, at a place called Germania Mills. 

 The troops crossed here by wading. The wa- 

 ter was up to the armpits, and with a rapid 

 current. The bottom of the river was rocky. 



On Monday morning, April 27th, the elev- 

 enth corps, under Maj.-Gen. Howard, the 

 twelfth, under Maj.-Gen. Slocum, and the fifth, 



