Hey everyone, thanks for tuning into episode 261 of our Civil War podcast. I'm Rich.

And I'm Tracy. Hello y'all. Welcome to the podcast. As y'all recall with the last episode,

we talked about how Hooker's right wing, the federal flanking force, had quickly crossed the

Rapa Hannick and Rapidand Rivers and was headed for Chancellor'sville, while the federal left wing

at Fredericksburg had crossed the river in force just below the city in order to apply pressure

there to keep Robert E. Lee from responding to the threat to his flank and rear.

As we said at the end of the last episode, Hooker's plan appeared to be working to perfection.

The three core of the federal flanking force had crossed the Rapa Hannick at Kelly's Ford,

Far Up Stream from Fredericksburg on April 29th.

Stoneman's Union cavalry had then crossed and cut away from the flanking column to set out on a

deep penetrating raid into the Confederate rear areas. Hooker hoped Stoneman's horsemen would be

able to wreak havoc on Lee's supply lines and cut the roads the rebel army would have to use to

retreat back toward Richmond. Meanwhile, the federal flanking force continued on and successfully

crossed the Rapidand River. Howard's 11th Corps and Slokum's 12th Corps crossed at Germana Ford,

while Mead's 5th Corps crossed the river a bit to the east at E. Lee's Ford.

Then the Union flanking force was once again on the move at Daybreak on April 30th.

Skirmishers pushed ahead of the columns as the federal spelt their way through a forbidding

region known to the local inhabitants as the wilderness. In his book on Chancellor's Fell,

Stephen Sears writes, quote, it was called the wilderness of Spotsylvania or simply the wilderness,

a distinctive tract of Virginia woodland some 70 mile square. North to south it ran from the

Rapaianic and Rapidand Rivers to three or four mile south of Chancellor's Fell. East to west had

extended from about Tabernacle Church to beyond wilderness tavern. Since colonial times the wilderness

...