May 3, 1863
President Lincoln is clearly in the dark about military movements in northern Virginia, where General Joseph Hooker is being outsmarted by Confederate General Robert E. Lee. He writes General Daniel Butterfield: “Where is Gen. Hooker? Where is Sedgwick? where is Stoneman?” He meets at the War Department with Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton and later awaits war telegrams with Assistant Secretary of War Gustavus V. Fox.
Presidential aide John G. Nicolay writes home: “The grand army of the Potomac, under Hooker’s leadership is again in motion, having begun on Monday last, and crossed the Rappahannock both above Fredericksburg on Tuesday and Wednesday last. We know very little as yet as to what was attempted, or what has been accomplished, except that that part of it which crossed above has gained a very important and advantageous (apparently) position on the flank of the rebel position at Fredericksburg.”
Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War 
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