He was only aware, on the
night of April 30, that the Confederate position before
Fredericksburg was still strongly occupied.
The want, however, of accurate information gave him no uneasiness.
The most careful arrangements had been made to note and report every
movement of the enemy the next day.
No less than three captive balloons, in charge of skilled observers,
looked down upon the Confederate earthworks.* (* Balloons, which had
been first used in the Peninsular campaign, were not much dreaded by
the Confederates. "The experience of twenty months' warfare has
taught them how little formidable such engines of war are." Special
Correspondent of the Times at Fredericksburg, January 1, 1863.)
Signal stations and observatories had been established on each
commanding height; a line of field telegraph had been laid from
Falmouth to United States Ford, and the chief of the staff, General
Butterfield, remained at the former village in communication with
General Sedgwick. If the weather were clear, and the telegraph did
not fail, it seemed impossible that either wing of the Federal army
could fail to be fully and instantly informed of the situation of the
other, or that a single Confederate battalion could change position
without both Hooker and Sedgwick being at once advised.
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