The roads by which the various detachments of the army could intercommunicate for concentration upon any given point were numerous and well kept up, and were familiar to all commanding and staff officers.

Lee’s forces numbered about sixty thousand men, for duty, distributed in the following organizations.  As the brigades nearly equalled our divisions in size, they are given by name.

{ Mahone’s brigade. }
{ Posey’s     "     }
{ Anderson’s   { Wilcox’s    "     }
{  division.   { Perry’s     "     }
{              { Wright’s    "     }
Part of Longstreet’s {                                  }  17,000
1st Corps           {              { Kershaw’s   "     }
{ McLaws’      { Semmes’s    "     }
{  division.   { Wofford’s   "     }
{ Barksdale’s "     }

{ Heth’s " }
{ Pender’s " }
{ A. P. Hill’s { Archer’s " } 11,000
{ division. { McGowan’s " }
{ { Lane’s " }
{ { Thomas’s " }
{
{ { Ramseur’s " }
{ D. H. Hill’s { Rodes’s " }
{ division. { Dole’s " } 9,000
{ { Iverson’s " }
{ { Colquitt’s " }
Jackson’s 2d Corps. {
{ { Colston’s " }
{ Trimble’s { Jones’s " } 6,000
{ division. { Nichols’s " }
{ { Paxton’s " }
{
{ { Gordon’s " }
{ Early’s { Hays’s " } 7,400
{ division. { Smith’s " }
{ { Hoke’s " }

Stuart’s Cavalry     { Fitz Hugh Lee’s brigade    .    .    1,800
division            { W. H. F. Lee’s     "  .    .    .      900

Artillery, 170 pieces.    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    5,000
------
Total  .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .   58,100

Hotchkiss and Allan state that there may have been three to five thousand more men in line at the time of Hooker’s attack.

As will be noticed from the table, only part of Longstreet’s corps was present.  The main body had been sent, about Feb. 1, under command of its chief, to operate in the region between Petersburg and Suffolk, where our forces under Peck were making a demonstration.  This detail reduced Lee’s army by nearly one-quarter.

During the winter, Lee’s forces had been distributed as follows:—­

The old battle-ground of Dec. 13 was occupied by the First Corps; while Jackson with his Second Corps held Hamilton’s Crossing, and extended his lines down to Port Royal.  Stuart’s cavalry division prolonged the left to Beverly Ford on the upper Rappahannock, and scoured the country as far as the Pamunkey region.  Hampton’s brigade of cavalry had been sent to the rear to recruit, and Fitz Lee’s had taken its place at Culpeper, from which point it extended so as to touch Lee’s left flank at Banks’s Ford.  The brigade of W. H. F. Lee was on the Confederate right.  Stuart retained command of the entire force, but had his headquarters at Culpeper.