General Burnside seems, however, to have regarded success as probable.  He added in his order:  “Holding these heights, with the heights near Captain Hamilton’s, will, I hope, compel the enemy to evacuate the whole ridge between these points.”  In his testimony afterward, he said that, in the event of failure in these assaults on Lee’s flanks, he “proposed to make a direct attack on their front, and drive them out of their works.”

These extracts from General Burnside’s orders and testimony clearly indicate his plan, which was to assail both Lee’s right and left, and, in the event of failure, direct a heavy blow at his centre.  That the whole plan completely failed was mainly due, it would seem, to the inconsiderable numbers of the assaulting columns.

We return now to the narrative of the battle which these comments have interrupted.

General Lee was ready to receive the Federal attack, and, at an early hour of the morning, rode from his headquarters, in rear of his centre, along his line of battle toward the right, where he probably expected the main assault of the enemy to take place.  He was clad in his plain, well-worn gray uniform, with felt hat, cavalry-boots, and short cape, without sword, and almost without any indications of his rank.  In these outward details, he differed much from Generals Jackson and Stuart, who rode with him.  The latter, as was usual with him, wore a fully-decorated uniform, sash, black plume, sabre, and handsome gauntlets.  General Jackson, also, on this day, chanced to have exchanged his dingy old coat and sun-scorched cadet-cap for a new coat[1] covered with dazzling buttons, and a cap brilliant with a broad band of gold lace, in which (for him) extraordinary disguise his men scarcely knew him.

[Footnote 1:  This coat was a present from Stuart.]

As Lee and his companions passed along in front of the line of battle, the troops cheered them.  It was evident that the army was in excellent spirits, and ready for the hard work which the day would bring.  Lee proceeded down the old Richmond, or stage road—­that mentioned in General Burnside’s order as the one over which his large flanking column was to move—­and rode on with Stuart until he was near the River road, running toward Fredericksburg, parallel to the Federal line of battle.  Here he stopped, and endeavored to make out, through the dense fog covering the plain, whether the Federal forces were moving.  A stifled hum issued from the mist, but nothing could be seen.  It seemed, however, that the enemy’s skirmishers—­probably concealed in the ditches along the River road—­had sharper eyes, as bullets began to whistle around the two generals, and soon a number of black specks were seen moving forward.  General Lee remained for some time longer, in spite of the exposure, conversing with great calmness and gravity with Stuart, who was all ardor.  He then rode back slowly, passed along his line of battle, greeted wherever he was seen with cheers, and took his position on the eminence in his centre, near the Telegraph road, the same commanding point from which he had witnessed the bombardment of Fredericksburg.