The testimony of all general officers of the Army of the Potomac concurs in awarding the highest praise to Hooker for the manner in which he improved the condition of the troops during the three months he was in command prior to Chancellorsville.  Himself says before the Committee on the Conduct of the War:  “During the season of preparation the army made rapid strides in discipline, instruction and morale, and early in April was in a condition to inspire the highest expectations.”  And Swinton well sums up:  “Under Hooker’s influence the tone of the army underwent a change which would appear astonishing had not its elastic vitality been so often proved.”

On the 30th of April the Army of the Potomac, exclusive of provost-guard, consisted of about a hundred and thirty thousand men under the colors,—­“for duty equipped,” according to the morning report,—­ distributed among the several army corps as follows:—­

{ Wadsworth,              }
1st Corps, Gen. Reynolds.   . { Robinson,               }  16,908
{ Doubleday,              }

{ Hancock,                }
2d Corps, Gen. Couch    .   . { Gibbon,                 }  16,893
{ French,                 }

{ Birney,                 }
3d Corps, Gen. Sickles  .   . { Berry,                  }  18,721
{ Whipple,                }

{ Griffin,                }
5th Corps, Gen. Meade   .   . { Humphreys,              }  15,724
{ Sykes,                  }

{ Brooks,                 }
6th Corps, Gen. Sedgwick.   . { Howe,                   }  23,667
{ Newton,                 }

{ Devens,                 }
11th Corps, Gen. Howard .   . { Schurz,                 }  12,977
{ Steinwehr,              }

12th Corps, Gen. Slocum .   . { Williams,               }  13,450
{ Geary,                  }

{ Pleasonton, }
Cavalry Corps, Gen. Stoneman. { Gregg, } 11,541
{ Averell, }
{ Buford, Reserve Brigade,}

Artillery, Gen. Hunt, about 400 guns.   Artillery reserve    1,610
-------
Total  .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    . 131,491

IV.

The army of Northern Virginia.

While the Army of the Potomac lay about Falmouth, awaiting orders to move, Lee occupied the heights south of the Rappahannock, from Banks’s Ford above, to Port Royal (or Skenker’s Neck) below Fredericksburg, a line some fifteen miles in length as the crow flies.  The crests of the hills on which lay the Army of Northern Virginia were from three-quarters of a mile to a mile and a half back from, and substantially parallel to, the river.  Rifle-pits commanded every available crossing, which, being few and difficult, were easily guarded.  Continuous lines of infantry parapets, broken by battery epaulements located for sweeping the wide approaches from the river, extended the whole distance; while abattis strengthened every place which the nature of the ground allowed an attacking column to pass.