On the morning of May 3d, the Confederate army was heavily outnumbered and dangerously divided after Stonewall Jackson's flank attack the previous evening had staggered but not irretrievably damaged the Union army. At daybreak, Jackson's corps, now under J.E.B. Stuart, lay one-half mile to the left, while the rest of the army, personally led by Lee, was one mile to the right, with the large open plateau known as Hazel Grove between them. Hazel Grove was the key to the battlefield: had Hooker strongly defended it, he could have kept the Confederate army divided and defeated it one piece at a time. Instead, before dawn, Hooker ordered his troops to evacuate Hazel Grove and fall back toward Chancellorsville, giving up what was perhaps his best chance for victory.