By the beginning of April 1863, Hooker had his battle plans read and approved by Lincoln, and by the third week of April, the Army of the Potomac was on the move. It made a glorious sight.

Despite the unfulfilled promise of Antietam, and despite the bitter failure at Fredericksburg, the Army of the Potomac was a robust and confident unit in the spring of 1863. Hooker had made all the difference in the world, and as the men began moving from the posts they had occupied for three months, there was a clear optimism.