On May 1st, 1863, Major General Joseph Hooker was poised to pinch Lee's
smaller Army between his divided forces. Men in blue moved east along the Orange Plank Road towards
Fredericksburg. However, after encountering feisty Confederate troops, General Hooker ordered
his men to fall back into defensive positions, surrendering the initiative he and his men had worked
so hard to gain.
[C]
That evening, seated on ration boxes that would give this meeting the name "the Cracker Barrel
Conference", Generals Lee and Jackson discussed their strategy for the coming day. With General
James Longstreet's 1st Corp further south and not available for support, General Lee would
go into battle with diminished numbers. Learning from Cavalry Commander JEB Stuart that the Union
right was unprotected or "up in the air", not resting on a natural barrier like a hill,
ridge, or body of water, the Southerners only needed to find a path to move their men to the
vulnerable Federal right without being seen. As General Lee would later report, "It was evident
that a direct attack upon the enemy would be attended with great difficulty and loss, in view of the
strength of his position and his superiority of numbers. It was, therefore, resolved to endeavor to
turn his right flank and gain his rear, leaving a force in front to hold him in check and conceal the
movement. The execution of this plan was intrusted to Lieutenant-General Jackson with his three
divisions. The commands of Generals McLaws and Anderson, with the exception of Wilcox's brigade,
which during the night had been ordered back to Banks' Ford, remained in front of the enemy."
[9]
Above is an old photograph of the intersection of the Furnace and Orange Plank Roads,
the site of Lee and Jackson's Cracker Barrel Conference, their last meeting before Jackson's death
nine days later. Click here to view a painting
of this meeting.