As they travelled the Mountain Road, they were mistaken for Union cavalrymen and fired on by their own troops. Hooker starts his campaign on April 27 and marches his men toward the Rappahannock. The fighting is intense and the casualties mount on both sides. Two related battles were fought nearby on May 3 in the vicinity of Fredericksburg. May 3. Battle Of Chancellorsville Summary: The Battle of Chancellorsville, April 30–May 6, 1863, resulted in a Confederate victory that stopped an attempted flanking movement by Maj. Gen. Joseph "Fighting Joe" Hooker’s Army of the Potomac against the left of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. or W.R.). An eager figure scanned the cars for two passengers who meant more to him than anyone else on earth. The wounding of Stonewall Jackson at the Battle of Chancellorsville, May 2, 1863. The Union general withdrew, and Lee’s pressure over the next three days forced a Union retreat north of the river. Lee’s division of his forces to defeat an overwhelming enemy is regarded as textbook military tactics. The 30,764 combined casualties eclipsed the losses suffered at well-known battles such as Shiloh (23,746), Second Manassas (22,180), Antietam (22,717), and Stones River (23,515). May 4. But the Confederate victory was lessened by the loss of Lieutenant general Stonewall Jackson. Please note that the locations and events listed on our itineraries do not reflect any potential closures due to COVID-19. Lee hurriedly gathers his army. Hooker holds a council of war with his corps commanders, who want to continue the fight. South of the Mason-Dixon Line spirits were high after the battle. Deprived of his cavalry, however, Hooker was blind to Lee’s movements, and on May 2, when Lee ordered Gen. Stonewall Jackson’s “foot cavalry” to swing around and attack the Union right, Hooker’s surprised flank was routed. Learn more about the battle. Gen. Stonewall Jackson's attack at the Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia, May 2, 1863; colour lithograph. Blossoms from apple, peach, and cherry trees splashed color against a background of soft green woods. Though he an enemy to the North, The New York Times, couldn’t help but acknowledge his greatness as an officer, “His death is a tremendous and irreparable loss to the secession cause, as no other rebel of like character has been developed during the war. Lee then undertook a second invasion of the North. Confederate victory. By mid-morning, Southern infantry smashes through the final resistance and unites in the Chancellorsville clearing. The long marches and daring tactics of the last two days give way to a slugging match in the impenetrable woods on three sides of Chancellorsville intersection. Hooker's energetic make-over polished the Union army into tip-top condition, and he declared them “the finest army on the planet.” With complete confidence, Hooker orchestrated a “perfect” plan to confront Lee and drive him from his camp at Fredericksburg. For months, the two armies had been staked out on opposite banks of a narrow river. At the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Army of Northern Virginia was faced with a serious threat by the Army of the Potomac and its new commanding general, Major General Joseph Hooker. Chancellorsville, Battle of (1863).After the Civil War Battle of Fredericksburg, President Abraham Lincoln gave Gen. Joseph Hooker command of the Army of the Potomac. On May 10, 1863, Catherine Ann Devereux Edmondston, a North Carolina woman, wrote in her diary: "[our relatives are] full of our Victory, which all admit to be a glorious one, throwing that of Fredericksburg in the shade." Battle of Chancellorsville Summary Print shows the Battle of Chancellorsville with Confederate troops under the command of General Stonewall Jackson advancing on the Union army; also shows General Jackson being wounded, with three officers coming to his … It is generally considered to be Confederate General Robert E. Lee ’s greatest victory over the Union Army. On hearing the sad news, Lee remarked prophetically, “He has lost his left arm, but I have lost my right.” Jackson was taken to a safe place south of Fredericksburg to recover. Everyone was eager to affix blame for the debacle, but ultimately it was Joseph Hooker, all swagger and little substance, who was accountable. the Battlefield On April 27, 1863, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker launched a turning movement designed to pry Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia out of its lines at Fredericksburg. The Battle of Chancellorsville Civil War Combat Unflinching, uncompromising and graphic, the images and stories presented here show these battles for what they were, with all the brutality, horror, devastation and desperation Chancellorsville Virginia Civil War . Lee divides his smaller army and pushes his main body west along the Orange Turnpike and the Orange Plank Road toward Hooker, leaving Maj. Gen. Jubal Early’s division to watch Sedgwick at Fredericksburg. Some historians wonder if the South might have triumphed in the Civil War had he not been killed. He appointed 48-year-old Massachusetts native Joseph Hooker to take charge. May 6. Show your pride in battlefield preservation by shopping in our store. Spotsylvania County, VA | Apr 30 - May 6, 1863, Spotsylvania Courthouse, VA | April 30, 1863. This is almost exactly half the hundred miles distance between Washington D.C. and Richmond, Virginia. Hooker abandons key ground in a further display of timidity. Confederate cartographer Jedediah Hochkiss, who was taking measurements in the area for a map of the campaign, records in his journal on May 12, 1863, that he "had no idea the enemy were so well fortified and wonder they left their works so soon.". . Both General Winfield Scott and General Ulysses S. Grant knew they would be unlikely to outmaneuver him through strategy. Chancellorsville, Virginia. 27 April 1863 - 1 May 1863. May 1. Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick’s Sixth Corp erects pontoon bridges below Fredericksburg. The body of the message reads, “The enemy has made a stand at Chancellor's which is about 2 miles from Chancellorsville. Stay up-to-date on the Trust's battlefield preservation efforts, travel tips, upcoming events, history content and more. April 30. Following the “horror of Fredericksburg” (December 13, 1862), the Confederate army of Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Union force under Gen. Joseph Hooker had spent the winter facing each other across the Rappahannock River in Virginia. Recommended Reading: Chancellorsville: The Battle and Its Aftermath (Military Campaigns of the Civil War). “Stonewall” Jackson, who was mortally wounded by friendly fire. While much of the landscape around Chancellorsville has changed since 1863, it is still possible to visit and explore this great Civil War battlefield... Sign up for our quarterly email series highlighting the environmental benefits of battlefield preservation. Of 130,000 Union soldiers engaged at Chancellorsville, more than 17,000 were casualties (some 7,500 were killed or reported missing); of 60,000 Confederates, more than 12,000 were casualties (more than 3,500 were killed or reported missing). The two forces meet near the Zoan Church, three miles east of Chancellorsville, late that morning. Circled numbers indicate significant sites at the Battle of Chancellorsville: 1) main body of the Union army under Joseph Hooker; 2) main body of the Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E. Lee; 3) a detachment of Union troops under John Sedgwick; 4) and 5) a detachment of Confederate troops under Jubal Early; 6) Hooker's flank, turned in an attack by Stonewall Jackson. “My plans are perfect,” Hooker boasts, “and when I start to carry them out, may God have mercy on General Lee, for I will have none.” Part of Hooker’s confidence may be due to the fact that Lee’s valuable officer, Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, is away on a resupply mission, leaving Lee with only 60,000 troops to confront Hooker’s 130,000 men. Known also as The King of Spades, The Old Man, and Bobby Lee, he was arguably the greatest soldier of the Civil War. May 5. The Battle of Chancellorsville began in earnest on May 1, 1863 three miles east of Chancellorsville along the Orange Turnpike near the Joseph Alsop Farm when the Federal V Corps division led by Major General George Sykes engaged McLaws’ Division approaching from the opposite direction. Beginning his turning movement on April 27, 1863, Hooker masterfully swung around toward the west of the Confederate army. On April 27 Hooker dispatched his cavalry behind Lee’s army, intending to cut off a retreat. Hooker approaches the intersection of Orange Turnpike and the Orange Plank Road, which is dominated by the Chancellorsville tavern and is located in the Wilderness — a tangled, brush-choked thicket that covers the area. The South’s greatest casualty was the loss of Jackson, who was accidentally shot by his own men while returning from a reconnaissance of Union lines. Among the numerous casualties was Confederate General Stonewall Jackson. 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