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Battle of Chancellorsville

October 18, 2023

Battle of Chancellorsville
Part of the American Civil War

Battle of Chancellorsville, by Kurz and Allison, 1889
(Apocryphal painting depicts the wounding of Confederate Lt. Gen. Stonewall Jackson on May 2, 1863)
DateApril 30 (1863-04-30) – May 6, 1863 (1863-05-06)[1]
Location
Spotsylvania County, Virginia
38°18′38″N 77°38′54″W / 38.3105°N 77.6484°W / 38.3105; -77.6484
Result Confederate victory[2]
Belligerents
 United States (Union)  Confederate States
Commanders and leaders
Joseph Hooker Robert E. Lee
Units involved
Army of the Potomac[3][4] Army of Northern Virginia[5][6]
Strength

Chancellorsville campaign

  • 133,868 ("present for duty equipped")[7][8]
    • Chancellorsville:
      c. 106,000 (Army of the Potomac minus VI Corps-2nd Div./II Corps)[7]
    • 2nd Fredericksburg/Salem Church:
      c. 28,000 (VI Corps; 2nd Div./II Corps)[7]
 60,298[9][8]
Casualties and losses

Chancellorsville campaign

  • 17,287
    (1,606 killed
    9,762 wounded
    6,919 captured/missing)[10][11]
    • Chancellorsville:
      12,145 (1,082 killed
      6,849 wounded
      5,214 captured/missing)[10]
    • 2nd Fredericksburg/Salem Church:
      4,700 (493 killed
      2,710 wounded
      1,497 captured/missing)[10]
    • Minor skirmishes:
      442 (31 killed
      203 wounded
      208 captured/missing)[10]
 12,764
(1,665 killed
9,081 wounded
2,018 captured/missing)[12][11]
Map of Virginia, 1863

The Battle of Chancellorsville, April 30 – May 6, 1863, was a major battle of the American Civil War (1861–1865), and the principal engagement of the Chancellorsville campaign.[13]

Chancellorsville is known as Confederate general Robert E. Lee's "perfect battle"[14][15] because his risky decision to divide his army in the presence of a much larger enemy force resulted in a significant Confederate victory. The victory, a product of Lee's audacity and Union general Joseph Hooker's timid decision-making, was tempered by heavy casualties, including Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. Jackson was hit by friendly fire, requiring his left arm to be amputated. He died of pneumonia eight days later, a loss that Lee likened to losing his right arm.

The two armies faced off against each other at Fredericksburg during the winter of 1862–1863. The Chancellorsville campaign began when Hooker secretly moved the bulk of his army up the left bank of the Rappahannock River, then crossed it on the morning of April 27, 1863. Union cavalry under Maj. Gen. George Stoneman began a long-distance raid against Lee's supply lines at about the same time. This operation was completely ineffectual.[citation needed] Crossing the Rapidan River via Germanna and Ely's Fords, the Federal infantry concentrated near Chancellorsville on April 30. Combined with the Union force facing Fredericksburg, Hooker planned a double envelopment, attacking Lee from both his front and rear.

On May 1, Hooker advanced from Chancellorsville toward Lee, but the Confederate general split his army in the face of superior numbers, leaving a small force at Fredericksburg to deter Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick from advancing, while he attacked Hooker's advance with about four-fifths of his army. Despite the objections of his subordinates, Hooker withdrew his men to the defensive lines around Chancellorsville, ceding the initiative to Lee. On May 2, Lee divided his army again, sending Stonewall Jackson's entire corps on a flanking march that routed the Union XI Corps. While performing a personal reconnaissance in advance of his line, Jackson was wounded by fire after dark from his own men close between the lines, and cavalry commander Maj. Gen. J. E. B. Stuart temporarily replaced him as corps commander.

The fiercest fighting of the battle—and the second bloodiest day of the Civil War—occurred on May 3 as Lee launched multiple attacks against the Union position at Chancellorsville, resulting in heavy losses on both sides and the pulling back of Hooker's main army. That same day, Sedgwick advanced across the Rappahannock River, defeated the small Confederate force at Marye's Heights in the Second Battle of Fredericksburg, and then moved to the west. The Confederates fought a successful delaying action at the Battle of Salem Church. On the 4th Lee turned his back on Hooker and attacked Sedgwick, and drove him back to Banks' Ford, surrounding them on three sides. Sedgwick withdrew across the ford early on May 5. Lee turned back to confront Hooker who withdrew the remainder of his army across U.S. Ford the night of May 5–6.

The campaign ended on May 7 when Stoneman's cavalry reached Union lines east of Richmond. Both armies resumed their previous position across the Rappahannock from each other at Fredericksburg. With the loss of Jackson, Lee reorganized his army, and flush with victory began what was to become the Gettysburg campaign a month later.

Background Edit

Military situation Edit

Main article: Eastern Theater of the American Civil War
Further information: Peninsula Campaign, Seven Days Battles, Northern Virginia campaign, Maryland campaign, Battle of Fredericksburg, and American Civil War

Union attempts against Richmond Edit

In the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War, the objective of the Union had been to advance and seize the Confederate capital, Richmond, Virginia. In the first two years of the war, four major attempts had failed: the first foundered just miles away from Washington, D.C., at the First Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas) in July 1861. Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's Peninsula Campaign took an amphibious approach, landing his Army of the Potomac on the Virginia Peninsula in the spring of 1862 and coming within 6 miles (9.7 km) of Richmond before being turned back by Gen. Robert E. Lee in the Seven Days Battles.[16]

That summer, Maj. Gen. John Pope's Army of Virginia was defeated at the Second Battle of Bull Run. Finally, in December 1862, Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside's Army of the Potomac attempted to reach Richmond by way of Fredericksburg, Virginia, but was defeated at the Battle of Fredericksburg.

Shakeup in the Army of the Potomac Edit

In January 1863, the Army of the Potomac, following the Battle of Fredericksburg and the humiliating Mud March, suffered from rising desertions and plunging morale. Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside decided to conduct a mass purge of the Army of the Potomac's leadership, eliminating a number of generals who he felt were responsible for the disaster at Fredericksburg. In reality, he had no power to dismiss anyone without the approval of Congress.[17]

Predictably, Burnside's purge went nowhere, and he offered President Abraham Lincoln his resignation from command of the Army of the Potomac. He even offered to resign entirely from the Army, but the president persuaded him to stay, transferring him to the Western Theater, where he became commander of the Department of the Ohio. Burnside's former command, the IX Corps, was transferred to the Virginia Peninsula, a movement that prompted the Confederates to detach troops from Lee's army under Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, a decision that would be consequential in the upcoming campaign.[17]

Abraham Lincoln had become convinced that the appropriate objective for his Eastern army was the army of Robert E. Lee, not any geographic features such as a capital city,[18] but he and his generals knew that the most reliable way to bring Lee to a decisive battle was to threaten his capital. Lincoln tried a fifth time with a new general on January 25, 1863—Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, a man with a pugnacious reputation who had performed well in previous subordinate commands.[19]

With Burnside's departure, Maj. Gen. William B. Franklin left as well. Franklin had been a staunch supporter of George B. McClellan and refused to serve under Hooker, because he disliked him personally and also because he was senior to Hooker in rank. Maj. Gen. Edwin V. Sumner stepped down due to old age (he was 65) and poor health. He was reassigned to a command in Missouri, but died before he could assume it. Brig. Gen. Daniel Butterfield was reassigned from command of the V Corps to be Hooker's chief of staff.[20]

Hooker embarked on a much-needed reorganization of the army, doing away with Burnside's grand division system, which had proved unwieldy; he also no longer had sufficient senior officers on hand that he could trust to command multi-corps operations.[21] He organized the cavalry into a separate corps under the command of Brig. Gen. George Stoneman (who had commanded the III Corps at Fredericksburg). But while he concentrated the cavalry into a single organization, he dispersed his artillery battalions to the control of the infantry division commanders, removing the coordinating influence of the army's artillery chief, Brig. Gen. Henry J. Hunt.[22]

Hooker established a reputation as an outstanding administrator and restored the morale of his soldiers, which had plummeted to a new low under Burnside. Among his changes were fixes to the daily diet of the troops, camp sanitary changes, improvements and accountability of the quartermaster system, addition of and monitoring of company cooks, several hospital reforms, an improved furlough system, orders to stem rising desertion, improved drills, and stronger officer training.[23]

Intelligence and plans Edit

My plans are perfect. May God have mercy on General Lee for I will have none.

Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker[24]

Hooker took advantage of improved military intelligence about the positioning and capabilities of the opposing army, superior to that available to his predecessors in army command. His chief of staff, Butterfield, commissioned Col. George H. Sharpe from the 120th New York Infantry to organize a new Bureau of Military Information in the Army of the Potomac, part of the provost marshal function under Brig. Gen. Marsena R. Patrick. Previously, intelligence gatherers, such as Allan Pinkerton and his detective agency, gathered information only by interrogating prisoners, deserters, "contrabands" (slaves), and refugees.[25]

The new BMI added other sources including infantry and cavalry reconnaissance, spies, scouts, signal stations, and an aerial balloon corps. As he received the more complete information correlated from these additional sources, Hooker realized that if he were to avoid the bloodbath of direct frontal attacks, which were features of the battles of Antietam and, more recently, Fredericksburg, he could not succeed in his crossing of the Rappahannock "except by stratagem."[25]

 
Hooker's plan for the Chancellorsville campaign
  Confederate
  Union

Hooker's army faced Lee across the Rappahannock from its winter quarters in Falmouth and around Fredericksburg. Hooker developed a strategy that was, on paper, superior to those of his predecessors. He planned to send his 10,000 cavalrymen under Maj. Gen. George Stoneman to cross the Rappahannock far upstream and raid deep into the Confederate rear areas, destroying crucial supply depots along the railroad from the Confederate capital in Richmond to Fredericksburg, which would cut Lee's lines of communication and supply.[26]

Hooker reasoned that Lee would react to this threat by abandoning his fortified positions on the Rappahannock and withdrawing toward his capital. At that time, Hooker's infantry would cross the Rappahannock in pursuit, attacking Lee when he was moving and vulnerable. Stoneman attempted to execute this turning movement on April 13, but heavy rains made the river crossing site at Sulphur Spring impassable. President Lincoln lamented, "I greatly fear it is another failure already." Hooker was forced to create a new plan for a meeting with Lincoln, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, and general in chief Henry W. Halleck in Aquia on April 19.[26]

 
Troops crossing the Rapidan at Germanna Ford

Hooker's second plan was to launch both his cavalry and infantry simultaneously in a bold double envelopment of Lee's army. Stoneman's cavalry would make a second attempt at its deep strategic raid, but at the same time, 42,000 men in three corps (V, XI, XII Corps) would stealthily march to cross the Rappahannock upriver at Kelly's Ford. They would then proceed south and cross the Rapidan at Germanna and Ely's Ford, concentrate at the Chancellorsville crossroads, and attack Lee's army from the west.[27]

While they were under way, 10,000 men in two divisions from the II Corps would cross at the U.S. Ford and join with the V Corps in pushing the Confederates away from the river. The second half of the double envelopment was to come from the east: 40,000 men in two corps (I and VI Corps, under the overall command of John Sedgwick) would cross the Rappahannock below Fredericksburg and threaten to attack Stonewall Jackson's position on the Confederate right flank.[27]

The remaining 25,000 men (III Corps and one division of the II Corps) would remain visible in their camps at Falmouth to divert Confederate attention from the turning movement. Hooker anticipated that Lee would either be forced to retreat, in which case he would be vigorously pursued, or he would be forced to attack the Union Army on unfavorable terrain.[27]

One of the defining characteristics of the battlefield was a dense woodland south of the Rapidan known locally as the "Wilderness of Spotsylvania". The area had once been an open broadleaf forest, but during colonial times the trees were gradually cut down to make charcoal for local pig iron furnaces. When the supply of wood was exhausted, the furnaces were abandoned and secondary forest growth developed, creating a dense mass of brambles, thickets, vines, and low-lying vegetation.[28]

Catharine Furnace, abandoned in the 1840s, had recently been reactivated to produce iron for the Confederate war effort. This area was largely unsuitable for the deployment of artillery and the control of large infantry formations, which would nullify some of the Union advantage in military power. It was important for Hooker's plan that his men move quickly out of this area and attack Lee in the open ground to the east. There were three primary roads available for this west-to-east movement: the Orange Plank Road, the Orange Turnpike, and the River Road.[28]

The Confederate dispositions were as follows: the Rappahannock line at Fredericksburg was occupied by Longstreet's First Corps division of Lafayette McLaws on Marye's Heights, with Jackson's entire Second Corps to their right. Early's division was at Prospect Hill and the divisions of Rodes, Hill, and Colston extended the Confederate right flank along the river almost to Skinker's Neck. The other division present from Longstreet's Corps, Anderson's, guarded the river crossings on the left flank. Stuart's cavalry was largely in Culpeper County near Kelly's Ford, beyond the infantry's left flank.[29]

Initial movements Edit

April 27–30: Movement to battle Edit

 
Battle of Chancellorsville, Situation Late 30 April 1863 and Movements since 27 April

On April 27–28, the initial three corps of the Army of the Potomac began their march under the leadership of Slocum. They crossed the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers as planned and began to concentrate on April 30 around the hamlet of Chancellorsville, which was little more than a single large, brick mansion at the junction of the Orange Turnpike and Orange Plank Road. Built in the early 19th century, it had been used as an inn on the turnpike for many years, but now served as a home for the Frances Chancellor family. Some of the family remained in the house during the battle.[30]

Hooker arrived late in the afternoon on April 30 and made the mansion his headquarters. Stoneman's cavalry began on April 30 its second attempt to reach Lee's rear areas. Two divisions of II Corps crossed at U.S. Ford on April 30 without opposition. By dawn on April 29, pontoon bridges spanned the Rappahannock south of Fredericksburg and Sedgwick's force began to cross.[30]

Pleased with the success of the operation so far, and realizing that the Confederates were not vigorously opposing the river crossings, Hooker ordered Sickles to begin the movement of the III Corps from Falmouth the night of April 30 – May 1. By May 1, Hooker had approximately 70,000 men concentrated in and around Chancellorsville.[30]

 
Troops on Hooker's right cross the Rappahannock, by Edwin Forbes

In his Fredericksburg headquarters, Lee was initially in the dark about the Union intentions and he suspected that the main column under Slocum was heading towards Gordonsville. Jeb Stuart's cavalry was cut off at first by Stoneman's departure on April 30, but they were soon able to move freely around the army's flanks on their reconnaissance missions after almost all their Union counterparts had left the area.[31]

As Stuart's intelligence information about the Union river crossings began to arrive, Lee did not react as Hooker had anticipated. He decided to violate one of the generally accepted principles of war and divide his force in the face of a superior enemy, hoping that aggressive action would allow him to attack and defeat a portion of Hooker's army before it could be fully concentrated against him. He became convinced that Sedgwick's force would demonstrate against him, but not become a serious threat, so he ordered about 4/5 of his army to meet the challenge from Chancellorsville. He left behind a brigade under Brig. Gen. William Barksdale on heavily fortified Marye's Heights behind Fredericksburg and one division under Maj. Gen. Jubal A. Early, on Prospect Hill south of the town.[31]

These roughly 11,000 men and 56 guns would attempt to resist any advance by Sedgwick's 40,000. He ordered Stonewall Jackson to march west and link up with Maj. Gen. Richard H. Anderson's division, which had pulled back from the river crossings they were guarding and began digging earthworks on a north–south line between the Zoan and Tabernacle churches. McLaws's division was ordered from Fredericksburg to join Anderson. This would amass 40,000 men to confront Hooker's movement east from Chancellorsville. Heavy fog along the Rappahannock masked some of these westward movements and Sedgwick chose to wait until he could determine the enemy's intentions.[31]

Opposing forces Edit

Union Edit

Further information: Union order of battle and Detailed Union strength
Key commanders (Army of the Potomac)

The Army of the Potomac,[4] commanded by Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, had 133,868 men[7][8] and 413 guns[7][32] organized as follows:[33]

Confederate Edit

Further information: Confederate order of battle and Detailed Confederate strength: part 1, part 2, part 3
Key commanders (Army of Northern Virginia)

Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia[6] fielded 60,298 men[8][9] and 220 guns,[34] organized as follows:[35]

The Chancellorsville campaign was one of the most lopsided clashes of the war, with the Union's effective fighting force more than twice the Confederates', the greatest imbalance during the war in Virginia. Hooker's army was much better supplied and was well-rested after several months of inactivity. Lee's forces, on the other hand, were poorly provisioned and were scattered all over the state of Virginia. Some 15,000 men of Longstreet's Corps had previously been detached and stationed near Norfolk in order to block a potential threat to Richmond from Federal troops stationed at Fort Monroe and Newport News on the Peninsula, as well as at Norfolk and Suffolk.[36]

In light of the continued Federal inactivity, by late March Longstreet's primary assignment became that of requisitioning provisions for Lee's forces from the farmers and planters of North Carolina and Virginia. As a result of this the two divisions of Maj. Gen. John Bell Hood and Maj. Gen. George Pickett were 130 miles (210 km) away from Lee's army and would take a week or more of marching to reach it in an emergency. After nearly a year of campaigning, allowing these troops to slip away from his immediate control was Lee's gravest miscalculation. Although he hoped to be able to call on them, these men would not arrive in time to aid his outnumbered forces.[36]

Battle Edit

May 1: Hooker passes on opportunity Edit

 
Chancellorsville, actions on May 1

Jackson's men began marching west to join with Anderson before dawn on May 1. Jackson himself met with Anderson near Zoan Church at 8 a.m., finding that McLaws's division had already arrived to join the defensive position. But Stonewall Jackson was not in a defensive mood. He ordered an advance at 11 a.m. along two roads toward Chancellorsville: McLaws's division and the brigade of Brig. Gen. William Mahone on the Turnpike, and Anderson's other brigades and Jackson's arriving units on the Plank Road.[37]

At about the same time, Hooker ordered his men to advance on three roads to the east: two divisions of Meade's V Corps (Griffin and Humphreys) on the River Road to uncover Banks's Ford, and the remaining division (Sykes) on the Turnpike; and Slocum's XII Corps on the Plank Road, with Howard's XI Corps in close support. Couch's II Corps was placed in reserve, where it would be soon joined by Sickles's III Corps.[37]

The first shots of the Battle of Chancellorsville were fired at 11:20 a.m. as the armies collided. McLaws's initial attack pushed back Sykes's division. The Union general organized a counterattack that recovered the lost ground. Anderson then sent a brigade under Brig. Gen. Ambrose Wright up an unfinished railroad south of the Plank Road, around the right flank of Slocum's corps. This would normally be a serious problem, but Howard's XI Corps was advancing from the rear and could deal with Wright.[38]

Sykes's division had proceeded farther forward than Slocum on his right, leaving him in an exposed position. This forced him to conduct an orderly withdrawal at 2 p.m. to take up a position behind Hancock's division of the II Corps, which was ordered by Hooker to advance and help repulse the Confederate attack. Meade's other two divisions made good progress on the River Road and were approaching their objective, Banks's Ford.[38]

Modern attempts to rehabilitate and fumigate Joe Hooker's reputation usually and remarkably employ special pleading about the difficulties of moving in the Wilderness. Such arguments actually emphasize the salient factor on May 1: Getting out of that wilderness of course was the very essence of the general's needs. When he abandoned the chance to reach that desirable goal, Hooker at once passed the initiative, with all of its advantages, to Lee. The Confederate would make superb use of the opportunity.

Robert K. Krick, Lee's Greatest Victory[39]

Despite being in a potentially favorable situation, Hooker halted his brief offensive. His actions may have demonstrated his lack of confidence in handling the complex actions of such a large organization for the first time (he had been an effective and aggressive division and corps commander in previous battles), but he had also decided before beginning the campaign that he would fight the battle defensively, forcing Lee, with his small army, to attack his own, larger one. At the [First] Battle of Fredericksburg (December 13, 1862), the Union army had done the attacking and met with a bloody defeat.[40]

Hooker knew Lee could not sustain such a defeat and keep an effective army in the field, so he ordered his men to withdraw back into the Wilderness and take a defensive position around Chancellorsville, daring Lee to attack him or retreat with superior forces at his back. He confused matters by issuing a second order to his subordinates to hold their positions until 5 p.m., but by the time it was received, most of the Union units had begun their rearward movements. That evening, Hooker sent a message to his corps commanders, "The major general commanding trusts that a suspension in the attack to-day will embolden the enemy to attack him."[40]

The retrograde movement had prepared me for something of the kind, but to hear from [Hooker's] own lips that the advantages gained by the successful marches of his lieutenants were to culminate in fighting a defensive battle in that nest of thickets was too much, and I retired from his presence with the belief that my commanding general was a whipped man.

Union Maj. Gen. Darius N. Couch[41]

Hooker's subordinates were surprised and outraged by the change in plans. They saw that the position they were fighting for near the Zoan Church was relatively high ground and offered an opportunity for the infantry and artillery to deploy outside the constraints of the Wilderness. Meade exclaimed, "My God, if we can't hold the top of the hill, we certainly can't hold the bottom of it!" Viewing through the lens of hindsight, some of the participants and many modern historians judged that Hooker effectively lost the campaign on May 1. Stephen W. Sears observed, however, that Hooker's concern was based on more than personal timidity.[42]

The ground being disputed was little more than a clearing in the Wilderness, to which access was available by only two narrow roads. The Confederate response had swiftly concentrated the aggressive Stonewall Jackson's corps against his advancing columns such that the Federal army was outnumbered in that area, about 48,000 to 30,000, and would have difficulty maneuvering into effective lines of battle. Meade's two divisions on the River Road were too far separated to support Slocum and Sykes, and reinforcements from the rest of the II Corps and the III Corps would be too slow in arriving.[42]

As the Union troops dug in around Chancellorsville that night, creating log breastworks, faced with abatis, Lee and Stonewall Jackson met at the intersection of the Plank Road and the Furnace Road to plan their next move. Jackson believed that Hooker would retreat across the Rappahannock, but Lee assumed that the Union general had invested too much in the campaign to withdraw so precipitously. If the Federal troops were still in position on May 2, Lee would attack them. As they discussed their options, cavalry commander J.E.B. Stuart arrived with an intelligence report from his subordinate, Brig. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee.[43]

Although Hooker's left flank was firmly anchored by Meade's V Corps on the Rappahannock, and his center was strongly fortified, his right flank was "in the air." Howard's XI Corps was camped on the Orange Turnpike, extending past Wilderness Church, and was vulnerable to a flanking attack. Investigations of a route to be used to reach the flank identified the proprietor of Catharine Furnace, Charles C. Wellford, who showed Jackson's cartographer, Jedediah Hotchkiss, a recently constructed road through the forest that would shield marchers from the observation of Union pickets. Lee directed Jackson to make the flanking march, a maneuver similar to the one that had been so successful prior to the Second Battle of Bull Run (Second Manassas). An account by Hotchkiss recalls that Lee asked Jackson how many men he would take on the flanking march and Jackson replied, "my whole command."[43]

May 2: Jackson's flank attack Edit

 
Chancellorsville, actions on May 2
 
The ruins of Catharine Furnace photographed in 2011
 
The site of "Keenan's Charge" [8th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment] 2 May 1863
 
Dowdall's Tavern was Union General Oliver O. Howard's headquarters until he was surprised and driven out by Stonewall Jackson's Confederate troops on May 2.
 
Wilderness Church at Chancellorsville was the center of a stand made by Union general Schurz's division during Stonewall Jackson's surprise flank attack.

Early on the morning of May 2, Hooker began to realize that Lee's actions on May 1 had not been constrained by the threat of Sedgwick's force at Fredericksburg, so no further deception was needed on that front. He decided to summon the I Corps of Maj. Gen. John F. Reynolds to reinforce his lines at Chancellorsville. His intent was that Reynolds would form up to the right of the XI Corps and anchor the Union right flank on the Rapidan River.[44]

Given the communications chaos of May 1, Hooker was under the mistaken impression that Sedgwick had withdrawn back across the Rappahannock and, based on this, that the VI Corps should remain on the north bank of the river across from the town, where it could protect the army's supplies and supply line. In fact, both Reynolds and Sedgwick were still west of the Rappahannock, south of the town.[44]

Hooker sent his orders at 1:55 a.m., expecting that Reynolds would be able to start marching before daylight, but problems with his telegraph communications delayed the order to Fredericksburg until just before sunrise. Reynolds was forced to make a risky daylight march. By the afternoon of May 2, when Hooker expected him to be digging in on the Union right at Chancellorsville, Reynolds was still marching to the Rappahannock.[44]

Meanwhile, for the second time, Lee was dividing his army. Jackson would lead his Second Corps of 28,000 men around to attack the Union right flank while Lee exercised personal command of the remaining two divisions, about 13,000 men and 24 guns facing the 70,000 Union troops at Chancellorsville. For the plan to work, several things had to happen. First, Jackson had to make a 12-mile (19 km) march via roundabout roads to reach the Union right, and he had to do it undetected. Second, Hooker had to stay tamely on the defensive. Third, Early would have to keep Sedgwick bottled up at Fredericksburg, despite the four-to-one Union advantage there. And when Jackson launched his attack, he had to hope that the Union forces were unprepared.[45]

Confederate cavalry under Stuart kept most Union forces from spotting Jackson on his long flank march, which started between 7 and 8 a.m. and lasted until midafternoon. Several Confederate soldiers saw the Union observation balloon Eagle soaring overhead and assumed that they could likewise be seen, but no such report was sent to headquarters. When men of the III Corps spotted a Confederate column moving through the woods, their division commander, Brig. Gen. David B. Birney, ordered his artillery to open fire, but this proved little more than harassment. The corps commander, Sickles, rode to Hazel Grove to see for himself and he reported after the battle that his men observed the Confederates passing for over three hours.[46]

When Hooker received the report about the Confederate movement, he thought that Lee might be starting a retreat, but he also realized that a flanking march might be in progress. He took two actions. First, he sent a message at 9:30 a.m. to the commander of the XI Corps, Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard on his right flank: "We have good reason to suppose the enemy is moving to our right. Please advance your pickets for purposes of observation as far as may be safe in order to obtain timely information of their approach."[47]

At 10:50 a.m., Howard replied that he was "taking measures to resist an attack from the west." Hooker's second action was to send orders to Sedgwick – "attack the enemy in his front" at Fredericksburg if "an opportunity presents itself with a reasonable expectation of success" – and Sickles – "advance cautiously toward the road followed by the enemy, and harass the movement as much as possible". Sedgwick did not take action from the discretionary orders. Sickles, however, was enthusiastic when he received the order at noon. He sent Birney's division, flanked by two battalions of Col. Hiram Berdan's U.S. sharpshooters, south from Hazel Grove with orders to pierce the column and gain possession of the road.[47]

But the action came too late. Jackson had ordered the 23rd Georgia Infantry to guard the rear of the column and they resisted the advance of Birney and Berdan at Catherine Furnace. The Georgians were driven south and made a stand at the same unfinished railroad bed used by Wright's Brigade the day before. They were overwhelmed by 5 p.m. and most were captured. Two brigades from A.P. Hill's division turned back from the flanking march and prevented any further damage to Jackson's column, which by now had left the area.[47]

Most of Jackson's men were unaware of the small action at the rear of their column. As they marched north on Brock Road, Jackson was prepared to turn right on the Orange Plank Road, from which his men would attack the Union lines at around Wilderness Church. However, it became apparent that this direction would lead to essentially a frontal assault against Howard's line. Fitzhugh Lee met Jackson and they ascended a hill with a sweeping view of the Union position. Jackson was delighted to see that Howard's men were resting, unaware of the impending Confederate threat.[48]

Although by now it was 3 p.m., Jackson decided to march his men two miles farther and turn right on the Turnpike instead, allowing him to strike the unprotected flank directly. The attack formation consisted of two lines—the divisions of Brig. Gens. Robert E. Rodes and Raleigh E. Colston—stretching almost a mile on either side of the turnpike, separated by 200 yards, followed by a partial line with the arriving division of A.P. Hill.[48]

 
Ruins of the Chancellor House which was the headquarters of Federal General Joseph Hooker of the Army of the Potomac during the battle, later burned, May 1863

Significant contributions to the impending Union disaster were the nature of the Union XI Corps and the incompetent performance of its commander, Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard. Howard failed to make any provision for defending against a surprise attack, even though Hooker had ordered him to do so. The Union right flank was not anchored on any natural obstacle, and the only defenses against a flank attack consisted of two cannons pointing out into the Wilderness.[49]

Also, the XI Corps was not well respected – an outfit with poor morale and no history of battlefield success. Many of its officers and enlisted men were immigrants from Germany and other parts of Central Europe, including a number of political refugees from the 1848 revolutions. The corps had been formed in the spring of 1862 by merging Brig. Gen Louis Blenker's division with Maj. Gen John C. Frémont's Mountain Department in West Virginia. After a miserable trek across Virginia in which Blenker's troops were provisioned inadequately and suffered from widespread hunger, disease, and desertion, they joined with Fremont in a campaign that resulted in them being soundly defeated by Stonewall Jackson.[49]

Fremont's army became part of Maj. Gen John Pope's Army of Virginia in the summer. Fremont had refused to serve under Pope and was replaced by Maj. Gen Franz Sigel, an inept political general who, however, was much beloved by his German troops. Louis Blenker fell from a horse during the Northern Virginia campaign and suffered injuries that would claim his life later in 1863. The corps suffered heavy casualties at Second Bull Run and was left behind in Washington D.C. during the Maryland campaign. During the Fredericksburg campaign, it did not join the rest of the army until after the battle was over.[49]

After Hooker took command, Sigel was the ranking general behind him. The XI Corps was the smallest in the army and Sigel's requests to general-in-chief Henry Halleck to have it enlarged were refused, so he resigned his command in March 1863 and was replaced by Maj. Gen Oliver O. Howard, who was widely unpopular with the enlisted men and brought in several new generals, such as Brig. Gen Francis Barlow, who had a reputation of being aggressive martinets. Eight of the 27 regiments in the corps had never been in battle before, while the remaining 21 had never been on the winning side of a battle. The German soldiers suffered from widespread ethnic friction with the rest of the army although a number of the regiments in the XI Corps consisted of native-born Americans.[49]

Hooker had no major plans for the corps except for mopping up after the main battle was over, and it was placed out on the army's right flank where it was not expected to be involved in any fighting, and the woods to the west were assumed to be so thick that enemy troops could not possibly move through them and form a line of battle. As far as Hooker knew, the only possible route for a Confederate attack was along the turnpike, which would cause them to run right into the II and XII Corps, both elite outfits and well-entrenched. Further north, the Union line was held by the V Corps, also first-rate troops occupying an almost impregnable position.[49]

As the day wore on, the men of the XI Corps became increasingly aware that something was going on in the woods to the west of them, but were unable to get any higher-ups to pay attention. Col. John C. Lee of the 55th Ohio received numerous reports of a Confederate presence out there, and Col. William Richardson of the 25th Ohio reported that huge numbers of Confederates were massing to the west. Col. Leopold von Gilsa, who commanded one of two brigades in Brig. Gen Charles Devens' division, went to Howard's headquarters warning him that an all-out enemy assault was imminent, but Howard insisted that it was impossible for the Confederates to get through the dense woods.

Maj. Gen Carl Schurz, who commanded the 3rd Division of the corps, began rearranging his troops into a line of battle. Captain Hubert Dilger, who commanded Battery I of the 1st Ohio Artillery, rode out on a reconnaissance mission, narrowly missed being captured by the Confederates, and rode far north, almost to the banks of the Rapidan, and back south to Hooker's headquarters, but a haughty cavalry officer dismissed his concerns and would not let him in to see the general. Dilger next went to Howard's headquarters, but was merely told that the Confederate army was retreating and that it was not acceptable to make scouting expeditions without permission of higher-ups. As the sun started to go down, all remained quiet on the XI Corps's front, the noises of the III and XII Corps engaging Lee's rear guard coming from off in the distance.

 
The XI Corps routs before Jackson's evening dinner time surprise attack

Around 5:30 p.m.,[50] Jackson turned to Robert Rodes and asked him "General, are you ready?" When Rodes nodded, Jackson replied, "You may go forward then."[51] Most of the men of the XI Corps were encamped and sitting down for supper and had their rifles unloaded and stacked. Their first clue to the impending onslaught was the observation of numerous animals, such as rabbits and foxes, fleeing in their direction out of the western woods. This was followed by the crackle of musket fire, and then the unmistakable scream of the "Rebel Yell".

Two of von Gilsa's regiments, the 153rd Pennsylvania and 54th New York, had been placed up as a heavy skirmish line and the massive Confederate assault rolled completely over them. A few men managed to get off a shot or two before fleeing. The pair of artillery pieces at the very end of the XI Corps line were captured by the Confederates and promptly turned on their former owners. Devens's division collapsed in a matter of minutes, slammed on three sides by almost 30,000 Confederates. Col. Robert Reily and his 75th Ohio managed to resist for about ten minutes before the regiment disintegrated with 150 casualties, including Reily himself, and joined the rest of the fleeing mob.

Col. Lee would later write sarcastically, "A rifle pit is useless when the enemy is on the same side and in rear of your line." Some men tried to stand and resist, but they were knocked over by their fleeing comrades and a hail of Confederate bullets. Maj. Gen. Carl Schurz ordered his division to shift from an east–west alignment to north–south, which they did with amazing precision and speed. They resisted for about 20 minutes and "Leatherbreeches" Dilger managed to drive the Confederates off the turnpike for a bit with his guns, but the sheer weight of Jackson's assault overwhelmed them, too, and they soon had to flee.

Dilger for a time stood alone with a gun firing double-shotted canister at the attackers, then limbered up to flee as the Confederates closed in on him. Three of his artillery horses were shot dead, and when he realized that the gun could not be moved, he had to abandon it. General Howard partially redeemed his inadequate performance prior to the battle by his personal bravery in attempting to rally the troops. He stood shouting and waving a flag held under the stump of his amputated arm lost at the Battle of Seven Pines in 1862, ignoring the danger of the heavy rifle fire, but he could only gather small pockets of soldiers to resist before his corps disintegrated. Col. Adolf Buschbeck's brigade put up a last-ditch stand along with Dilger's guns. They too had to retreat, but maintained good order as they went.

The chaos unfurling on the Union right had gone unnoticed at Hooker's headquarters until at last the sound of gunfire could be heard in the distance, followed by a panic-stricken mob of men and horses pouring into the Chancellorsville clearing. A staff officer yelled "My God, here they come!" as the mob ran to and past the Chancellor mansion. Hooker jumped onto his horse and frantically tried to take action. He ordered Maj. Gen Hiram Berry's division of the III Corps, once his own division, forward, yelling "Receive them on your bayonets!" Artillerymen around the clearing began moving guns into position around Fairview Cemetery.[52]

Meanwhile, down at Hazel Grove, the 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry were relaxing and awaiting orders to chase after Confederate wagon trains, also oblivious to the collapse of the XI Corps. The regiment's commander, Maj. Pennock Huey, received a notice that General Howard was requesting some cavalry. Huey saddled up his men and headed west along the turnpike, where they ran straight into Robert Rodes's division. After a confused fight, the 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry retreated to the safety of the Chancellorsville clearing with the loss of 30 men and three officers.[52]

 
XII Corps artillery halts Jackson's surprise attack
 
Lower right photograph of trees shattered by artillery shells near where Jackson was shot on the Orange Plank Road.

By nightfall, the Confederate Second Corps had advanced more than 1.25 miles, to within sight of Chancellorsville, but darkness and confusion were taking their toll. The attackers were almost as disorganized as the routed defenders. Although the XI Corps had been defeated, it had retained some coherence as a unit. The corps suffered nearly 2,500 casualties (259 killed, 1,173 wounded, and 994 missing or captured), about one quarter of its strength, including 12 of 23 regimental commanders, which suggests that they fought fiercely during their retreat.[53]

Jackson's force was now separated from Lee's men only by Sickles's corps, which had been separated from the main body of the army after its foray attacking Jackson's column earlier in the afternoon. Like everyone else in the Union army, the III Corps had been unaware of Jackson's attack. When he first heard the news, Sickles was skeptical, but finally believed it and decided to pull back to Hazel Grove.[53]

Sickles became increasingly nervous, knowing that his troops were facing an unknown number of Confederates to the west. A patrol of Jackson's troops was driven back by Union gunners, a minor incident that would come to be exaggerated into a heroic repulse of Jackson's entire command. Between 11 p.m. and midnight, Sickles organized an assault north from Hazel Grove toward the Plank Road, but called it off when his men began suffering artillery and rifle friendly fire from the Union XII Corps.[53]

Stonewall Jackson wanted to press his advantage before Hooker and his army could regain their bearings and plan a counterattack, which might still succeed because of the sheer disparity in numbers. He rode out onto the Plank Road that night to determine the feasibility of a night attack by the light of the full moon, traveling beyond the farthest advance of his men. When one of his staff officers warned him about the dangerous position, Jackson replied, "The danger is all over. The enemy is routed. Go back and tell A.P. Hill to press right on."

As he and his staff started to return, they were incorrectly identified as Union cavalry by men of the 18th North Carolina Infantry, who hit Jackson with friendly fire. Jackson's three bullet wounds were not in themselves life-threatening, but his left arm was broken and had to be amputated. While recovering, he contracted pneumonia and died on May 10. His death was a devastating loss for the Confederacy. Some historians and participants—particularly those of the postbellum Lost Cause movement—attribute the Confederate defeat at Gettysburg two months later to Jackson's absence.

The Union gunners at Fairview Cemetery were alert and nervous; they were a few hundred yards behind Berry's division and still-intact elements of the XI Corps and they found it quite impossible to fire their guns without the shells going over the heads of the infantrymen in front of them. A few friendly-fire casualties resulted from this as the gunners were quick to shoot at anything that looked like enemy soldiers; when they got sight of a large body of Confederates drawing near, they let loose a huge cannonade that landed on and around the party that was carrying the wounded Jackson to the rear and did end up wounding A.P. Hill.[54]

May 3: Chancellorsville Edit

 
Chancellorsville, actions on May 3, dawn to 10 a.m.

Despite the fame of Stonewall Jackson's victory on May 2, it did not result in a significant military advantage for the Army of Northern Virginia. Howard's XI Corps had been defeated, but the Army of the Potomac remained a potent force and Reynolds's I Corps had arrived overnight, which replaced Howard's losses. About 76,000 Union men faced 43,000 Confederate at the Chancellorsville front. The two halves of Lee's army at Chancellorsville were separated by Sickles's III Corps, which occupied a strong position on high ground at Hazel Grove.[55]

Unless Lee could devise a plan to eject Sickles from Hazel Grove and combine the two halves of his army, he would have little chance of success in assaulting the formidable Union earthworks around Chancellorsville. Fortunately for Lee, Joseph Hooker inadvertently cooperated. Early on May 3, Hooker ordered Sickles to move from Hazel Grove to a new position on the Plank Road. As they were withdrawing, the trailing elements of Sickles's corps were attacked by the Confederate brigade of Brig. Gen. James J. Archer, which captured about 100 prisoners and four cannons. Hazel Grove was soon turned into a powerful artillery platform with 30 guns under Col. Porter Alexander.[55]

After Jackson was wounded on May 2, command of the Second Corps fell to his senior division commander, Maj. Gen. A.P. Hill. Hill was soon wounded himself. He consulted with Brig. Gen. Robert E. Rodes, the next most senior general in the corps, and Rodes acquiesced in Hill's decision to summon Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart to take command, notifying Lee after the fact. Brig. Gen. Henry Heth replaced Hill in division command.[56]

Although Stuart was a cavalryman who had never commanded infantry before, he was to deliver a creditable performance at Chancellorsville. By the morning of May 3, the Union line resembled a horseshoe. The center was held by the III, XII, and II Corps. On the left were the remnants of the XI Corps, and the right was held by the V and I Corps. On the western side of the Chancellorsville salient, Stuart organized his three divisions to straddle the Plank Road: Heth's in the advance, Colston's 300–500 yards behind, and Rodes's, whose men had done the hardest fighting on May 2, near the Wilderness Church.[56]

The attack began about 5:30 a.m. supported by the newly installed artillery at Hazel Grove, and by simultaneous attacks by the divisions of Anderson and McLaws from the south and southeast. The Confederates were resisted fiercely by the Union troops behind strong earthworks, and the fighting on May 3 was the heaviest of the campaign. The initial waves of assaults by Heth and Colston gained a little ground, but were beaten back by Union counterattacks.[56]

At Hazel Grove, in short, the finest artillerists of the Army of Northern Virginia were having their greatest day. They had improved guns, better ammunition and superior organization. With the fire of battle shining through his spectacles, William Pegram rejoiced. "A glorious day, Colonel," he said to Porter Alexander, "a glorious day!"

Douglas Southall Freeman, Lee's Lieutenants[57]

Rodes sent his men in last and this final push, along with the excellent performance of the Confederate artillery, carried the morning battle. Chancellorsville was the only occasion in the war in Virginia in which Confederate gunners held a decided advantage over their Federal counterparts. Confederate guns on Hazel Grove were joined by 20 more on the Plank Road to duel effectively with the Union guns on neighboring Fairview Hill, causing the Federals to withdraw as ammunition ran low and Confederate infantrymen picked off the gun crews.[58]

Fairview was evacuated at 9:30 a.m., briefly recaptured in a counterattack, but by 10 a.m. Hooker ordered it abandoned for good. The loss of this artillery platform doomed the Union position at the Chancellorsville crossroads as well, and the Army of the Potomac began a fighting retreat to positions circling United States Ford. The soldiers of the two halves of Lee's army reunited shortly after 10 a.m. before the Chancellor mansion, wildly triumphant as Lee arrived on Traveller to survey the scene of his victory.[58]

Lee's presence was the signal for one of those uncontrollable bursts of enthusiasm which none can appreciate who has not witnessed them. The fierce soldiers, with their faces blackened with the smoke of battle, the wounded crawling with feeble limbs from the fury of the devouring flames, all seemed possessed with a common impulse. One long unbroken cheer, in which the feeble cry of those who lay helpless on the earth blended with the strong voices of those who still fought, rose high above the roar of battle and hailed the presence of a victorious chief. He sat in the full realization of all that soldiers dream of—triumph; and as I looked at him in the complete fruition of the success which his genius, courage, and confidence in his army had won, I thought that it must have been from some such scene that men in ancient days ascended to the dignity of gods.

— Charles Marshall, Lee's military secretary, An Aide-de-Camp to Lee[59]

At the height of the fighting on May 3, Hooker suffered an injury when at 9:15 a.m. a Confederate cannonball hit a wooden pillar he was leaning against at his headquarters. He later wrote that half of the pillar "violently [struck me] ... in an erect position from my head to my feet." He likely received a concussion, which was sufficiently severe to render him unconscious for over an hour. Although clearly incapacitated after he arose, Hooker refused to turn over command temporarily to his second-in-command, Maj. Gen. Darius N. Couch, and, with Hooker's chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Daniel Butterfield, and Sedgwick out of communication (again due to the failure of the telegraph lines), there was no one at headquarters with sufficient rank or stature to convince Hooker otherwise. This failure may have affected Union performance over the next day and may have directly contributed to Hooker's seeming lack of nerve and timid performance throughout the rest of the battle.[60]

Meanwhile, at about 7:30 a.m., near Chancellorsville, III Corps, Second Division commander Maj. Gen. Hiram Berry was killed by Confederate musket fire.[61] Brig. Gen. Gershom Mott, next in seniority, was also severely wounded at about that time. Believing himself to be next in command, Brig. Gen. Joseph Warren Revere (grandson of Paul Revere) assumed command of the division.[62] Finding himself in among stragglers from the battle and unable to contact Sickles, Revere commanded a group of 500 or 600 soldiers to reform at a point about three miles to the north of Chancellorsville.[62] This three-mile march away from the battlefield, described by Revere as a "regrouping effort" and not a retreat, led to his being court-martialed in August by Maj. Gen. Hooker.[62] This coincided with Revere's friendly 1852 conversation with Stonewall Jackson,[63][64] in which Jackson used horoscopes and astrology to predict Revere's "culmination of the malign aspect" in the first days of May 1863.[63]

May 3: Fredericksburg and Salem Church Edit

Further information: Second Battle of Fredericksburg and Battle of Salem Church
 
Chancellorsville, actions on May 3, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., including the Second Battle of Fredericksburg and the Battle of Salem Church

As Lee was savoring his victory at the Chancellorsville crossroads, he received disturbing news: Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick's force had broken through the Confederate lines at Fredericksburg and was headed toward Chancellorsville. On the night of May 2, in the aftermath of Jackson's flank attack, Hooker had ordered Sedgwick to "cross the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg on the receipt of this order, and at once take up your line of march on the Chancellorsville road until you connect with him. You will attack and destroy any force you may fall in with on the road."[65]

Lee had left a relatively small force at Fredericksburg, ordering Brig. Gen. Jubal Early to "watch the enemy and try to hold him." If he was attacked in "overwhelming numbers," Early was to retreat to Richmond, but if Sedgwick withdrew from his front, he was to join with Lee at Chancellorsville. On the morning of May 2, Early received a garbled message from Lee's staff that caused him to start marching most of his men toward Chancellorsville, but he quickly returned after a warning from Brig. Gen. William Barksdale of a Union advance against Fredericksburg.[65]

At 7 a.m. on May 3, Early was confronted with four Union divisions: Brig. Gen. John Gibbon of the II Corps had crossed the Rappahannock north of town, and three divisions of Sedgwick's VI Corps—Maj. Gen. John Newton and Brig. Gens. Albion P. Howe and William T. H. Brooks—were arrayed in line from the front of the town to Deep Run. Most of Early's combat strength was deployed to the south of town, where Federal troops had achieved their most significant successes during the December battle. Marye's Heights was defended by Barksdale's Mississippi brigade and Early ordered the Louisiana brigade of Brig. Gen. Harry T. Hays from the far right to Barksdale's left.[65]

 
Soldiers of the VI Corps, Army of the Potomac, in trenches before storming Marye's Heights at the Second Battle of Fredericksburg during the Chancellorsville campaign, Virginia, May 1863. This photograph (Library of Congress #B-157) is sometimes mistakenly labeled as taken at the 1864 Siege of Petersburg, Virginia.

By midmorning, two Union attacks against the infamous stone wall on Marye's Heights were repulsed with numerous casualties. A Union party under flag of truce was allowed to approach ostensibly to collect the wounded, but while close to the stone wall, they were able to observe how sparsely the Confederate line was manned. A third Union attack was successful in overrunning the Confederate position. Early was able to organize an effective fighting retreat.[66]

John Sedgwick's road to Chancellorsville was open, but he wasted time in gathering his troops and forming a marching column. His men, led by Brooks's division, followed by Newton and Howe, were delayed for several hours by successive actions against the Alabama brigade of Brig. Gen. Cadmus M. Wilcox. His final delaying line was a ridge at Salem church, where he was joined by three brigades from McLaws's division and one from Anderson's, bringing the total Confederate strength to about 10,000 men.[66]

Artillery fire was exchanged by both sides in the afternoon and at 5:30 p.m., two brigades of Brooks's division attacked on both sides of the Plank Road. The advance south of the road reached as far as the churchyard, but was driven back. The attack north of the road could not break the Confederate line. Wilcox described the action as "a bloody repulse to the enemy, rendering entirely useless to him his little success of the morning at Fredericksburg." Hooker expressed his disappointment in Sedgwick: "my object in ordering General Sedgwick forward ... Was to relieve me from the position in which I found myself at Chancellorsville. ... In my judgment General Sedgwick did not obey the spirit of my order, and made no sufficient effort to obey it. ... When he did move it was not with sufficient confidence or ability on his part to manoeuvre his troops."[67]

The fighting on May 3, 1863, was some of the most furious anywhere in the civil war. The loss of 21,357 men that day in the three battles, divided equally between the two armies, ranks the fighting only behind the Battle of Antietam as the bloodiest day of war in American history.[68]

May 4–6: Union withdrawals Edit

 
Chancellorsville, actions on May 4, withdrawals on May 5 and 6

On the evening of May 3 and all day May 4, Hooker remained in his defenses north of Chancellorsville. Lee observed that Hooker was threatening no offensive action, so felt comfortable ordering Anderson's division to join the battle against Sedgwick. He sent orders to Early and McLaws to cooperate in a joint attack, but the orders reached his subordinates after dark, so the attack was planned for May 4.[69]

By this time Sedgwick had placed his divisions into a strong defensive position with its flanks anchored on the Rappahannock, three sides of a rectangle extending south of the Plank Road. Early's plan was to drive the Union troops off Marye's Heights and the other high ground west of Fredericksburg. Lee ordered McLaws to engage from the west "to prevent [the enemy] concentrating on General Early."[69]

Early reoccupied Marye's Heights on the morning of May 4, cutting Sedgwick off from the town. However, McLaws was reluctant to take any action. Before noon, Lee arrived with Anderson's division, giving him a total of 21,000 men, slightly outnumbering Sedgwick. Despite Lee's presence, McLaws continued his passive role and Anderson's men took a few hours to get into position, a situation that frustrated and angered both Early and Lee, who had been planning on a concentrated assault from three directions.[70]

The attack finally began around 6 p.m. Two of Early's brigades (under Brig. Gens. Harry T. Hays and Robert F. Hoke) pushed back Sedgwick's left-center across the Plank Road, but Anderson's effort was a slight one and McLaws once again contributed nothing. Throughout the day on May 4, Hooker provided no assistance or useful guidance to Sedgwick, and Sedgwick thought about little else than protecting his line of retreat.[70]

Sedgwick withdrew across the Rappahannock at Banks's Ford during the pre-dawn hours of May 5. When he learned that Sedgwick had retreated back over the river, Hooker felt he was out of options to save the campaign. He called a council of war and asked his corps commanders to vote about whether to stay and fight or to withdraw. Although a majority voted to fight, Hooker had had enough, and on the night of May 5–6, he withdrew back across the river at U.S. Ford.[71]

 
Confederate dead behind the stone wall of Marye's Heights, Fredericksburg, Virginia, killed during the Chancellorsville campaign (the Second Battle of Fredericksburg), May 1863. Photograph by A.J. Russell.

It was a difficult operation. Hooker and the artillery crossed first, followed by the infantry beginning at 6 a.m. on May 6. Meade's V Corps served as the rear guard. Rains caused the river to rise and threatened to break the pontoon bridges.[71]

Couch was in command on the south bank after Hooker departed, but he was left with explicit orders not to continue the battle, which he had been tempted to do. The surprise withdrawal frustrated Lee's plan for one final attack against Chancellorsville. He had issued orders for his artillery to bombard the Union line in preparation for another assault, but by the time they were ready Hooker and his men were gone.[71]

The Union cavalry under Brig. Gen. George Stoneman, after a week of ineffectual raiding in central and southern Virginia in which they failed to attack any of the objectives Hooker established, withdrew into Union lines east of Richmond—the peninsula north of the York River, across from Yorktown—on May 7, ending the campaign.[72]

Aftermath Edit

My God! It is horrible—horrible; and to think of it, 130,000 magnificent soldiers so cut to pieces by less than 60,000 half-starved ragamuffins!

— Horace Greeley, New York Tribune[73]

Casualties Edit

Further information: Detailed Union casualties and Detailed Confederate casualties
Senior officer casualties

Lee, despite being outnumbered by a ratio of over two to one, won arguably his greatest victory of the war, sometimes described as his "perfect battle."[74] But he paid a terrible price for it, taking more casualties than he had lost in any previous battle, including the Confederate defeat at the Battle of Antietam. With only 60,000 men engaged, he suffered 13,303 casualties (1,665 killed, 9,081 wounded, 2,018 missing),[11] losing some 22% of his force in the campaign—men that the Confederacy, with its limited manpower, could not replace. Just as seriously, he lost his most aggressive field commander, Stonewall Jackson. Brig. Gen. Elisha F. Paxton was the other Confederate general killed during the battle. After Longstreet rejoined the main army, he was highly critical of Lee's strategy, saying that battles like Chancellorsville cost the Confederacy more men than it could afford to lose.[75]

Of the 133,000 Union men engaged, 17,197 were casualties (1,606 killed, 9,672 wounded, 5,919 missing),[11] a percentage much lower than Lee's, particularly considering that it includes 4,000 men of the XI Corps who were captured on May 2. When comparing only the killed and wounded, there were almost no differences between the Confederate and Federal losses at Chancellorsville. The Union lost three generals in the campaign: Maj. Gens. Hiram G. Berry and Amiel W. Whipple and Brig. Gen. Edmund Kirby.[76]

Assessment of Hooker Edit

Lee's Chancellorsville consisted of a pastiche of unbelievably risky gambits that led to a great triumph. Hooker's campaign, after the brilliant opening movements, degenerated into a tale of opportunities missed and troops underutilized.

Robert K. Krick, Lee's Greatest Victory[77]

Hooker, who began the campaign believing he had "80 chances in 100 to be successful", lost the battle through miscommunication, the incompetence of some of his leading generals (most notably Howard and Stoneman, but also Sedgwick), but mostly through the collapse of his own confidence. Hooker's errors included abandoning his offensive push on May 1 and ordering Sickles to give up Hazel Grove and pull back on May 2. He also erred in his disposition of forces; despite Abraham Lincoln's exhortation, "this time put in all your men," some 40,000 men of the Army of the Potomac scarcely fired a shot. When later asked why he had ordered a halt to his advance on May 1, Hooker is reputed to have responded, "For the first time, I lost faith in Hooker."[78] However, Stephen W. Sears has categorized this as a myth:

Nothing has been more damaging to General Joseph Hooker's military reputation than this, from John Bigelow's The Campaign of Chancellorsville (1910): "A couple of months later, when Hooker crossed the Rappahannock [actually, the Potomac] with the Army of the Potomac in the Campaign of Gettysburg he was asked by General Doubleday: 'Hooker, what was the matter with you at Chancellorsville? ... Hooker answered frankly ... 'Doubleday ... For once I lost confidence in Hooker'."[79]

Sears's research has shown that Bigelow was quoting from a letter written in 1903 by an E. P. Halstead, who was on the staff of Doubleday's I Corps division.[79] There is no evidence that Hooker and Doubleday ever met during the Gettysburg campaign, and they could not have done so since they were dozens of miles apart. Finally, Doubleday made no mention of such a confession from Hooker in his history of the Chancellorsville campaign, published in 1882.[80] Sears concludes:

It can only be concluded that forty years after the event, elderly ex-staff officer Halstead was at best retailing some vaguely remembered campfire tale, and at worst manufacturing a role for himself in histories of the campaign.... Whatever Joe Hooker's failings at Chancellorsville, he did not publicly confess them.[80]

Lincoln later told Connecticut Representative Deming that he believed the war could have been terminated at Chancellorsville had Hooker managed the battle better: specifically, "when Hooker failed to reinforce Sedgwick, after hearing his cannon...." However, he added, "I do not know that I could have given any different orders had I been with them myself. I have not fully made up my mind how I should behave when minie-balls were whistling, and those great oblong shells shrieking in my ear. I might run away."[81]

Union reaction Edit

The Union was shocked by the defeat. President Abraham Lincoln was quoted as saying, "My God! My God! What will the country say?" A few generals were career casualties. Hooker relieved Stoneman for incompetence and for years waged a vituperative campaign against Howard, whom he blamed for his loss. He wrote in 1876 that Howard was "a hypocrite ... totally incompetent ... a perfect old woman ... a bad man." He labeled Sedgwick as "dilatory." Couch was so disgusted by Hooker's conduct of the battle (and his incessant political maneuvering) that he resigned and was placed in charge of the Department of the Susquehanna, commanding only Pennsylvania militia.[82]

President Lincoln chose to retain Hooker in command of the army, but the friction between Lincoln, general in chief Henry W. Halleck, and Hooker became intolerable in the early days of what would become known as the Gettysburg campaign and Lincoln relieved Hooker of command on June 28, just before the Battle of Gettysburg. One of the consequences of Chancellorsville at Gettysburg was the conduct of Daniel Sickles, who undoubtedly recalled the terrible consequences of withdrawing from Hazel Grove when he decided to ignore the commands of his general and moved his lines on the second day of battle to ensure that a minor piece of high ground, the Peach Orchard, was not available to the enemy's artillery.[82]

Confederate reaction Edit

The Confederate public had mixed feelings about the result, joy at Lee's tactical victory tempered by the loss of their most beloved general, Stonewall Jackson. The death of Jackson caused Lee to make the long-needed reorganization of the Army of Northern Virginia from two large corps into three, under James Longstreet, Richard S. Ewell, and A.P. Hill. The new assignments for the latter two generals caused some command difficulties in the upcoming Gettysburg campaign, which began in June. Of more consequence for Gettysburg, however, was the supreme confidence that Lee gained from his great victory at Chancellorsville, that his army was virtually invincible and would succeed at anything he asked it to do.[83]

Lee later wrote "At Chancellorsville we gained another victory; our people were wild with delight—I, on the contrary, was more depressed than after Fredericksburg; our loss was severe, and again we gained not an inch of ground and the enemy could not be pursued.”[84]

Additional battle maps Edit

Gallery: Chancellorsville campaign tactical maps Edit

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    Map symbols

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    Map 1:
    Hooker's Flanking March, 27–30 April 1863

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    Map 2:
    1 May 1863 (late morning)

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    Map 3:
    2 May 1863 (early evening)

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    Map 4:
    3 May 1863 (early morning)

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    Map 5:
    4 May 1863 (late afternoon)

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    Battle of Chancellorsville
    1 May 1863 (Situation at Dark)

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    Battle of Chancellorsville
    2 May 1863 (Situation at 1800)

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    Battle of Chancellorsville
    3 May 1863 (Situation Early)

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    Chancellorsville Campaign
    3 May 1863 (Battle of Salem Church: Situation at 1600)

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    Battle of Chancellorsville
    4 May 1863 (Situation at 1800)

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    Battle of Chancellorsville
    6 May 1863 (Situation at 1700)

Battlefield preservation Edit

Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial National Military Park
 
A piece of artillery.
Area4,601.1 acres (1,862 ha)
NRHP reference No.66000046[85]
VLR No.111-0147
Significant dates
Added to NRHPOctober 15, 1966
Designated VLRJanuary 16, 1973[86]

The battlefield was a scene of widespread destruction, covered with dead men and animals. The Chancellor family, whose house was destroyed during the battle, placed the entire 854-acre property for sale four months after the battle. A smaller version of the house was rebuilt using some of the original materials, which served as a landmark for many of the veteran reunions of the late 19th century. In 1927, the rebuilt house was destroyed by fire. That same year, the United States Congress authorized the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, which preserves some of the land that saw fighting in the 1862 Battle of Fredericksburg, the Chancellorsville campaign, the Battle of the Wilderness, and the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House (the latter two being key battles in the 1864 Overland Campaign).[87]

In May 2002, a regional developer announced a plan to build 2,300 houses and 2,000,000 square feet of commercial space on the 790-acre Mullins Farm, site of the first day of fighting at the Battle of Chancellorsville. Soon thereafter, the American Battlefield Trust, then known as The Civil War Trust, formed the Coalition to Save Chancellorsville, a network of national and local preservation groups that waged a vocal campaign against the development.[88]

For nearly a year, the Coalition mobilized local citizens, held candlelight vigils and hearings, and encouraged residents to become more involved in preservation. Public opinion polling conducted by the Coalition found that more than two-thirds of local residents opposed the development. The survey also found that 90 percent of local residents believed their county has a responsibility to protect Chancellorsville and other historic resources.[89]

As a result of these efforts, in March 2003 the Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors denied the rezoning application that would have allowed for the development of the site. Immediately following the vote, the Civil War Trust and other Coalition members began working to acquire the battlefield. By working with county officials and developers, the Trust acquired 140 acres in 2004 and another 74 acres in 2006.[90] The American Battlefield Trust and its federal, state and local partners have acquired and preserved 1,365 acres (5.52 km2) of the battlefield in more than 15 different transactions from 2002 through mid-2023.[91]

In popular media Edit

The battle formed the basis for Stephen Crane's 1895 novel The Red Badge of Courage.[92]

The battle serves as the background for one of F. Scott Fitzgerald's short stories, published in the February 1935 Esquire Magazine, entitled "The Night at Chancellorsville."[93]

The Battle of Chancellorsville was depicted in the 2003 film Gods and Generals, based on the novel of the same name. The treatment of the battle in both the novel and the movie focuses on Jackson's assault on the Union right flank, his wounding, and his subsequent death.

See also Edit

Notes Edit

  1. ^ The dates for the battle vary by historian. The National Park Service cites the period from the Union army's establishing a presence on the battlefield (April 30) until its retreat (May 6). McPherson, p. 643, cites May 2 to 6. Livermore, p. 98, May 1 to 4. McGowen, p. 392, May 2 to 3. The full Chancellorsville campaign lasted from April 27 to May 7.
  2. ^ Battlefields.org.
  3. ^ Official Records, Series I, Volume XXV, Part 1, pages 156–170
  4. ^ a b Second Division (II Army Corps) and VI Army Corps engaged at Fredericksburg (or Marye's Heights), Salem Heights (or Salem Church) and near Banks' Ford, Va., May 3–4, 1863.
    Further information: Official Records, Series I, Volume XXV, Part 1, pages 188–191.
  5. ^ Official Records, Series I, Volume XXV, Part 1, pages 789–794
  6. ^ a b Jubal A. Early's Division (II Army Corps) and McLaws's Division (I Army Corps) engaged at Fredericksburg (or Marye's Heights), Salem Heights (or Salem Church) and near Banks' Ford, Va., May 3–4, 1863.
  7. ^ a b c d e Union strength include forces engaged at Fredericksburg and Salem Church, Va. (May 3–4, 1863).
    Further information: Official Records, Series I, Volume XXV, Part 2, page 320 and Official Records, Series I, Volume XXV, Part 1, pages 188–191.
  8. ^ a b c d 133,868 Union troops and 60,892 Confederate troops according to Bigelow, pp. 132–136 and Eicher, p. 475; Furgurson, p. 88, Kennedy, p. 197: "about 130,000 to 60,000."; Salmon, p. 173: "more than 133,000 ... about 60,000." The NPS states Union 97,382, Confederate 57,352.
  9. ^ a b Confederate strength include forces engaged at Fredericksburg and Salem Church, Va. (May 3–4, 1863).
    Further information: Official Records, Series I, Volume XXV, Part 2, page 696.
  10. ^ a b c d Casualties cited are for the full campaign.
    Further information:
    Official Records, Series I, Volume XXV, Part 1, pages 172–192.
  11. ^ a b c d Eicher, p. 488. Casualties cited are for the full campaign. Sears, pp. 492, 501, cites 17,304 Union (1,694 killed, 9,672 wounded, and 5,938 missing) and 13,460 Confederate (1,724 killed, 9,233 wounded, and 2,503 missing).
  12. ^ Casualties cited are for the full campaign.
    Further information:
    Official Records, Series I, Volume XXV, Part 1, pages 806–809/947–949.
  13. ^ There were three battles and one cavalry raid during the campaign. Because the three battles happened in a small geographic area and had overlapping timelines, this article covers both the battle around the village of Chancellorsville and the full campaign.
  14. ^ Field, Ron (2012). Robert E. Lee. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 28. ISBN 978-1849081467.
  15. ^ Barney, William L. (2011). The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Civil War. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 66. ISBN 978-0199782017.
  16. ^ Kennedy, pp. 11–15, 88–112, 118–21, 144–49.
  17. ^ a b Krick, pp. 14–15; Hebert, pp. 165–67, 177; Kennedy, p. 197; Eicher, p. 473; Sears, pp. 21–24, 61; Warner, p. 58.
  18. ^ Furgurson, p. 63.
  19. ^ Sears, pp. 24–25; Furgurson, p. 18; Cullen, pp. 15–16.
  20. ^ Hebert, pp. 166–68, 172; Sears, pp. 24, 61, 63.
  21. ^ Sears, p. 63.
  22. ^ Gallagher, p. 6; Esposito, text for map 84; Eicher, p. 473; Sears, p. 67; Hebert, pp. 172–77.
  23. ^ Catton, pp. 141–47; Hebert, pp. 178–83; Sears, pp. 62–75.
  24. ^ Cullen, p. 14.
  25. ^ a b Krick, p. 41; Sears, pp. 68–70, 100–102; Fishel, pp. 286–95. The Army of the Potomac was able to call on the services of self-styled "Professor of Aeronautics" Thaddeus S. C. Lowe and his two hydrogen aerostats Washington and Eagle, which regularly ascended to heights of 1,000 feet (300 m) or more to observe Lee's positions.
  26. ^ a b Gallagher, pp. 9–10; Eicher, p. 474; Cullen, pp. 17–18; Welcher, p. 659; Sears, pp. 120–24.
  27. ^ a b c Cullen, p. 17; Gallagher, pp. 10–11; Welcher, p. 659; Sears, pp. 137–38.
  28. ^ a b Sears, pp. 132, 193–94; Krick, pp. 35–36; Gallagher, pp. 11–13; Cullen, p. 19.
  29. ^ Sears, pp. 98–99; Cullen, p. 19; Salmon, pp. 173–74.
  30. ^ a b c Esposito, text for map 84; Gallagher, pp. 13–14; Salmon, p. 175; Sears, pp. 141–58; Krick, p. 32; Eicher, pp. 475, 477; Welcher, pp. 660–61.
  31. ^ a b c Salmon, pp. 176–77; Gallagher, pp. 16–17; Krick, pp. 39; Salmon, pp. 176–77; Cullen, pp. 21–22; Sears, pp. 187–89.
  32. ^ 413 guns according: Bigelow, p. 136; Gallagher, p. 7; Salmon, p. 173.
  33. ^ Eicher, p. 474; Welcher, pp. 684–87.
  34. ^ Bigelow, p. 134; Gallagher, p. 8; Salmon, p. 173.
  35. ^ Eicher, pp. 474–75.
  36. ^ a b Salmon, pp. 168–72; Kennedy, pp. 194–97; Eicher, p. 474; Cullen, p. 16; Sears, pp. 94–95.
  37. ^ a b Salmon, p. 177; Welcher, p. 663; Gallagher, pp. 17–19; Cullen, pp. 23–25; Sears, pp. 196–202; Krick, p. 40.
  38. ^ a b Salmon, p. 177; Cullen, p. 25; Krick, pp. 59–62; Welcher, pp. 663–65; Gallagher, pp. 18–19.
  39. ^ Krick, p. 42.
  40. ^ a b Sears, p. 212; Eicher, p. 478; Cullen, p. 26; Esposito, text for map 85; Gallagher, p. 20.
  41. ^ Cullen, p. 27.
  42. ^ a b Sears, pp. 212–13; Cullen, pp. 26–28. Eicher, p. 478. called Hooker's order "an almost surrealistic blunder." Furgurson, pp. 130–32, wrote "With mass, position, and momentum on his side, after one of the most successful opening moves in American military history, Hooker bowed and handed the initiative to Lee. ... At no other time between Sumter and Appomattox did moral character so decisively affect the battle." Both Eicher and Furgurson suggest that Hooker's abstinence from alcohol during the battle may have affected his normally pugnacious personality. Krick, p. 9, refers to "impressive evidence" that he was drinking during the battle, but that "other evidence" denies the fact.
  43. ^ a b Sears, pp. 233–35; Esposito, text for map 86; Eicher, p. 479; Cullen, pp. 28–29; Krick, pp. 64–70; Salmon, pp. 177–78.
  44. ^ a b c Sears, pp. 228–30; Furgurson, pp. 156–57; Welcher, p. 667.
  45. ^ Sears, pp. 231–35, 239–40; Eicher, p. 479.
  46. ^ Cullen, p. 29; Sears, pp. 244–45; Salmon, p. 178.
  47. ^ a b c Sears, pp. 245, 254–59; Krick, p. 76; Salmon, pp. 178–79; Cullen, pp. 30–32; Welcher, p. 668.
  48. ^ a b Krick, pp. 84–86; Salmon, p. 179; Cullen, p. 34; Sears, pp. 257–58.
  49. ^ a b c d e Furgurson, p. 90; Eicher, pp. 480–82; Sears, pp. 237–38, 270.
  50. ^ Sears, p. 272; Furgurson, p. 171, estimates 5:15 and states that various reports from the combatants list the starting time from as early as 4 p.m. to as late as 6 p.m.
  51. ^ Sears, p. 261. Only two-thirds of Jackson's marching column participated in the assault. Some of A.P. Hill's men arrived late, other units were detached to guard the Orange Plank Road.
  52. ^ a b Krick, pp. 104–105, 118; Sears, pp. 260–81; Eicher, pp. 480–82; Cullen, p. 34; Welcher, p. 670.
  53. ^ a b c Sears, pp. 281, 287, 289–91, 300–302, 488; Welcher, p. 673; Eicher, p. 483; Salmon, p. 180; Krick, pp. 146–48.
  54. ^ Furgurson, pp. 196–206, 213–16; Krick, pp. 136–46; Salmon, pp. 180–81; Sears, pp. 293–97, 306–307, 446–49; Smith, pp. 123–27. For representative speculation about Gettysburg, see David G. Martin, Gettysburg July 1, rev. ed. (Conshohocken, PA: Combined Publishing, 1996), ISBN 0-938289-81-0, pp. 563–65, or Furgurson, pp. 349–50.
  55. ^ a b Goolrick, 140–42; Esposito, text for map 88; Sears, pp. 312–14, 316–20; Salmon, pp. 181–82; Cullen, pp. 36–39; Welcher, p. 675.
  56. ^ a b c Welcher, pp. 676–77; Eicher, pp. 483–85; Salmon, pp. 182–83; Krick, p. 199. Sears, p. 325: "Under the particular conditions he inherited, then, it is hard to see how Jeb Stuart, in a new command, a cavalryman commanding infantry and artillery for the first time, could have done a better job."
  57. ^ Freeman, vol. 2, p. 592.
  58. ^ a b Salmon, p. 183; Sears, pp. 319–20; Welcher, p. 677.
  59. ^ Evans, vol. 3, p. 390.
  60. ^ Sears, pp. 336–39; Welcher, p. 678; Eicher, pp. 485–86.
  61. ^ Brian Swartz (January 12, 2022). "Fallen Leaders: Maine's Hiram Berry". Emerging Civil War. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  62. ^ a b c Revere, Joseph Warren (1863). A Review of the Case of Brigadier-General Joseph W. Revere, United States Volunteers, Tried by Court-Martial, and Dismissed from the Service of the United States August 10, 1863. New York: C. A. Alvord. I have endeavored to confine myself strictly to the official action of the Court-Martial which sentenced me to dismissal from the Army...
  63. ^ a b Revere, Joseph Warren (1872). Keel and Saddle: A Retrospect of Forty Years of Military and Naval Service. J.R. Osgood.
  64. ^ "Osler - THE EVOLUTION OF MODERN MEDICINE". biotech.law.lsu.edu. Retrieved November 20, 2022.
  65. ^ a b c Sears, pp. 308–11, 350–51; Welcher, pp. 679–80; Cullen, pp. 41–42; Goolrick, pp. 151–53.
  66. ^ a b Krick, pp. 176–80; Welcher, pp. 680–81; Esposito, text for maps 88–89; Sears, pp. 352–56.
  67. ^ Furgurson, pp. 273–88; Welcher, p. 681; Sears, pp. 378–86; Krick, pp. 181–85; Cullen, p. 43.
  68. ^ Sears, p. 389.
  69. ^ a b Sears, pp. 390–93; Welcher, pp. 681–82; Cullen, p. 44.
  70. ^ a b Krick, pp. 187–91; Sears, pp. 400–405.
  71. ^ a b c Krick, pp. 191–96; Esposito, text for map 91; Welcher, p. 682; Cullen, p. 45; Sears, pp. 417–30. Goolrick, p. 158: In the council of war, Meade, Reynolds, and Howard voted to fight. Sickles and Couch voted to withdraw; Couch actually favored attack, but lacked confidence in Hooker's leadership. Slocum did not arrive until after the vote, and Sedgwick had already withdrawn from the battlefield.
  72. ^ Sears, p. 309; Eicher, p. 476.
  73. ^ Gallagher, p. 52.
  74. ^ Dupuy, p. 261.
  75. ^ Smith, p. 127.
  76. ^ Smith, p. 120.
  77. ^ Krick, p. 9.
  78. ^ Esposito, text for map 91; Foote, p. 315; Hebert, p. 199.
  79. ^ a b Sears, p. 504.
  80. ^ a b Sears, p. 505.
  81. ^ Six Months at the White House with Abraham Lincoln by Carpenter, Francis Bicknell, 1830–1900. Published 1866, pages 219–221
  82. ^ a b Hebert, pp. 231, 235, 245; Sears, p. 433; Eicher, pp. 489, 523; Furgurson, p. 332; Krick, pp. 127, 203; Cullen, p. 50.
  83. ^ Eicher, pp. 489; Cullen, pp. 49–50, 69.
  84. ^ "Gettysburg: Lee Moves North Measuring Performance and Effectiveness". January 15, 2015.
  85. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  86. ^ . Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved March 19, 2013.
  87. ^ Krick, pp. 201–202; NPS May 14, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
  88. ^ "7 Groups Form Coalition to Save Chancellorsville", The Civil War News, 2002 January 11, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  89. ^ ""Soft Touch at Town of Chancellorsville Vigil Pays Off", Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star, January 22, 2003". Archived from the original on February 16, 2013.
  90. ^ ""Spotsy board vote brings cheers", Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star, November 15, 2006". Archived from the original on February 16, 2013.
  91. ^ [1] American Battlefield Trust "Chancellorsville Battlefield" webpage. Accessed May 15, 2023.
  92. ^ "Chancellorsville," June 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Red Badge of Courage material, American Studies website of the University of Virginia.
  93. ^ "Text of the short story".

References Edit

  • Alexander, Edward P. Fighting for the Confederacy: The Personal Recollections of General Edward Porter Alexander. Edited by Gary W. Gallagher. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989. ISBN 0-8078-4722-4.
  • Catton, Bruce. Glory Road. Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Company, 1952. ISBN 0-385-04167-5.
  • Cullen, Joseph P. "Battle of Chancellorsville." In Battle Chronicles of the Civil War: 1863, edited by James M. McPherson. Connecticut: Grey Castle Press, 1989. ISBN 1-55905-027-6. First published in 1989 by McMillan.
  • Dupuy, R. Ernest, Trevor N. Dupuy, and Paul F. Braim. Military Heritage of America. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1956. ISBN 0-8403-8225-1.
  • Eicher, David J. The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001. ISBN 0-684-84944-5.
  • Esposito, Vincent J. West Point Atlas of American Wars. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1959. OCLC 5890637. The collection of maps (without explanatory text) is available online at the West Point website.
  • Fishel, Edwin C. The Secret War for the Union: The Untold Story of Military Intelligence in the Civil War. Boston: Mariner Books (Houghton Mifflin Co.), 1996. ISBN 0-395-90136-7.
  • Foote, Shelby. The Civil War: A Narrative. Vol. 2, Fredericksburg to Meridian. New York: Random House, 1958. ISBN 0-394-49517-9.
  • Freeman, Douglas S. Lee's Lieutenants: A Study in Command. 3 vols. New York: Scribner, 1946. ISBN 0-684-85979-3.
  • Furgurson, Ernest B. Chancellorsville 1863: The Souls of the Brave. New York: Knopf, 1992. ISBN 0-394-58301-9.
  • Gallagher, Gary W. The Battle of Chancellorsville. National Park Service Civil War series. Conshohocken, PA: U.S. National Park Service and Eastern National, 1995. ISBN 0-915992-87-6.
  • Goolrick, William K., and the Editors of Time-Life Books. Rebels Resurgent: Fredericksburg to Chancellorsville. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1985. ISBN 0-8094-4748-7.
  • Hebert, Walter H. Fighting Joe Hooker. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999. ISBN 0-8032-7323-1.
  • Krick, Robert K. . New York: American Heritage Publishing Co., 1990. OCLC 671280483.
  • Livermore, Thomas L. Numbers and Losses in the Civil War in America 1861–65. Reprinted with errata, Dayton, OH: Morninside House, 1986. ISBN 0-527-57600-X. First published in 1901 by Houghton Mifflin.
  • McGowen, Stanley S. "Battle of Chancellorsville." In Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History, edited by David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000. ISBN 0-393-04758-X.
  • McPherson, James M. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. Oxford History of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. ISBN 0-19-503863-0.
  • Salmon, John S. The Official Virginia Civil War Battlefield Guide. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2001. ISBN 0-8117-2868-4.
  • Sears, Stephen W. Chancellorsville. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996. ISBN 0-395-87744-X.
  • Smith, Derek. The Gallant Dead: Union & Confederate Generals Killed in the Civil War. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2005. ISBN 0-8117-0132-8.
  • Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1964. ISBN 0-8071-0822-7.
  • Wineman, Bradford Alexander. The Chancellorsville Campaign, January–May 1863 June 11, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Washington, DC: United States Army Center of Military History, 2013. OCLC 847739804.
  • National Park Service battle description
  • CWSAC Report Update

Memoirs and primary sources Edit

  • Bigelow, John. The Campaign of Chancellorsville, a Strategic and Tactical Study. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1910. OCLC 1348825.
  • Crane, Stephen. The Red Badge of Courage. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1895. ISBN 978-0-13-435466-8.
  • Dodge, Theodore A. The Campaign of Chancellorsville. Boston: J. R. Osgood & Co., 1881. OCLC 4226311.
  • Evans, Clement A., ed. Confederate Military History: A Library of Confederate States History. 12 vols. Atlanta: Confederate Publishing Company, 1899. OCLC 833588.
  • Tidball, John C. The Artillery Service in the War of the Rebellion, 1861–1865. Westholme Publishing, 2011. ISBN 978-1594161490.
  • U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1880–1901.

Further reading Edit

  • Ballard, Ted, and Billy Arthur. Chancellorsville Staff Ride: Briefing Book. Washington, DC: United States Army Center of Military History, 2002. OCLC 50210531.
  • Mackowski, Chris, and Kristopher D. White. Chancellorsville's Forgotten Front: The Battles of Second Fredericksburg and Salem Church, May 3, 1863. El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie, 2013. ISBN 978-1-61121-136-8.
  • Mackowski, Chris, and Kristopher D. White. The Last Days of Stonewall Jackson: The Mortal Wounding of the Confederacy's Greatest Icon. Emerging Civil War Series. El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie, 2013. ISBN 978-1-61121-150-4.
  • Mackowski, Chris, and Kristopher D. White. That Furious Struggle: Chancellorsville and the High Tide of the Confederacy, May 1–4, 1863. Emerging Civil War Series. El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie, 2014. ISBN 978-1-61121-219-8.
  • Parsons, Philip W. The Union Sixth Army Corps in the Chancellorsville Campaign: A Study of the Engagements of Second Fredericksburg, Salem Church, and Banks's Ford. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2006. ISBN 978-0-7864-2521-1.
  • Pula, James S. Under the Crescent Moon with the XI Corps in the Civil War. Vol. 1, From the Defenses of Washington to Chancellorsville, 1862–1863. El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie, 2017. ISBN 978-1-61121-337-9.

External links Edit

 
Wikisource has the text of a 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article about Battle of Chancellorsville.
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Battle of Chancellorsville.
  • : Battle Maps October 12, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, histories, photos, and preservation news (Civil War Trust)
  • Chancellorsville Campaign in Encyclopedia Virginia
  • Second Battle of Fredericksburg in Encyclopedia Virginia
  • C-SPAN American History TV Tour of Jackson's Flank Attack at Chancellorsville
  •   Texts on Wikisource:

October 18, 2023
battle, chancellorsville, part, american, civil, kurz, allison, 1889, apocryphal, painting, depicts, wounding, confederate, stonewall, jackson, 1863, dateapril, 1863, 1863, 1863, locationspotsylvania, county, virginia38, 3105, 6484, 3105, 6484resultconfederate. Battle of ChancellorsvillePart of the American Civil WarBattle of Chancellorsville by Kurz and Allison 1889 Apocryphal painting depicts the wounding of Confederate Lt Gen Stonewall Jackson on May 2 1863 DateApril 30 1863 04 30 May 6 1863 1863 05 06 1 LocationSpotsylvania County Virginia38 18 38 N 77 38 54 W 38 3105 N 77 6484 W 38 3105 77 6484ResultConfederate victory 2 Belligerents United States Union Confederate StatesCommanders and leadersJoseph HookerRobert E LeeUnits involvedArmy of the Potomac 3 4 Army of Northern Virginia 5 6 StrengthChancellorsville campaign 133 868 present for duty equipped 7 8 Chancellorsville c 106 000 Army of the Potomac minus VI Corps 2nd Div II Corps 7 2nd Fredericksburg Salem Church c 28 000 VI Corps 2nd Div II Corps 7 60 298 9 8 Casualties and lossesChancellorsville campaign 17 287 1 606 killed9 762 wounded6 919 captured missing 10 11 Chancellorsville 12 145 1 082 killed6 849 wounded5 214 captured missing 10 2nd Fredericksburg Salem Church 4 700 493 killed2 710 wounded1 497 captured missing 10 Minor skirmishes 442 31 killed203 wounded208 captured missing 10 12 764 1 665 killed9 081 wounded2 018 captured missing 12 11 Map of Virginia 1863The Battle of Chancellorsville April 30 May 6 1863 was a major battle of the American Civil War 1861 1865 and the principal engagement of the Chancellorsville campaign 13 Chancellorsville is known as Confederate general Robert E Lee s perfect battle 14 15 because his risky decision to divide his army in the presence of a much larger enemy force resulted in a significant Confederate victory The victory a product of Lee s audacity and Union general Joseph Hooker s timid decision making was tempered by heavy casualties including Lt Gen Thomas J Stonewall Jackson Jackson was hit by friendly fire requiring his left arm to be amputated He died of pneumonia eight days later a loss that Lee likened to losing his right arm The two armies faced off against each other at Fredericksburg during the winter of 1862 1863 The Chancellorsville campaign began when Hooker secretly moved the bulk of his army up the left bank of the Rappahannock River then crossed it on the morning of April 27 1863 Union cavalry under Maj Gen George Stoneman began a long distance raid against Lee s supply lines at about the same time This operation was completely ineffectual citation needed Crossing the Rapidan River via Germanna and Ely s Fords the Federal infantry concentrated near Chancellorsville on April 30 Combined with the Union force facing Fredericksburg Hooker planned a double envelopment attacking Lee from both his front and rear On May 1 Hooker advanced from Chancellorsville toward Lee but the Confederate general split his army in the face of superior numbers leaving a small force at Fredericksburg to deter Maj Gen John Sedgwick from advancing while he attacked Hooker s advance with about four fifths of his army Despite the objections of his subordinates Hooker withdrew his men to the defensive lines around Chancellorsville ceding the initiative to Lee On May 2 Lee divided his army again sending Stonewall Jackson s entire corps on a flanking march that routed the Union XI Corps While performing a personal reconnaissance in advance of his line Jackson was wounded by fire after dark from his own men close between the lines and cavalry commander Maj Gen J E B Stuart temporarily replaced him as corps commander The fiercest fighting of the battle and the second bloodiest day of the Civil War occurred on May 3 as Lee launched multiple attacks against the Union position at Chancellorsville resulting in heavy losses on both sides and the pulling back of Hooker s main army That same day Sedgwick advanced across the Rappahannock River defeated the small Confederate force at Marye s Heights in the Second Battle of Fredericksburg and then moved to the west The Confederates fought a successful delaying action at the Battle of Salem Church On the 4th Lee turned his back on Hooker and attacked Sedgwick and drove him back to Banks Ford surrounding them on three sides Sedgwick withdrew across the ford early on May 5 Lee turned back to confront Hooker who withdrew the remainder of his army across U S Ford the night of May 5 6 The campaign ended on May 7 when Stoneman s cavalry reached Union lines east of Richmond Both armies resumed their previous position across the Rappahannock from each other at Fredericksburg With the loss of Jackson Lee reorganized his army and flush with victory began what was to become the Gettysburg campaign a month later Contents 1 Background 1 1 Military situation 1 2 Union attempts against Richmond 1 3 Shakeup in the Army of the Potomac 1 4 Intelligence and plans 1 5 Initial movements 1 5 1 April 27 30 Movement to battle 2 Opposing forces 2 1 Union 2 2 Confederate 3 Battle 3 1 May 1 Hooker passes on opportunity 3 2 May 2 Jackson s flank attack 3 3 May 3 Chancellorsville 3 4 May 3 Fredericksburg and Salem Church 3 5 May 4 6 Union withdrawals 4 Aftermath 4 1 Casualties 4 2 Assessment of Hooker 4 3 Union reaction 4 4 Confederate reaction 5 Additional battle maps 5 1 Gallery Chancellorsville campaign tactical maps 6 Battlefield preservation 7 In popular media 8 See also 9 Notes 10 References 10 1 Memoirs and primary sources 11 Further reading 12 External linksBackground EditMilitary situation Edit Main article Eastern Theater of the American Civil War Further information Peninsula Campaign Seven Days Battles Northern Virginia campaign Maryland campaign Battle of Fredericksburg and American Civil War Union attempts against Richmond Edit In the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War the objective of the Union had been to advance and seize the Confederate capital Richmond Virginia In the first two years of the war four major attempts had failed the first foundered just miles away from Washington D C at the First Battle of Bull Run First Manassas in July 1861 Maj Gen George B McClellan s Peninsula Campaign took an amphibious approach landing his Army of the Potomac on the Virginia Peninsula in the spring of 1862 and coming within 6 miles 9 7 km of Richmond before being turned back by Gen Robert E Lee in the Seven Days Battles 16 That summer Maj Gen John Pope s Army of Virginia was defeated at the Second Battle of Bull Run Finally in December 1862 Maj Gen Ambrose Burnside s Army of the Potomac attempted to reach Richmond by way of Fredericksburg Virginia but was defeated at the Battle of Fredericksburg Shakeup in the Army of the Potomac Edit In January 1863 the Army of the Potomac following the Battle of Fredericksburg and the humiliating Mud March suffered from rising desertions and plunging morale Maj Gen Ambrose Burnside decided to conduct a mass purge of the Army of the Potomac s leadership eliminating a number of generals who he felt were responsible for the disaster at Fredericksburg In reality he had no power to dismiss anyone without the approval of Congress 17 Predictably Burnside s purge went nowhere and he offered President Abraham Lincoln his resignation from command of the Army of the Potomac He even offered to resign entirely from the Army but the president persuaded him to stay transferring him to the Western Theater where he became commander of the Department of the Ohio Burnside s former command the IX Corps was transferred to the Virginia Peninsula a movement that prompted the Confederates to detach troops from Lee s army under Lt Gen James Longstreet a decision that would be consequential in the upcoming campaign 17 Abraham Lincoln had become convinced that the appropriate objective for his Eastern army was the army of Robert E Lee not any geographic features such as a capital city 18 but he and his generals knew that the most reliable way to bring Lee to a decisive battle was to threaten his capital Lincoln tried a fifth time with a new general on January 25 1863 Maj Gen Joseph Hooker a man with a pugnacious reputation who had performed well in previous subordinate commands 19 With Burnside s departure Maj Gen William B Franklin left as well Franklin had been a staunch supporter of George B McClellan and refused to serve under Hooker because he disliked him personally and also because he was senior to Hooker in rank Maj Gen Edwin V Sumner stepped down due to old age he was 65 and poor health He was reassigned to a command in Missouri but died before he could assume it Brig Gen Daniel Butterfield was reassigned from command of the V Corps to be Hooker s chief of staff 20 Hooker embarked on a much needed reorganization of the army doing away with Burnside s grand division system which had proved unwieldy he also no longer had sufficient senior officers on hand that he could trust to command multi corps operations 21 He organized the cavalry into a separate corps under the command of Brig Gen George Stoneman who had commanded the III Corps at Fredericksburg But while he concentrated the cavalry into a single organization he dispersed his artillery battalions to the control of the infantry division commanders removing the coordinating influence of the army s artillery chief Brig Gen Henry J Hunt 22 Hooker established a reputation as an outstanding administrator and restored the morale of his soldiers which had plummeted to a new low under Burnside Among his changes were fixes to the daily diet of the troops camp sanitary changes improvements and accountability of the quartermaster system addition of and monitoring of company cooks several hospital reforms an improved furlough system orders to stem rising desertion improved drills and stronger officer training 23 Intelligence and plans Edit My plans are perfect May God have mercy on General Lee for I will have none Maj Gen Joseph Hooker 24 Hooker took advantage of improved military intelligence about the positioning and capabilities of the opposing army superior to that available to his predecessors in army command His chief of staff Butterfield commissioned Col George H Sharpe from the 120th New York Infantry to organize a new Bureau of Military Information in the Army of the Potomac part of the provost marshal function under Brig Gen Marsena R Patrick Previously intelligence gatherers such as Allan Pinkerton and his detective agency gathered information only by interrogating prisoners deserters contrabands slaves and refugees 25 The new BMI added other sources including infantry and cavalry reconnaissance spies scouts signal stations and an aerial balloon corps As he received the more complete information correlated from these additional sources Hooker realized that if he were to avoid the bloodbath of direct frontal attacks which were features of the battles of Antietam and more recently Fredericksburg he could not succeed in his crossing of the Rappahannock except by stratagem 25 nbsp Hooker s plan for the Chancellorsville campaign Confederate UnionHooker s army faced Lee across the Rappahannock from its winter quarters in Falmouth and around Fredericksburg Hooker developed a strategy that was on paper superior to those of his predecessors He planned to send his 10 000 cavalrymen under Maj Gen George Stoneman to cross the Rappahannock far upstream and raid deep into the Confederate rear areas destroying crucial supply depots along the railroad from the Confederate capital in Richmond to Fredericksburg which would cut Lee s lines of communication and supply 26 Hooker reasoned that Lee would react to this threat by abandoning his fortified positions on the Rappahannock and withdrawing toward his capital At that time Hooker s infantry would cross the Rappahannock in pursuit attacking Lee when he was moving and vulnerable Stoneman attempted to execute this turning movement on April 13 but heavy rains made the river crossing site at Sulphur Spring impassable President Lincoln lamented I greatly fear it is another failure already Hooker was forced to create a new plan for a meeting with Lincoln Secretary of War Edwin M Stanton and general in chief Henry W Halleck in Aquia on April 19 26 nbsp Troops crossing the Rapidan at Germanna FordHooker s second plan was to launch both his cavalry and infantry simultaneously in a bold double envelopment of Lee s army Stoneman s cavalry would make a second attempt at its deep strategic raid but at the same time 42 000 men in three corps V XI XII Corps would stealthily march to cross the Rappahannock upriver at Kelly s Ford They would then proceed south and cross the Rapidan at Germanna and Ely s Ford concentrate at the Chancellorsville crossroads and attack Lee s army from the west 27 While they were under way 10 000 men in two divisions from the II Corps would cross at the U S Ford and join with the V Corps in pushing the Confederates away from the river The second half of the double envelopment was to come from the east 40 000 men in two corps I and VI Corps under the overall command of John Sedgwick would cross the Rappahannock below Fredericksburg and threaten to attack Stonewall Jackson s position on the Confederate right flank 27 The remaining 25 000 men III Corps and one division of the II Corps would remain visible in their camps at Falmouth to divert Confederate attention from the turning movement Hooker anticipated that Lee would either be forced to retreat in which case he would be vigorously pursued or he would be forced to attack the Union Army on unfavorable terrain 27 One of the defining characteristics of the battlefield was a dense woodland south of the Rapidan known locally as the Wilderness of Spotsylvania The area had once been an open broadleaf forest but during colonial times the trees were gradually cut down to make charcoal for local pig iron furnaces When the supply of wood was exhausted the furnaces were abandoned and secondary forest growth developed creating a dense mass of brambles thickets vines and low lying vegetation 28 Catharine Furnace abandoned in the 1840s had recently been reactivated to produce iron for the Confederate war effort This area was largely unsuitable for the deployment of artillery and the control of large infantry formations which would nullify some of the Union advantage in military power It was important for Hooker s plan that his men move quickly out of this area and attack Lee in the open ground to the east There were three primary roads available for this west to east movement the Orange Plank Road the Orange Turnpike and the River Road 28 The Confederate dispositions were as follows the Rappahannock line at Fredericksburg was occupied by Longstreet s First Corps division of Lafayette McLaws on Marye s Heights with Jackson s entire Second Corps to their right Early s division was at Prospect Hill and the divisions of Rodes Hill and Colston extended the Confederate right flank along the river almost to Skinker s Neck The other division present from Longstreet s Corps Anderson s guarded the river crossings on the left flank Stuart s cavalry was largely in Culpeper County near Kelly s Ford beyond the infantry s left flank 29 Initial movements Edit April 27 30 Movement to battle Edit nbsp Battle of Chancellorsville Situation Late 30 April 1863 and Movements since 27 AprilOn April 27 28 the initial three corps of the Army of the Potomac began their march under the leadership of Slocum They crossed the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers as planned and began to concentrate on April 30 around the hamlet of Chancellorsville which was little more than a single large brick mansion at the junction of the Orange Turnpike and Orange Plank Road Built in the early 19th century it had been used as an inn on the turnpike for many years but now served as a home for the Frances Chancellor family Some of the family remained in the house during the battle 30 Hooker arrived late in the afternoon on April 30 and made the mansion his headquarters Stoneman s cavalry began on April 30 its second attempt to reach Lee s rear areas Two divisions of II Corps crossed at U S Ford on April 30 without opposition By dawn on April 29 pontoon bridges spanned the Rappahannock south of Fredericksburg and Sedgwick s force began to cross 30 Pleased with the success of the operation so far and realizing that the Confederates were not vigorously opposing the river crossings Hooker ordered Sickles to begin the movement of the III Corps from Falmouth the night of April 30 May 1 By May 1 Hooker had approximately 70 000 men concentrated in and around Chancellorsville 30 nbsp Troops on Hooker s right cross the Rappahannock by Edwin ForbesIn his Fredericksburg headquarters Lee was initially in the dark about the Union intentions and he suspected that the main column under Slocum was heading towards Gordonsville Jeb Stuart s cavalry was cut off at first by Stoneman s departure on April 30 but they were soon able to move freely around the army s flanks on their reconnaissance missions after almost all their Union counterparts had left the area 31 As Stuart s intelligence information about the Union river crossings began to arrive Lee did not react as Hooker had anticipated He decided to violate one of the generally accepted principles of war and divide his force in the face of a superior enemy hoping that aggressive action would allow him to attack and defeat a portion of Hooker s army before it could be fully concentrated against him He became convinced that Sedgwick s force would demonstrate against him but not become a serious threat so he ordered about 4 5 of his army to meet the challenge from Chancellorsville He left behind a brigade under Brig Gen William Barksdale on heavily fortified Marye s Heights behind Fredericksburg and one division under Maj Gen Jubal A Early on Prospect Hill south of the town 31 These roughly 11 000 men and 56 guns would attempt to resist any advance by Sedgwick s 40 000 He ordered Stonewall Jackson to march west and link up with Maj Gen Richard H Anderson s division which had pulled back from the river crossings they were guarding and began digging earthworks on a north south line between the Zoan and Tabernacle churches McLaws s division was ordered from Fredericksburg to join Anderson This would amass 40 000 men to confront Hooker s movement east from Chancellorsville Heavy fog along the Rappahannock masked some of these westward movements and Sedgwick chose to wait until he could determine the enemy s intentions 31 Opposing forces EditUnion Edit Further information Union order of battle and Detailed Union strength Key commanders Army of the Potomac nbsp Maj Gen Joseph Hooker Commanding nbsp Maj Gen John F Reynolds I Corps nbsp Maj Gen Darius N Couch II Corps nbsp Maj Gen Daniel Sickles III Corps nbsp Maj Gen George G Meade V Corps nbsp Maj Gen John Sedgwick VI Corps nbsp Maj Gen Oliver O Howard XI Corps nbsp Maj Gen Henry W Slocum XII Corps nbsp Maj Gen George Stoneman Cav CorpsThe Army of the Potomac 4 commanded by Maj Gen Joseph Hooker had 133 868 men 7 8 and 413 guns 7 32 organized as follows 33 I Corps commanded by Maj Gen John F Reynolds with the divisions of Brig Gens James S Wadsworth John C Robinson and Abner Doubleday II Corps commanded by Maj Gen Darius N Couch with the divisions of Maj Gen Winfield Scott Hancock and William H French and Brig Gen John Gibbon III Corps commanded by Maj Gen Daniel E Sickles with the divisions of Brig Gen David B Birney and Maj Gens Hiram G Berry and Amiel W Whipple V Corps commanded by Maj Gen George G Meade with the divisions of Brig Gens Charles Griffin and Andrew A Humphreys and Maj Gen George Sykes VI Corps commanded by Maj Gen John Sedgwick with the divisions of Brig Gens William T H Brooks and Albion P Howe Maj Gen John Newton and Col Hiram Burnham XI Corps commanded by Maj Gen Oliver O Howard with the divisions of Brig Gen Charles Devens Jr and Adolph von Steinwehr and Maj Gen Carl Schurz XII Corps commanded by Maj Gen Henry W Slocum with the divisions of Brig Gens Alpheus S Williams and John W Geary Cavalry Corps commanded by Maj Gen George Stoneman with the divisions of Brig Gens Alfred Pleasonton William W Averell and David M Gregg Confederate Edit Further information Confederate order of battle and Detailed Confederate strength part 1 part 2 part 3 Key commanders Army of Northern Virginia nbsp Gen Robert E Lee Commanding nbsp Lt Gen James Longstreet I Corps nbsp Lt Gen Stonewall Jackson II Corps nbsp Maj Gen J E B Stuart Cav CorpsGen Robert E Lee s Army of Northern Virginia 6 fielded 60 298 men 8 9 and 220 guns 34 organized as follows 35 First Corps commanded by Lt Gen James Longstreet Longstreet and the majority of his corps the divisions of Maj Gen John Bell Hood and Maj Gen George E Pickett and two artillery battalions were detached for duty in southeastern Virginia The divisions present at Chancellorsville were those of Maj Gens Lafayette McLaws and Richard H Anderson Second Corps commanded by Lt Gen Stonewall Jackson with the divisions of Maj Gen A P Hill Brig Gen Robert E Rodes Maj Gen Jubal A Early and Brig Gen Raleigh E Colston Cavalry Corps commanded by Maj Gen J E B Stuart Stuart s corps had only two brigades at Chancellorsville those of Brig Gens Fitzhugh Lee and W H F Rooney Lee The brigades of Brig Gens Wade Hampton and William E Grumble Jones were detached The Chancellorsville campaign was one of the most lopsided clashes of the war with the Union s effective fighting force more than twice the Confederates the greatest imbalance during the war in Virginia Hooker s army was much better supplied and was well rested after several months of inactivity Lee s forces on the other hand were poorly provisioned and were scattered all over the state of Virginia Some 15 000 men of Longstreet s Corps had previously been detached and stationed near Norfolk in order to block a potential threat to Richmond from Federal troops stationed at Fort Monroe and Newport News on the Peninsula as well as at Norfolk and Suffolk 36 In light of the continued Federal inactivity by late March Longstreet s primary assignment became that of requisitioning provisions for Lee s forces from the farmers and planters of North Carolina and Virginia As a result of this the two divisions of Maj Gen John Bell Hood and Maj Gen George Pickett were 130 miles 210 km away from Lee s army and would take a week or more of marching to reach it in an emergency After nearly a year of campaigning allowing these troops to slip away from his immediate control was Lee s gravest miscalculation Although he hoped to be able to call on them these men would not arrive in time to aid his outnumbered forces 36 Battle EditMay 1 Hooker passes on opportunity Edit nbsp Chancellorsville actions on May 1Jackson s men began marching west to join with Anderson before dawn on May 1 Jackson himself met with Anderson near Zoan Church at 8 a m finding that McLaws s division had already arrived to join the defensive position But Stonewall Jackson was not in a defensive mood He ordered an advance at 11 a m along two roads toward Chancellorsville McLaws s division and the brigade of Brig Gen William Mahone on the Turnpike and Anderson s other brigades and Jackson s arriving units on the Plank Road 37 At about the same time Hooker ordered his men to advance on three roads to the east two divisions of Meade s V Corps Griffin and Humphreys on the River Road to uncover Banks s Ford and the remaining division Sykes on the Turnpike and Slocum s XII Corps on the Plank Road with Howard s XI Corps in close support Couch s II Corps was placed in reserve where it would be soon joined by Sickles s III Corps 37 The first shots of the Battle of Chancellorsville were fired at 11 20 a m as the armies collided McLaws s initial attack pushed back Sykes s division The Union general organized a counterattack that recovered the lost ground Anderson then sent a brigade under Brig Gen Ambrose Wright up an unfinished railroad south of the Plank Road around the right flank of Slocum s corps This would normally be a serious problem but Howard s XI Corps was advancing from the rear and could deal with Wright 38 Sykes s division had proceeded farther forward than Slocum on his right leaving him in an exposed position This forced him to conduct an orderly withdrawal at 2 p m to take up a position behind Hancock s division of the II Corps which was ordered by Hooker to advance and help repulse the Confederate attack Meade s other two divisions made good progress on the River Road and were approaching their objective Banks s Ford 38 Modern attempts to rehabilitate and fumigate Joe Hooker s reputation usually and remarkably employ special pleading about the difficulties of moving in the Wilderness Such arguments actually emphasize the salient factor on May 1 Getting out of that wilderness of course was the very essence of the general s needs When he abandoned the chance to reach that desirable goal Hooker at once passed the initiative with all of its advantages to Lee The Confederate would make superb use of the opportunity Robert K Krick Lee s Greatest Victory 39 Despite being in a potentially favorable situation Hooker halted his brief offensive His actions may have demonstrated his lack of confidence in handling the complex actions of such a large organization for the first time he had been an effective and aggressive division and corps commander in previous battles but he had also decided before beginning the campaign that he would fight the battle defensively forcing Lee with his small army to attack his own larger one At the First Battle of Fredericksburg December 13 1862 the Union army had done the attacking and met with a bloody defeat 40 Hooker knew Lee could not sustain such a defeat and keep an effective army in the field so he ordered his men to withdraw back into the Wilderness and take a defensive position around Chancellorsville daring Lee to attack him or retreat with superior forces at his back He confused matters by issuing a second order to his subordinates to hold their positions until 5 p m but by the time it was received most of the Union units had begun their rearward movements That evening Hooker sent a message to his corps commanders The major general commanding trusts that a suspension in the attack to day will embolden the enemy to attack him 40 The retrograde movement had prepared me for something of the kind but to hear from Hooker s own lips that the advantages gained by the successful marches of his lieutenants were to culminate in fighting a defensive battle in that nest of thickets was too much and I retired from his presence with the belief that my commanding general was a whipped man Union Maj Gen Darius N Couch 41 Hooker s subordinates were surprised and outraged by the change in plans They saw that the position they were fighting for near the Zoan Church was relatively high ground and offered an opportunity for the infantry and artillery to deploy outside the constraints of the Wilderness Meade exclaimed My God if we can t hold the top of the hill we certainly can t hold the bottom of it Viewing through the lens of hindsight some of the participants and many modern historians judged that Hooker effectively lost the campaign on May 1 Stephen W Sears observed however that Hooker s concern was based on more than personal timidity 42 The ground being disputed was little more than a clearing in the Wilderness to which access was available by only two narrow roads The Confederate response had swiftly concentrated the aggressive Stonewall Jackson s corps against his advancing columns such that the Federal army was outnumbered in that area about 48 000 to 30 000 and would have difficulty maneuvering into effective lines of battle Meade s two divisions on the River Road were too far separated to support Slocum and Sykes and reinforcements from the rest of the II Corps and the III Corps would be too slow in arriving 42 As the Union troops dug in around Chancellorsville that night creating log breastworks faced with abatis Lee and Stonewall Jackson met at the intersection of the Plank Road and the Furnace Road to plan their next move Jackson believed that Hooker would retreat across the Rappahannock but Lee assumed that the Union general had invested too much in the campaign to withdraw so precipitously If the Federal troops were still in position on May 2 Lee would attack them As they discussed their options cavalry commander J E B Stuart arrived with an intelligence report from his subordinate Brig Gen Fitzhugh Lee 43 Although Hooker s left flank was firmly anchored by Meade s V Corps on the Rappahannock and his center was strongly fortified his right flank was in the air Howard s XI Corps was camped on the Orange Turnpike extending past Wilderness Church and was vulnerable to a flanking attack Investigations of a route to be used to reach the flank identified the proprietor of Catharine Furnace Charles C Wellford who showed Jackson s cartographer Jedediah Hotchkiss a recently constructed road through the forest that would shield marchers from the observation of Union pickets Lee directed Jackson to make the flanking march a maneuver similar to the one that had been so successful prior to the Second Battle of Bull Run Second Manassas An account by Hotchkiss recalls that Lee asked Jackson how many men he would take on the flanking march and Jackson replied my whole command 43 May 2 Jackson s flank attack Edit nbsp Chancellorsville actions on May 2 nbsp The ruins of Catharine Furnace photographed in 2011 nbsp The site of Keenan s Charge 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment 2 May 1863 nbsp Dowdall s Tavern was Union General Oliver O Howard s headquarters until he was surprised and driven out by Stonewall Jackson s Confederate troops on May 2 nbsp Wilderness Church at Chancellorsville was the center of a stand made by Union general Schurz s division during Stonewall Jackson s surprise flank attack Early on the morning of May 2 Hooker began to realize that Lee s actions on May 1 had not been constrained by the threat of Sedgwick s force at Fredericksburg so no further deception was needed on that front He decided to summon the I Corps of Maj Gen John F Reynolds to reinforce his lines at Chancellorsville His intent was that Reynolds would form up to the right of the XI Corps and anchor the Union right flank on the Rapidan River 44 Given the communications chaos of May 1 Hooker was under the mistaken impression that Sedgwick had withdrawn back across the Rappahannock and based on this that the VI Corps should remain on the north bank of the river across from the town where it could protect the army s supplies and supply line In fact both Reynolds and Sedgwick were still west of the Rappahannock south of the town 44 Hooker sent his orders at 1 55 a m expecting that Reynolds would be able to start marching before daylight but problems with his telegraph communications delayed the order to Fredericksburg until just before sunrise Reynolds was forced to make a risky daylight march By the afternoon of May 2 when Hooker expected him to be digging in on the Union right at Chancellorsville Reynolds was still marching to the Rappahannock 44 Meanwhile for the second time Lee was dividing his army Jackson would lead his Second Corps of 28 000 men around to attack the Union right flank while Lee exercised personal command of the remaining two divisions about 13 000 men and 24 guns facing the 70 000 Union troops at Chancellorsville For the plan to work several things had to happen First Jackson had to make a 12 mile 19 km march via roundabout roads to reach the Union right and he had to do it undetected Second Hooker had to stay tamely on the defensive Third Early would have to keep Sedgwick bottled up at Fredericksburg despite the four to one Union advantage there And when Jackson launched his attack he had to hope that the Union forces were unprepared 45 Confederate cavalry under Stuart kept most Union forces from spotting Jackson on his long flank march which started between 7 and 8 a m and lasted until midafternoon Several Confederate soldiers saw the Union observation balloon Eagle soaring overhead and assumed that they could likewise be seen but no such report was sent to headquarters When men of the III Corps spotted a Confederate column moving through the woods their division commander Brig Gen David B Birney ordered his artillery to open fire but this proved little more than harassment The corps commander Sickles rode to Hazel Grove to see for himself and he reported after the battle that his men observed the Confederates passing for over three hours 46 When Hooker received the report about the Confederate movement he thought that Lee might be starting a retreat but he also realized that a flanking march might be in progress He took two actions First he sent a message at 9 30 a m to the commander of the XI Corps Maj Gen Oliver O Howard on his right flank We have good reason to suppose the enemy is moving to our right Please advance your pickets for purposes of observation as far as may be safe in order to obtain timely information of their approach 47 At 10 50 a m Howard replied that he was taking measures to resist an attack from the west Hooker s second action was to send orders to Sedgwick attack the enemy in his front at Fredericksburg if an opportunity presents itself with a reasonable expectation of success and Sickles advance cautiously toward the road followed by the enemy and harass the movement as much as possible Sedgwick did not take action from the discretionary orders Sickles however was enthusiastic when he received the order at noon He sent Birney s division flanked by two battalions of Col Hiram Berdan s U S sharpshooters south from Hazel Grove with orders to pierce the column and gain possession of the road 47 But the action came too late Jackson had ordered the 23rd Georgia Infantry to guard the rear of the column and they resisted the advance of Birney and Berdan at Catherine Furnace The Georgians were driven south and made a stand at the same unfinished railroad bed used by Wright s Brigade the day before They were overwhelmed by 5 p m and most were captured Two brigades from A P Hill s division turned back from the flanking march and prevented any further damage to Jackson s column which by now had left the area 47 Most of Jackson s men were unaware of the small action at the rear of their column As they marched north on Brock Road Jackson was prepared to turn right on the Orange Plank Road from which his men would attack the Union lines at around Wilderness Church However it became apparent that this direction would lead to essentially a frontal assault against Howard s line Fitzhugh Lee met Jackson and they ascended a hill with a sweeping view of the Union position Jackson was delighted to see that Howard s men were resting unaware of the impending Confederate threat 48 Although by now it was 3 p m Jackson decided to march his men two miles farther and turn right on the Turnpike instead allowing him to strike the unprotected flank directly The attack formation consisted of two lines the divisions of Brig Gens Robert E Rodes and Raleigh E Colston stretching almost a mile on either side of the turnpike separated by 200 yards followed by a partial line with the arriving division of A P Hill 48 nbsp Ruins of the Chancellor House which was the headquarters of Federal General Joseph Hooker of the Army of the Potomac during the battle later burned May 1863Significant contributions to the impending Union disaster were the nature of the Union XI Corps and the incompetent performance of its commander Maj Gen Oliver O Howard Howard failed to make any provision for defending against a surprise attack even though Hooker had ordered him to do so The Union right flank was not anchored on any natural obstacle and the only defenses against a flank attack consisted of two cannons pointing out into the Wilderness 49 Also the XI Corps was not well respected an outfit with poor morale and no history of battlefield success Many of its officers and enlisted men were immigrants from Germany and other parts of Central Europe including a number of political refugees from the 1848 revolutions The corps had been formed in the spring of 1862 by merging Brig Gen Louis Blenker s division with Maj Gen John C Fremont s Mountain Department in West Virginia After a miserable trek across Virginia in which Blenker s troops were provisioned inadequately and suffered from widespread hunger disease and desertion they joined with Fremont in a campaign that resulted in them being soundly defeated by Stonewall Jackson 49 Fremont s army became part of Maj Gen John Pope s Army of Virginia in the summer Fremont had refused to serve under Pope and was replaced by Maj Gen Franz Sigel an inept political general who however was much beloved by his German troops Louis Blenker fell from a horse during the Northern Virginia campaign and suffered injuries that would claim his life later in 1863 The corps suffered heavy casualties at Second Bull Run and was left behind in Washington D C during the Maryland campaign During the Fredericksburg campaign it did not join the rest of the army until after the battle was over 49 After Hooker took command Sigel was the ranking general behind him The XI Corps was the smallest in the army and Sigel s requests to general in chief Henry Halleck to have it enlarged were refused so he resigned his command in March 1863 and was replaced by Maj Gen Oliver O Howard who was widely unpopular with the enlisted men and brought in several new generals such as Brig Gen Francis Barlow who had a reputation of being aggressive martinets Eight of the 27 regiments in the corps had never been in battle before while the remaining 21 had never been on the winning side of a battle The German soldiers suffered from widespread ethnic friction with the rest of the army although a number of the regiments in the XI Corps consisted of native born Americans 49 Hooker had no major plans for the corps except for mopping up after the main battle was over and it was placed out on the army s right flank where it was not expected to be involved in any fighting and the woods to the west were assumed to be so thick that enemy troops could not possibly move through them and form a line of battle As far as Hooker knew the only possible route for a Confederate attack was along the turnpike which would cause them to run right into the II and XII Corps both elite outfits and well entrenched Further north the Union line was held by the V Corps also first rate troops occupying an almost impregnable position 49 As the day wore on the men of the XI Corps became increasingly aware that something was going on in the woods to the west of them but were unable to get any higher ups to pay attention Col John C Lee of the 55th Ohio received numerous reports of a Confederate presence out there and Col William Richardson of the 25th Ohio reported that huge numbers of Confederates were massing to the west Col Leopold von Gilsa who commanded one of two brigades in Brig Gen Charles Devens division went to Howard s headquarters warning him that an all out enemy assault was imminent but Howard insisted that it was impossible for the Confederates to get through the dense woods Maj Gen Carl Schurz who commanded the 3rd Division of the corps began rearranging his troops into a line of battle Captain Hubert Dilger who commanded Battery I of the 1st Ohio Artillery rode out on a reconnaissance mission narrowly missed being captured by the Confederates and rode far north almost to the banks of the Rapidan and back south to Hooker s headquarters but a haughty cavalry officer dismissed his concerns and would not let him in to see the general Dilger next went to Howard s headquarters but was merely told that the Confederate army was retreating and that it was not acceptable to make scouting expeditions without permission of higher ups As the sun started to go down all remained quiet on the XI Corps s front the noises of the III and XII Corps engaging Lee s rear guard coming from off in the distance nbsp The XI Corps routs before Jackson s evening dinner time surprise attackAround 5 30 p m 50 Jackson turned to Robert Rodes and asked him General are you ready When Rodes nodded Jackson replied You may go forward then 51 Most of the men of the XI Corps were encamped and sitting down for supper and had their rifles unloaded and stacked Their first clue to the impending onslaught was the observation of numerous animals such as rabbits and foxes fleeing in their direction out of the western woods This was followed by the crackle of musket fire and then the unmistakable scream of the Rebel Yell Two of von Gilsa s regiments the 153rd Pennsylvania and 54th New York had been placed up as a heavy skirmish line and the massive Confederate assault rolled completely over them A few men managed to get off a shot or two before fleeing The pair of artillery pieces at the very end of the XI Corps line were captured by the Confederates and promptly turned on their former owners Devens s division collapsed in a matter of minutes slammed on three sides by almost 30 000 Confederates Col Robert Reily and his 75th Ohio managed to resist for about ten minutes before the regiment disintegrated with 150 casualties including Reily himself and joined the rest of the fleeing mob Col Lee would later write sarcastically A rifle pit is useless when the enemy is on the same side and in rear of your line Some men tried to stand and resist but they were knocked over by their fleeing comrades and a hail of Confederate bullets Maj Gen Carl Schurz ordered his division to shift from an east west alignment to north south which they did with amazing precision and speed They resisted for about 20 minutes and Leatherbreeches Dilger managed to drive the Confederates off the turnpike for a bit with his guns but the sheer weight of Jackson s assault overwhelmed them too and they soon had to flee Dilger for a time stood alone with a gun firing double shotted canister at the attackers then limbered up to flee as the Confederates closed in on him Three of his artillery horses were shot dead and when he realized that the gun could not be moved he had to abandon it General Howard partially redeemed his inadequate performance prior to the battle by his personal bravery in attempting to rally the troops He stood shouting and waving a flag held under the stump of his amputated arm lost at the Battle of Seven Pines in 1862 ignoring the danger of the heavy rifle fire but he could only gather small pockets of soldiers to resist before his corps disintegrated Col Adolf Buschbeck s brigade put up a last ditch stand along with Dilger s guns They too had to retreat but maintained good order as they went The chaos unfurling on the Union right had gone unnoticed at Hooker s headquarters until at last the sound of gunfire could be heard in the distance followed by a panic stricken mob of men and horses pouring into the Chancellorsville clearing A staff officer yelled My God here they come as the mob ran to and past the Chancellor mansion Hooker jumped onto his horse and frantically tried to take action He ordered Maj Gen Hiram Berry s division of the III Corps once his own division forward yelling Receive them on your bayonets Artillerymen around the clearing began moving guns into position around Fairview Cemetery 52 Meanwhile down at Hazel Grove the 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry were relaxing and awaiting orders to chase after Confederate wagon trains also oblivious to the collapse of the XI Corps The regiment s commander Maj Pennock Huey received a notice that General Howard was requesting some cavalry Huey saddled up his men and headed west along the turnpike where they ran straight into Robert Rodes s division After a confused fight the 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry retreated to the safety of the Chancellorsville clearing with the loss of 30 men and three officers 52 nbsp XII Corps artillery halts Jackson s surprise attack nbsp Lower right photograph of trees shattered by artillery shells near where Jackson was shot on the Orange Plank Road By nightfall the Confederate Second Corps had advanced more than 1 25 miles to within sight of Chancellorsville but darkness and confusion were taking their toll The attackers were almost as disorganized as the routed defenders Although the XI Corps had been defeated it had retained some coherence as a unit The corps suffered nearly 2 500 casualties 259 killed 1 173 wounded and 994 missing or captured about one quarter of its strength including 12 of 23 regimental commanders which suggests that they fought fiercely during their retreat 53 Jackson s force was now separated from Lee s men only by Sickles s corps which had been separated from the main body of the army after its foray attacking Jackson s column earlier in the afternoon Like everyone else in the Union army the III Corps had been unaware of Jackson s attack When he first heard the news Sickles was skeptical but finally believed it and decided to pull back to Hazel Grove 53 Sickles became increasingly nervous knowing that his troops were facing an unknown number of Confederates to the west A patrol of Jackson s troops was driven back by Union gunners a minor incident that would come to be exaggerated into a heroic repulse of Jackson s entire command Between 11 p m and midnight Sickles organized an assault north from Hazel Grove toward the Plank Road but called it off when his men began suffering artillery and rifle friendly fire from the Union XII Corps 53 Stonewall Jackson wanted to press his advantage before Hooker and his army could regain their bearings and plan a counterattack which might still succeed because of the sheer disparity in numbers He rode out onto the Plank Road that night to determine the feasibility of a night attack by the light of the full moon traveling beyond the farthest advance of his men When one of his staff officers warned him about the dangerous position Jackson replied The danger is all over The enemy is routed Go back and tell A P Hill to press right on As he and his staff started to return they were incorrectly identified as Union cavalry by men of the 18th North Carolina Infantry who hit Jackson with friendly fire Jackson s three bullet wounds were not in themselves life threatening but his left arm was broken and had to be amputated While recovering he contracted pneumonia and died on May 10 His death was a devastating loss for the Confederacy Some historians and participants particularly those of the postbellum Lost Cause movement attribute the Confederate defeat at Gettysburg two months later to Jackson s absence The Union gunners at Fairview Cemetery were alert and nervous they were a few hundred yards behind Berry s division and still intact elements of the XI Corps and they found it quite impossible to fire their guns without the shells going over the heads of the infantrymen in front of them A few friendly fire casualties resulted from this as the gunners were quick to shoot at anything that looked like enemy soldiers when they got sight of a large body of Confederates drawing near they let loose a huge cannonade that landed on and around the party that was carrying the wounded Jackson to the rear and did end up wounding A P Hill 54 May 3 Chancellorsville Edit nbsp Chancellorsville actions on May 3 dawn to 10 a m Despite the fame of Stonewall Jackson s victory on May 2 it did not result in a significant military advantage for the Army of Northern Virginia Howard s XI Corps had been defeated but the Army of the Potomac remained a potent force and Reynolds s I Corps had arrived overnight which replaced Howard s losses About 76 000 Union men faced 43 000 Confederate at the Chancellorsville front The two halves of Lee s army at Chancellorsville were separated by Sickles s III Corps which occupied a strong position on high ground at Hazel Grove 55 Unless Lee could devise a plan to eject Sickles from Hazel Grove and combine the two halves of his army he would have little chance of success in assaulting the formidable Union earthworks around Chancellorsville Fortunately for Lee Joseph Hooker inadvertently cooperated Early on May 3 Hooker ordered Sickles to move from Hazel Grove to a new position on the Plank Road As they were withdrawing the trailing elements of Sickles s corps were attacked by the Confederate brigade of Brig Gen James J Archer which captured about 100 prisoners and four cannons Hazel Grove was soon turned into a powerful artillery platform with 30 guns under Col Porter Alexander 55 After Jackson was wounded on May 2 command of the Second Corps fell to his senior division commander Maj Gen A P Hill Hill was soon wounded himself He consulted with Brig Gen Robert E Rodes the next most senior general in the corps and Rodes acquiesced in Hill s decision to summon Maj Gen J E B Stuart to take command notifying Lee after the fact Brig Gen Henry Heth replaced Hill in division command 56 Although Stuart was a cavalryman who had never commanded infantry before he was to deliver a creditable performance at Chancellorsville By the morning of May 3 the Union line resembled a horseshoe The center was held by the III XII and II Corps On the left were the remnants of the XI Corps and the right was held by the V and I Corps On the western side of the Chancellorsville salient Stuart organized his three divisions to straddle the Plank Road Heth s in the advance Colston s 300 500 yards behind and Rodes s whose men had done the hardest fighting on May 2 near the Wilderness Church 56 The attack began about 5 30 a m supported by the newly installed artillery at Hazel Grove and by simultaneous attacks by the divisions of Anderson and McLaws from the south and southeast The Confederates were resisted fiercely by the Union troops behind strong earthworks and the fighting on May 3 was the heaviest of the campaign The initial waves of assaults by Heth and Colston gained a little ground but were beaten back by Union counterattacks 56 At Hazel Grove in short the finest artillerists of the Army of Northern Virginia were having their greatest day They had improved guns better ammunition and superior organization With the fire of battle shining through his spectacles William Pegram rejoiced A glorious day Colonel he said to Porter Alexander a glorious day Douglas Southall Freeman Lee s Lieutenants 57 Rodes sent his men in last and this final push along with the excellent performance of the Confederate artillery carried the morning battle Chancellorsville was the only occasion in the war in Virginia in which Confederate gunners held a decided advantage over their Federal counterparts Confederate guns on Hazel Grove were joined by 20 more on the Plank Road to duel effectively with the Union guns on neighboring Fairview Hill causing the Federals to withdraw as ammunition ran low and Confederate infantrymen picked off the gun crews 58 Fairview was evacuated at 9 30 a m briefly recaptured in a counterattack but by 10 a m Hooker ordered it abandoned for good The loss of this artillery platform doomed the Union position at the Chancellorsville crossroads as well and the Army of the Potomac began a fighting retreat to positions circling United States Ford The soldiers of the two halves of Lee s army reunited shortly after 10 a m before the Chancellor mansion wildly triumphant as Lee arrived on Traveller to survey the scene of his victory 58 Lee s presence was the signal for one of those uncontrollable bursts of enthusiasm which none can appreciate who has not witnessed them The fierce soldiers with their faces blackened with the smoke of battle the wounded crawling with feeble limbs from the fury of the devouring flames all seemed possessed with a common impulse One long unbroken cheer in which the feeble cry of those who lay helpless on the earth blended with the strong voices of those who still fought rose high above the roar of battle and hailed the presence of a victorious chief He sat in the full realization of all that soldiers dream of triumph and as I looked at him in the complete fruition of the success which his genius courage and confidence in his army had won I thought that it must have been from some such scene that men in ancient days ascended to the dignity of gods Charles Marshall Lee s military secretary An Aide de Camp to Lee 59 At the height of the fighting on May 3 Hooker suffered an injury when at 9 15 a m a Confederate cannonball hit a wooden pillar he was leaning against at his headquarters He later wrote that half of the pillar violently struck me in an erect position from my head to my feet He likely received a concussion which was sufficiently severe to render him unconscious for over an hour Although clearly incapacitated after he arose Hooker refused to turn over command temporarily to his second in command Maj Gen Darius N Couch and with Hooker s chief of staff Maj Gen Daniel Butterfield and Sedgwick out of communication again due to the failure of the telegraph lines there was no one at headquarters with sufficient rank or stature to convince Hooker otherwise This failure may have affected Union performance over the next day and may have directly contributed to Hooker s seeming lack of nerve and timid performance throughout the rest of the battle 60 Meanwhile at about 7 30 a m near Chancellorsville III Corps Second Division commander Maj Gen Hiram Berry was killed by Confederate musket fire 61 Brig Gen Gershom Mott next in seniority was also severely wounded at about that time Believing himself to be next in command Brig Gen Joseph Warren Revere grandson of Paul Revere assumed command of the division 62 Finding himself in among stragglers from the battle and unable to contact Sickles Revere commanded a group of 500 or 600 soldiers to reform at a point about three miles to the north of Chancellorsville 62 This three mile march away from the battlefield described by Revere as a regrouping effort and not a retreat led to his being court martialed in August by Maj Gen Hooker 62 This coincided with Revere s friendly 1852 conversation with Stonewall Jackson 63 64 in which Jackson used horoscopes and astrology to predict Revere s culmination of the malign aspect in the first days of May 1863 63 May 3 Fredericksburg and Salem Church Edit Further information Second Battle of Fredericksburg and Battle of Salem Church nbsp Chancellorsville actions on May 3 10 a m to 5 p m including the Second Battle of Fredericksburg and the Battle of Salem ChurchAs Lee was savoring his victory at the Chancellorsville crossroads he received disturbing news Maj Gen John Sedgwick s force had broken through the Confederate lines at Fredericksburg and was headed toward Chancellorsville On the night of May 2 in the aftermath of Jackson s flank attack Hooker had ordered Sedgwick to cross the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg on the receipt of this order and at once take up your line of march on the Chancellorsville road until you connect with him You will attack and destroy any force you may fall in with on the road 65 Lee had left a relatively small force at Fredericksburg ordering Brig Gen Jubal Early to watch the enemy and try to hold him If he was attacked in overwhelming numbers Early was to retreat to Richmond but if Sedgwick withdrew from his front he was to join with Lee at Chancellorsville On the morning of May 2 Early received a garbled message from Lee s staff that caused him to start marching most of his men toward Chancellorsville but he quickly returned after a warning from Brig Gen William Barksdale of a Union advance against Fredericksburg 65 At 7 a m on May 3 Early was confronted with four Union divisions Brig Gen John Gibbon of the II Corps had crossed the Rappahannock north of town and three divisions of Sedgwick s VI Corps Maj Gen John Newton and Brig Gens Albion P Howe and William T H Brooks were arrayed in line from the front of the town to Deep Run Most of Early s combat strength was deployed to the south of town where Federal troops had achieved their most significant successes during the December battle Marye s Heights was defended by Barksdale s Mississippi brigade and Early ordered the Louisiana brigade of Brig Gen Harry T Hays from the far right to Barksdale s left 65 nbsp Soldiers of the VI Corps Army of the Potomac in trenches before storming Marye s Heights at the Second Battle of Fredericksburg during the Chancellorsville campaign Virginia May 1863 This photograph Library of Congress B 157 is sometimes mistakenly labeled as taken at the 1864 Siege of Petersburg Virginia By midmorning two Union attacks against the infamous stone wall on Marye s Heights were repulsed with numerous casualties A Union party under flag of truce was allowed to approach ostensibly to collect the wounded but while close to the stone wall they were able to observe how sparsely the Confederate line was manned A third Union attack was successful in overrunning the Confederate position Early was able to organize an effective fighting retreat 66 John Sedgwick s road to Chancellorsville was open but he wasted time in gathering his troops and forming a marching column His men led by Brooks s division followed by Newton and Howe were delayed for several hours by successive actions against the Alabama brigade of Brig Gen Cadmus M Wilcox His final delaying line was a ridge at Salem church where he was joined by three brigades from McLaws s division and one from Anderson s bringing the total Confederate strength to about 10 000 men 66 Artillery fire was exchanged by both sides in the afternoon and at 5 30 p m two brigades of Brooks s division attacked on both sides of the Plank Road The advance south of the road reached as far as the churchyard but was driven back The attack north of the road could not break the Confederate line Wilcox described the action as a bloody repulse to the enemy rendering entirely useless to him his little success of the morning at Fredericksburg Hooker expressed his disappointment in Sedgwick my object in ordering General Sedgwick forward Was to relieve me from the position in which I found myself at Chancellorsville In my judgment General Sedgwick did not obey the spirit of my order and made no sufficient effort to obey it When he did move it was not with sufficient confidence or ability on his part to manoeuvre his troops 67 The fighting on May 3 1863 was some of the most furious anywhere in the civil war The loss of 21 357 men that day in the three battles divided equally between the two armies ranks the fighting only behind the Battle of Antietam as the bloodiest day of war in American history 68 May 4 6 Union withdrawals Edit nbsp Chancellorsville actions on May 4 withdrawals on May 5 and 6On the evening of May 3 and all day May 4 Hooker remained in his defenses north of Chancellorsville Lee observed that Hooker was threatening no offensive action so felt comfortable ordering Anderson s division to join the battle against Sedgwick He sent orders to Early and McLaws to cooperate in a joint attack but the orders reached his subordinates after dark so the attack was planned for May 4 69 By this time Sedgwick had placed his divisions into a strong defensive position with its flanks anchored on the Rappahannock three sides of a rectangle extending south of the Plank Road Early s plan was to drive the Union troops off Marye s Heights and the other high ground west of Fredericksburg Lee ordered McLaws to engage from the west to prevent the enemy concentrating on General Early 69 Early reoccupied Marye s Heights on the morning of May 4 cutting Sedgwick off from the town However McLaws was reluctant to take any action Before noon Lee arrived with Anderson s division giving him a total of 21 000 men slightly outnumbering Sedgwick Despite Lee s presence McLaws continued his passive role and Anderson s men took a few hours to get into position a situation that frustrated and angered both Early and Lee who had been planning on a concentrated assault from three directions 70 The attack finally began around 6 p m Two of Early s brigades under Brig Gens Harry T Hays and Robert F Hoke pushed back Sedgwick s left center across the Plank Road but Anderson s effort was a slight one and McLaws once again contributed nothing Throughout the day on May 4 Hooker provided no assistance or useful guidance to Sedgwick and Sedgwick thought about little else than protecting his line of retreat 70 Sedgwick withdrew across the Rappahannock at Banks s Ford during the pre dawn hours of May 5 When he learned that Sedgwick had retreated back over the river Hooker felt he was out of options to save the campaign He called a council of war and asked his corps commanders to vote about whether to stay and fight or to withdraw Although a majority voted to fight Hooker had had enough and on the night of May 5 6 he withdrew back across the river at U S Ford 71 nbsp Confederate dead behind the stone wall of Marye s Heights Fredericksburg Virginia killed during the Chancellorsville campaign the Second Battle of Fredericksburg May 1863 Photograph by A J Russell It was a difficult operation Hooker and the artillery crossed first followed by the infantry beginning at 6 a m on May 6 Meade s V Corps served as the rear guard Rains caused the river to rise and threatened to break the pontoon bridges 71 Couch was in command on the south bank after Hooker departed but he was left with explicit orders not to continue the battle which he had been tempted to do The surprise withdrawal frustrated Lee s plan for one final attack against Chancellorsville He had issued orders for his artillery to bombard the Union line in preparation for another assault but by the time they were ready Hooker and his men were gone 71 The Union cavalry under Brig Gen George Stoneman after a week of ineffectual raiding in central and southern Virginia in which they failed to attack any of the objectives Hooker established withdrew into Union lines east of Richmond the peninsula north of the York River across from Yorktown on May 7 ending the campaign 72 Aftermath EditMy God It is horrible horrible and to think of it 130 000 magnificent soldiers so cut to pieces by less than 60 000 half starved ragamuffins Horace Greeley New York Tribune 73 Casualties Edit Further information Detailed Union casualties and Detailed Confederate casualties Senior officer casualties nbsp Maj Gen Hiram G Berry killed nbsp Brig Gen Charles Devens wounded nbsp Brig Gen Amiel W Whipple mortally wounded nbsp Brig Gen Gershom Mott wounded nbsp Brig Gen William Hays wounded nbsp Lt Gen Stonewall Jackson mortally wounded nbsp Maj Gen Ambrose P Hill wounded nbsp Brig Gen Henry Heth wounded nbsp Brig Gen William D Pender wounded nbsp Brig Gen Samuel McGowan wounded nbsp Brig Gen Stephen D Ramseur wounded nbsp Brig Gen Robert F Hoke wounded nbsp Brig Gen Francis T Nicholls wounded nbsp Brig Gen Edward A O Neal wounded nbsp Brig Gen Elisha F Paxton killed nbsp Col Stapleton Crutchfield woundedLee despite being outnumbered by a ratio of over two to one won arguably his greatest victory of the war sometimes described as his perfect battle 74 But he paid a terrible price for it taking more casualties than he had lost in any previous battle including the Confederate defeat at the Battle of Antietam With only 60 000 men engaged he suffered 13 303 casualties 1 665 killed 9 081 wounded 2 018 missing 11 losing some 22 of his force in the campaign men that the Confederacy with its limited manpower could not replace Just as seriously he lost his most aggressive field commander Stonewall Jackson Brig Gen Elisha F Paxton was the other Confederate general killed during the battle After Longstreet rejoined the main army he was highly critical of Lee s strategy saying that battles like Chancellorsville cost the Confederacy more men than it could afford to lose 75 Of the 133 000 Union men engaged 17 197 were casualties 1 606 killed 9 672 wounded 5 919 missing 11 a percentage much lower than Lee s particularly considering that it includes 4 000 men of the XI Corps who were captured on May 2 When comparing only the killed and wounded there were almost no differences between the Confederate and Federal losses at Chancellorsville The Union lost three generals in the campaign Maj Gens Hiram G Berry and Amiel W Whipple and Brig Gen Edmund Kirby 76 Assessment of Hooker Edit Lee s Chancellorsville consisted of a pastiche of unbelievably risky gambits that led to a great triumph Hooker s campaign after the brilliant opening movements degenerated into a tale of opportunities missed and troops underutilized Robert K Krick Lee s Greatest Victory 77 Hooker who began the campaign believing he had 80 chances in 100 to be successful lost the battle through miscommunication the incompetence of some of his leading generals most notably Howard and Stoneman but also Sedgwick but mostly through the collapse of his own confidence Hooker s errors included abandoning his offensive push on May 1 and ordering Sickles to give up Hazel Grove and pull back on May 2 He also erred in his disposition of forces despite Abraham Lincoln s exhortation this time put in all your men some 40 000 men of the Army of the Potomac scarcely fired a shot When later asked why he had ordered a halt to his advance on May 1 Hooker is reputed to have responded For the first time I lost faith in Hooker 78 However Stephen W Sears has categorized this as a myth Nothing has been more damaging to General Joseph Hooker s military reputation than this from John Bigelow s The Campaign of Chancellorsville 1910 A couple of months later when Hooker crossed the Rappahannock actually the Potomac with the Army of the Potomac in the Campaign of Gettysburg he was asked by General Doubleday Hooker what was the matter with you at Chancellorsville Hooker answered frankly Doubleday For once I lost confidence in Hooker 79 Sears s research has shown that Bigelow was quoting from a letter written in 1903 by an E P Halstead who was on the staff of Doubleday s I Corps division 79 There is no evidence that Hooker and Doubleday ever met during the Gettysburg campaign and they could not have done so since they were dozens of miles apart Finally Doubleday made no mention of such a confession from Hooker in his history of the Chancellorsville campaign published in 1882 80 Sears concludes It can only be concluded that forty years after the event elderly ex staff officer Halstead was at best retailing some vaguely remembered campfire tale and at worst manufacturing a role for himself in histories of the campaign Whatever Joe Hooker s failings at Chancellorsville he did not publicly confess them 80 Lincoln later told Connecticut Representative Deming that he believed the war could have been terminated at Chancellorsville had Hooker managed the battle better specifically when Hooker failed to reinforce Sedgwick after hearing his cannon However he added I do not know that I could have given any different orders had I been with them myself I have not fully made up my mind how I should behave when minie balls were whistling and those great oblong shells shrieking in my ear I might run away 81 Union reaction Edit The Union was shocked by the defeat President Abraham Lincoln was quoted as saying My God My God What will the country say A few generals were career casualties Hooker relieved Stoneman for incompetence and for years waged a vituperative campaign against Howard whom he blamed for his loss He wrote in 1876 that Howard was a hypocrite totally incompetent a perfect old woman a bad man He labeled Sedgwick as dilatory Couch was so disgusted by Hooker s conduct of the battle and his incessant political maneuvering that he resigned and was placed in charge of the Department of the Susquehanna commanding only Pennsylvania militia 82 President Lincoln chose to retain Hooker in command of the army but the friction between Lincoln general in chief Henry W Halleck and Hooker became intolerable in the early days of what would become known as the Gettysburg campaign and Lincoln relieved Hooker of command on June 28 just before the Battle of Gettysburg One of the consequences of Chancellorsville at Gettysburg was the conduct of Daniel Sickles who undoubtedly recalled the terrible consequences of withdrawing from Hazel Grove when he decided to ignore the commands of his general and moved his lines on the second day of battle to ensure that a minor piece of high ground the Peach Orchard was not available to the enemy s artillery 82 Confederate reaction Edit The Confederate public had mixed feelings about the result joy at Lee s tactical victory tempered by the loss of their most beloved general Stonewall Jackson The death of Jackson caused Lee to make the long needed reorganization of the Army of Northern Virginia from two large corps into three under James Longstreet Richard S Ewell and A P Hill The new assignments for the latter two generals caused some command difficulties in the upcoming Gettysburg campaign which began in June Of more consequence for Gettysburg however was the supreme confidence that Lee gained from his great victory at Chancellorsville that his army was virtually invincible and would succeed at anything he asked it to do 83 Lee later wrote At Chancellorsville we gained another victory our people were wild with delight I on the contrary was more depressed than after Fredericksburg our loss was severe and again we gained not an inch of ground and the enemy could not be pursued 84 Additional battle maps EditGallery Chancellorsville campaign tactical maps Edit nbsp Map symbols nbsp Map 1 Hooker s Flanking March 27 30 April 1863 nbsp Map 2 1 May 1863 late morning nbsp Map 3 2 May 1863 early evening nbsp Map 4 3 May 1863 early morning nbsp Map 5 4 May 1863 late afternoon nbsp Battle of Chancellorsville1 May 1863 Situation at Dark nbsp Battle of Chancellorsville2 May 1863 Situation at 1800 nbsp Battle of Chancellorsville3 May 1863 Situation Early nbsp Chancellorsville Campaign3 May 1863 Battle of Salem Church Situation at 1600 nbsp Battle of Chancellorsville4 May 1863 Situation at 1800 nbsp Battle of Chancellorsville6 May 1863 Situation at 1700 Battlefield preservation EditFredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial National Military ParkU S National Register of Historic PlacesU S National Military ParkVirginia Landmarks Register nbsp A piece of artillery Area4 601 1 acres 1 862 ha NRHP reference No 66000046 85 VLR No 111 0147Significant datesAdded to NRHPOctober 15 1966Designated VLRJanuary 16 1973 86 The battlefield was a scene of widespread destruction covered with dead men and animals The Chancellor family whose house was destroyed during the battle placed the entire 854 acre property for sale four months after the battle A smaller version of the house was rebuilt using some of the original materials which served as a landmark for many of the veteran reunions of the late 19th century In 1927 the rebuilt house was destroyed by fire That same year the United States Congress authorized the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park which preserves some of the land that saw fighting in the 1862 Battle of Fredericksburg the Chancellorsville campaign the Battle of the Wilderness and the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House the latter two being key battles in the 1864 Overland Campaign 87 In May 2002 a regional developer announced a plan to build 2 300 houses and 2 000 000 square feet of commercial space on the 790 acre Mullins Farm site of the first day of fighting at the Battle of Chancellorsville Soon thereafter the American Battlefield Trust then known as The Civil War Trust formed the Coalition to Save Chancellorsville a network of national and local preservation groups that waged a vocal campaign against the development 88 For nearly a year the Coalition mobilized local citizens held candlelight vigils and hearings and encouraged residents to become more involved in preservation Public opinion polling conducted by the Coalition found that more than two thirds of local residents opposed the development The survey also found that 90 percent of local residents believed their county has a responsibility to protect Chancellorsville and other historic resources 89 As a result of these efforts in March 2003 the Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors denied the rezoning application that would have allowed for the development of the site Immediately following the vote the Civil War Trust and other Coalition members began working to acquire the battlefield By working with county officials and developers the Trust acquired 140 acres in 2004 and another 74 acres in 2006 90 The American Battlefield Trust and its federal state and local partners have acquired and preserved 1 365 acres 5 52 km2 of the battlefield in more than 15 different transactions from 2002 through mid 2023 91 In popular media EditThe battle formed the basis for Stephen Crane s 1895 novel The Red Badge of Courage 92 The battle serves as the background for one of F Scott Fitzgerald s short stories published in the February 1935 Esquire Magazine entitled The Night at Chancellorsville 93 The Battle of Chancellorsville was depicted in the 2003 film Gods and Generals based on the novel of the same name The treatment of the battle in both the novel and the movie focuses on Jackson s assault on the Union right flank his wounding and his subsequent death See also Edit nbsp American Civil War portal nbsp Virginia portalList of American Civil War battles Troop engagements of the American Civil War 1863 Battle of Fredericksburg and Mud March Second Battle of Fredericksburg Battle of Salem Church List of costliest American Civil War land battles Armies in the American Civil War Bibliography of the American Civil War Bibliography of Abraham Lincoln Bibliography of Ulysses S GrantNotes Edit The dates for the battle vary by historian The National Park Service cites the period from the Union army s establishing a presence on the battlefield April 30 until its retreat May 6 McPherson p 643 cites May 2 to 6 Livermore p 98 May 1 to 4 McGowen p 392 May 2 to 3 The full Chancellorsville campaign lasted from April 27 to May 7 Battlefields org Official Records Series I Volume XXV Part 1 pages 156 170 a b Second Division II Army Corps and VI Army Corps engaged at Fredericksburg or Marye s Heights Salem Heights or Salem Church and near Banks Ford Va May 3 4 1863 Further information Official Records Series I Volume XXV Part 1 pages 188 191 Official Records Series I Volume XXV Part 1 pages 789 794 a b Jubal A Early s Division II Army Corps and McLaws s Division I Army Corps engaged at Fredericksburg or Marye s Heights Salem Heights or Salem Church and near Banks Ford Va May 3 4 1863 a b c d e Union strength include forces engaged at Fredericksburg and Salem Church Va May 3 4 1863 Further information Official Records Series I Volume XXV Part 2 page 320 and Official Records Series I Volume XXV Part 1 pages 188 191 a b c d 133 868 Union troops and 60 892 Confederate troops according to Bigelow pp 132 136 and Eicher p 475 Furgurson p 88 Kennedy p 197 about 130 000 to 60 000 Salmon p 173 more than 133 000 about 60 000 The NPS states Union 97 382 Confederate 57 352 a b Confederate strength include forces engaged at Fredericksburg and Salem Church Va May 3 4 1863 Further information Official Records Series I Volume XXV Part 2 page 696 a b c d Casualties cited are for the full campaign Further information Official Records Series I Volume XXV Part 1 pages 172 192 a b c d Eicher p 488 Casualties cited are for the full campaign Sears pp 492 501 cites 17 304 Union 1 694 killed 9 672 wounded and 5 938 missing and 13 460 Confederate 1 724 killed 9 233 wounded and 2 503 missing Casualties cited are for the full campaign Further information Official Records Series I Volume XXV Part 1 pages 806 809 947 949 There were three battles and one cavalry raid during the campaign Because the three battles happened in a small geographic area and had overlapping timelines this article covers both the battle around the village of Chancellorsville and the full campaign Field Ron 2012 Robert E Lee Bloomsbury Publishing p 28 ISBN 978 1849081467 Barney William L 2011 The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Civil War New York Oxford University Press p 66 ISBN 978 0199782017 Kennedy pp 11 15 88 112 118 21 144 49 a b Krick pp 14 15 Hebert pp 165 67 177 Kennedy p 197 Eicher p 473 Sears pp 21 24 61 Warner p 58 Furgurson p 63 Sears pp 24 25 Furgurson p 18 Cullen pp 15 16 Hebert pp 166 68 172 Sears pp 24 61 63 Sears p 63 Gallagher p 6 Esposito text for map 84 Eicher p 473 Sears p 67 Hebert pp 172 77 Catton pp 141 47 Hebert pp 178 83 Sears pp 62 75 Cullen p 14 a b Krick p 41 Sears pp 68 70 100 102 Fishel pp 286 95 The Army of the Potomac was able to call on the services of self styled Professor of Aeronautics Thaddeus S C Lowe and his two hydrogen aerostats Washington and Eagle which regularly ascended to heights of 1 000 feet 300 m or more to observe Lee s positions a b Gallagher pp 9 10 Eicher p 474 Cullen pp 17 18 Welcher p 659 Sears pp 120 24 a b c Cullen p 17 Gallagher pp 10 11 Welcher p 659 Sears pp 137 38 a b Sears pp 132 193 94 Krick pp 35 36 Gallagher pp 11 13 Cullen p 19 Sears pp 98 99 Cullen p 19 Salmon pp 173 74 a b c Esposito text for map 84 Gallagher pp 13 14 Salmon p 175 Sears pp 141 58 Krick p 32 Eicher pp 475 477 Welcher pp 660 61 a b c Salmon pp 176 77 Gallagher pp 16 17 Krick pp 39 Salmon pp 176 77 Cullen pp 21 22 Sears pp 187 89 413 guns according Bigelow p 136 Gallagher p 7 Salmon p 173 Eicher p 474 Welcher pp 684 87 Bigelow p 134 Gallagher p 8 Salmon p 173 Eicher pp 474 75 a b Salmon pp 168 72 Kennedy pp 194 97 Eicher p 474 Cullen p 16 Sears pp 94 95 a b Salmon p 177 Welcher p 663 Gallagher pp 17 19 Cullen pp 23 25 Sears pp 196 202 Krick p 40 a b Salmon p 177 Cullen p 25 Krick pp 59 62 Welcher pp 663 65 Gallagher pp 18 19 Krick p 42 a b Sears p 212 Eicher p 478 Cullen p 26 Esposito text for map 85 Gallagher p 20 Cullen p 27 a b Sears pp 212 13 Cullen pp 26 28 Eicher p 478 called Hooker s order an almost surrealistic blunder Furgurson pp 130 32 wrote With mass position and momentum on his side after one of the most successful opening moves in American military history Hooker bowed and handed the initiative to Lee At no other time between Sumter and Appomattox did moral character so decisively affect the battle Both Eicher and Furgurson suggest that Hooker s abstinence from alcohol during the battle may have affected his normally pugnacious personality Krick p 9 refers to impressive evidence that he was drinking during the battle but that other evidence denies the fact a b Sears pp 233 35 Esposito text for map 86 Eicher p 479 Cullen pp 28 29 Krick pp 64 70 Salmon pp 177 78 a b c Sears pp 228 30 Furgurson pp 156 57 Welcher p 667 Sears pp 231 35 239 40 Eicher p 479 Cullen p 29 Sears pp 244 45 Salmon p 178 a b c Sears pp 245 254 59 Krick p 76 Salmon pp 178 79 Cullen pp 30 32 Welcher p 668 a b Krick pp 84 86 Salmon p 179 Cullen p 34 Sears pp 257 58 a b c d e Furgurson p 90 Eicher pp 480 82 Sears pp 237 38 270 Sears p 272 Furgurson p 171 estimates 5 15 and states that various reports from the combatants list the starting time from as early as 4 p m to as late as 6 p m Sears p 261 Only two thirds of Jackson s marching column participated in the assault Some of A P Hill s men arrived late other units were detached to guard the Orange Plank Road a b Krick pp 104 105 118 Sears pp 260 81 Eicher pp 480 82 Cullen p 34 Welcher p 670 a b c Sears pp 281 287 289 91 300 302 488 Welcher p 673 Eicher p 483 Salmon p 180 Krick pp 146 48 Furgurson pp 196 206 213 16 Krick pp 136 46 Salmon pp 180 81 Sears pp 293 97 306 307 446 49 Smith pp 123 27 For representative speculation about Gettysburg see David G Martin Gettysburg July 1 rev ed Conshohocken PA Combined Publishing 1996 ISBN 0 938289 81 0 pp 563 65 or Furgurson pp 349 50 a b Goolrick 140 42 Esposito text for map 88 Sears pp 312 14 316 20 Salmon pp 181 82 Cullen pp 36 39 Welcher p 675 a b c Welcher pp 676 77 Eicher pp 483 85 Salmon pp 182 83 Krick p 199 Sears p 325 Under the particular conditions he inherited then it is hard to see how Jeb Stuart in a new command a cavalryman commanding infantry and artillery for the first time could have done a better job Freeman vol 2 p 592 a b Salmon p 183 Sears pp 319 20 Welcher p 677 Evans vol 3 p 390 Sears pp 336 39 Welcher p 678 Eicher pp 485 86 Brian Swartz January 12 2022 Fallen Leaders Maine s Hiram Berry Emerging Civil War Retrieved January 25 2023 a b c Revere Joseph Warren 1863 A Review of the Case of Brigadier General Joseph W Revere United States Volunteers Tried by Court Martial and Dismissed from the Service of the United States August 10 1863 New York C A Alvord I have endeavored to confine myself strictly to the official action of the Court Martial which sentenced me to dismissal from the Army a b Revere Joseph Warren 1872 Keel and Saddle A Retrospect of Forty Years of Military and Naval Service J R Osgood Osler THE EVOLUTION OF MODERN MEDICINE biotech law lsu edu Retrieved November 20 2022 a b c Sears pp 308 11 350 51 Welcher pp 679 80 Cullen pp 41 42 Goolrick pp 151 53 a b Krick pp 176 80 Welcher pp 680 81 Esposito text for maps 88 89 Sears pp 352 56 Furgurson pp 273 88 Welcher p 681 Sears pp 378 86 Krick pp 181 85 Cullen p 43 Sears p 389 a b Sears pp 390 93 Welcher pp 681 82 Cullen p 44 a b Krick pp 187 91 Sears pp 400 405 a b c Krick pp 191 96 Esposito text for map 91 Welcher p 682 Cullen p 45 Sears pp 417 30 Goolrick p 158 In the council of war Meade Reynolds and Howard voted to fight Sickles and Couch voted to withdraw Couch actually favored attack but lacked confidence in Hooker s leadership Slocum did not arrive until after the vote and Sedgwick had already withdrawn from the battlefield Sears p 309 Eicher p 476 Gallagher p 52 Dupuy p 261 Smith p 127 Smith p 120 Krick p 9 Esposito text for map 91 Foote p 315 Hebert p 199 a b Sears p 504 a b Sears p 505 Six Months at the White House with Abraham Lincoln by Carpenter Francis Bicknell 1830 1900 Published 1866 pages 219 221 a b Hebert pp 231 235 245 Sears p 433 Eicher pp 489 523 Furgurson p 332 Krick pp 127 203 Cullen p 50 Eicher pp 489 Cullen pp 49 50 69 Gettysburg Lee Moves North Measuring Performance and Effectiveness January 15 2015 National Register Information System National Register of Historic Places National Park Service March 13 2009 Virginia Landmarks Register Virginia Department of Historic Resources Archived from the original on September 21 2013 Retrieved March 19 2013 Krick pp 201 202 NPS Archived May 14 2011 at the Wayback Machine 7 Groups Form Coalition to Save Chancellorsville The Civil War News 2002 Archived January 11 2011 at the Wayback Machine Soft Touch at Town of Chancellorsville Vigil Pays Off Fredericksburg Free Lance Star January 22 2003 Archived from the original on February 16 2013 Spotsy board vote brings cheers Fredericksburg Free Lance Star November 15 2006 Archived from the original on February 16 2013 1 American Battlefield Trust Chancellorsville Battlefield webpage Accessed May 15 2023 Chancellorsville Archived June 24 2011 at the Wayback Machine Red Badge of Courage material American Studies website of the University of Virginia Text of the short story References EditAlexander Edward P Fighting for the Confederacy The Personal Recollections of General Edward Porter Alexander Edited by Gary W Gallagher Chapel Hill University of North Carolina Press 1989 ISBN 0 8078 4722 4 Catton Bruce Glory Road Garden City NY Doubleday and Company 1952 ISBN 0 385 04167 5 Cullen Joseph P Battle of Chancellorsville In Battle Chronicles of the Civil War 1863 edited by James M McPherson Connecticut Grey Castle Press 1989 ISBN 1 55905 027 6 First published in 1989 by McMillan Dupuy R Ernest Trevor N Dupuy and Paul F Braim Military Heritage of America New York McGraw Hill 1956 ISBN 0 8403 8225 1 Eicher David J The Longest Night A Military History of the Civil War New York Simon amp Schuster 2001 ISBN 0 684 84944 5 Esposito Vincent J West Point Atlas of American Wars New York Frederick A Praeger 1959 OCLC 5890637 The collection of maps without explanatory text is available online at the West Point website Fishel Edwin C The Secret War for the Union The Untold Story of Military Intelligence in the Civil War Boston Mariner Books Houghton Mifflin Co 1996 ISBN 0 395 90136 7 Foote Shelby The Civil War A Narrative Vol 2 Fredericksburg to Meridian New York Random House 1958 ISBN 0 394 49517 9 Freeman Douglas S Lee s Lieutenants A Study in Command 3 vols New York Scribner 1946 ISBN 0 684 85979 3 Furgurson Ernest B Chancellorsville 1863 The Souls of the Brave New York Knopf 1992 ISBN 0 394 58301 9 Gallagher Gary W The Battle of Chancellorsville National Park Service Civil War series Conshohocken PA U S National Park Service and Eastern National 1995 ISBN 0 915992 87 6 Goolrick William K and the Editors of Time Life Books Rebels Resurgent Fredericksburg to Chancellorsville Alexandria VA Time Life Books 1985 ISBN 0 8094 4748 7 Hebert Walter H Fighting Joe Hooker Lincoln University of Nebraska Press 1999 ISBN 0 8032 7323 1 Krick Robert K Chancellorsville Lee s Greatest Victory New York American Heritage Publishing Co 1990 OCLC 671280483 Livermore Thomas L Numbers and Losses in the Civil War in America 1861 65 Reprinted with errata Dayton OH Morninside House 1986 ISBN 0 527 57600 X First published in 1901 by Houghton Mifflin McGowen Stanley S Battle of Chancellorsville In Encyclopedia of the American Civil War A Political Social and Military History edited by David S Heidler and Jeanne T Heidler New York W W Norton amp Company 2000 ISBN 0 393 04758 X McPherson James M Battle Cry of Freedom The Civil War Era Oxford History of the United States New York Oxford University Press 1988 ISBN 0 19 503863 0 Salmon John S The Official Virginia Civil War Battlefield Guide Mechanicsburg PA Stackpole Books 2001 ISBN 0 8117 2868 4 Sears Stephen W Chancellorsville Boston Houghton Mifflin 1996 ISBN 0 395 87744 X Smith Derek The Gallant Dead Union amp Confederate Generals Killed in the Civil War Mechanicsburg PA Stackpole Books 2005 ISBN 0 8117 0132 8 Warner Ezra J Generals in Blue Lives of the Union Commanders Baton Rouge Louisiana State University Press 1964 ISBN 0 8071 0822 7 Wineman Bradford Alexander The Chancellorsville Campaign January May 1863 Archived June 11 2016 at the Wayback Machine Washington DC United States Army Center of Military History 2013 OCLC 847739804 National Park Service battle description CWSAC Report UpdateMemoirs and primary sources Edit Bigelow John The Campaign of Chancellorsville a Strategic and Tactical Study New Haven Yale University Press 1910 OCLC 1348825 Crane Stephen The Red Badge of Courage Upper Saddle River NJ Prentice Hall 1895 ISBN 978 0 13 435466 8 Dodge Theodore A The Campaign of Chancellorsville Boston J R Osgood amp Co 1881 OCLC 4226311 Evans Clement A ed Confederate Military History A Library of Confederate States History 12 vols Atlanta Confederate Publishing Company 1899 OCLC 833588 Tidball John C The Artillery Service in the War of the Rebellion 1861 1865 Westholme Publishing 2011 ISBN 978 1594161490 U S War Department The War of the Rebellion a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies Washington DC U S Government Printing Office 1880 1901 Further reading EditBallard Ted and Billy Arthur Chancellorsville Staff Ride Briefing Book Washington DC United States Army Center of Military History 2002 OCLC 50210531 Mackowski Chris and Kristopher D White Chancellorsville s Forgotten Front The Battles of Second Fredericksburg and Salem Church May 3 1863 El Dorado Hills CA Savas Beatie 2013 ISBN 978 1 61121 136 8 Mackowski Chris and Kristopher D White The Last Days of Stonewall Jackson The Mortal Wounding of the Confederacy s Greatest Icon Emerging Civil War Series El Dorado Hills CA Savas Beatie 2013 ISBN 978 1 61121 150 4 Mackowski Chris and Kristopher D White That Furious Struggle Chancellorsville and the High Tide of the Confederacy May 1 4 1863 Emerging Civil War Series El Dorado Hills CA Savas Beatie 2014 ISBN 978 1 61121 219 8 Parsons Philip W The Union Sixth Army Corps in the Chancellorsville Campaign A Study of the Engagements of Second Fredericksburg Salem Church and Banks s Ford Jefferson NC McFarland amp Co 2006 ISBN 978 0 7864 2521 1 Pula James S Under the Crescent Moon with the XI Corps in the Civil War Vol 1 From the Defenses of Washington to Chancellorsville 1862 1863 El Dorado Hills CA Savas Beatie 2017 ISBN 978 1 61121 337 9 External links Edit nbsp Wikisource has the text of a 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica article about Battle of Chancellorsville nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Battle of Chancellorsville The Battle of Chancellorsville Battle Maps Archived October 12 2012 at the Wayback Machine histories photos and preservation news Civil War Trust Battle of Chancellorsville Virtual Tour Chancellorsville Campaign in Encyclopedia Virginia Second Battle of Fredericksburg in Encyclopedia Virginia The Brothers War The Battle of Chancellorsville Animated Powerpoint slide presentation of campaign Animated history of the Battle of Chancellorsville C SPAN American History TV Tour of Jackson s Flank Attack at Chancellorsville nbsp Texts on Wikisource Guernsey Alfred H 1879 Chancellorsville Battle of The American Cyclopaedia Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Battle of Chancellorsville amp oldid 1177680020, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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