 But I tell you what, something big for the union would have needed to have happened soon thereafter. But as it turned out, it went the other way to the union side. So the 90,000 strong army, the Potomac, pursued the Confederates into Maryland. But its commander, General Joseph Hooker, was still stinging from his defeat at Chancellorsville and seemed reluctant to chase Lee further. Meanwhile, the Confederates divided their forces and investigated various targets.