Hooker devised a plan for a spring campaign that would cause Lee's Army of Northern Virginia to fall back from Fredericksburg, Virginia. He hoped it would also destroy Lee's army. His plan was to send his 10,000-man cavalry on a raid against Richmond, Virginia to cut Lee's lines of communication with the Confederate capital. He would send most of his infantry to cross the Rappahannock and Rapidan Rivers 40 miles north of the Confederates. The rest of his army would cross the river at Fredericksburg to attack Lee from the front. It was devised as a pincer movement that if successful would surround the enemy.