After nearly a year of campaigning, allowing these troops to slip away from his immediate control was Lee's gravest miscalculation. [113] 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. 176–77; Gallagher, pp. There were three primary roads available for this west-to-east movement: the Orange Plank Road, the Orange Turnpike, and the River Road. Only two-thirds of Jackson's marching column participated in the assault. Hill. 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. By May 1 his superior forces were massed near Chancellorsville, a crossroads in a densely forested lowland called the Wilderness. Lincoln tried a fifth time with a new general on January 25, 1863—Maj. Sears, pp. The Battle of Chancellorsville casualties totaled 12,764 from the Confederate side and 17,287 from the Union side.This battle is considered to be the heigh of Robert E. Lee’s military career. [88], Fairview was evacuated at 9:30 a.m., briefly recaptured in a counterattack, but by 10 a.m. Hooker ordered it abandoned for good. 233–35; Esposito, text for map 86; Eicher, p. 479; Cullen, pp. He wrote in 1876 that Howard was "a hypocrite ... totally incompetent ... a perfect old woman ... a bad man." 10–11; Welcher, p. 659; Sears, pp. The battle was fought from April 30, 1863 until May 6, 1863. Two days later he sent a diversionary force consisting of two corps—roughly 30,000 men under the command of Gen. John Sedgwick—across the Rappahannock below Fredericksburg and crossed upriver with the main body of his army. At the [First] Battle of Fredericksburg (December 13, 1862), the Union army had done the attacking and met with a bloody defeat. [105], The Union cavalry under Brig. 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. Hooker and the artillery crossed first, followed by the infantry beginning at 6 a.m. on May 6. [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. [123], For nearly a year, the Coalition mobilized local citizens, held candlelight vigils and hearings, and encouraged residents to become more involved in preservation. 187–89. Gallagher, pp. 94–95. Gallagher, p. 6; Esposito, text for map 84; Eicher, p. 473; Sears, p. 67; Hebert, pp. He later wrote that half of the pillar "violently [struck me] ... in an erect position from my head to my feet." The battle started on April 30, 1863 and finished on May 6, and marked the most significant encounter between the opposing forces in what was known as the Chancellorsville Campaign. Esposito, text for map 91; Foote, p. 315; Hebert, p. 199. Viewing through the lens of hindsight, some of the participants and many modern historians judged that Hooker effectively lost the campaign on May 1. 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. [70], Fremont's army became part of Maj. Gen John Pope's Army of Virginia in the summer. Confederate leadership during the Chancellorsville Campaign may represent the finest generalship of the Civil War, but the luster of "Lee's greatest victory" tarnishes upon examination of the battle's tangible results. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. 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. Finally, Doubleday made no mention of such a confession from Hooker in his history of the Chancellorsville campaign, published in 1882. [36], 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. At that time, Hooker's infantry would cross the Rappahannock in pursuit, attacking Lee when he was moving and vulnerable. 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. Therefore, although I'd heard of the battle of Chancellorsville I really had little knowledge of what happened there, or even who won, and my knowledge of other ACW battles is limited to Gettysburg and Bull Run, and that largely based upon playing them as computer or board games. 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. The attackers were almost as disorganized as the routed defenders. [62], 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. Confederate. Omissions? In my judgment General Sedgwick did not obey the spirit of my order, and made no sufficient effort to obey it. Chancellorsville is known as Lee's "perfect battle" because his risky decision to divide his army in the presence of a much larger enemy force resulted in a significant Confederate victory. [61], Meanwhile, for the second time, Lee was dividing his army. as the mob ran to and past the Chancellor mansion. 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. In truth, the Army of the Potomac had not been so thoroughly defeated - some 40,000 Federals had done no fighting whatsoever. This was followed by the crackle of musket fire, and then the unmistakable scream of the "Rebel Yell". 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. Salmon, pp. 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. Confederate victory. The attack formation consisted of two lines—the divisions of Brig. In. The confederates won the battle of Chancellorsville ; Description Summary of Battle: The battle of Chancellorsville was important because their was a major death of a key leader, Stonewall Jackson. 312–14, 316–20; Salmon, pp. 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. 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. 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. He was reassigned to a command in Missouri, but died before he could assume it. [35], Hooker arrived late in the afternoon on April 30 and made the mansion his headquarters. 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.[89]. 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. Burnsides is replaced by … [66], Most of Jackson's men were unaware of the small action at the rear of their column. Eicher, pp. 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. [25], The new BMI added other sources including infantry and cavalry reconnaissance, spies, scouts, signal stations, and an aerial balloon corps. Gen. Ambrose Wright up an unfinished railroad south of the Plank Road, around the right flank of Slocum's corps. Brig. The Battle of Chancellorsville was a major battle of the American Civil War (1861–1865), and the principal engagement of the Chancellorsville campaign. 132, 193–94; Krick, pp. Gen. Joseph Hooker, a man with a pugnacious reputation who had performed well in previous subordinate commands. 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. 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. But Stonewall Jackson was not in a defensive mood. When men of the III Corps spotted a Confederate column moving through the woods, their division commander, Brig. Thus far he had outmaneuvered Lee, but Hooker was astonished on May 1 when the Confederate commander left a small part of his force in…, …to outflank Lee’s position at Chancellorsville, Virginia, but was completely outmaneuvered (May 1–5) and forced to retreat. Fought between April 30 and May 6th of 1863 near the village of Chancellorsville in Virginia, the Battle of Chancellorsville was a major engagement of the American Civil War. Early, on Prospect Hill south of the town. His death was a devastating loss for the Confederacy. The best place to start your visit is at the Chancellorsville Battlefield Visitor Center on the Plank Road (Virginia Route 3). Who won The Battle of Chancellorsville? 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. 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. 98–99; Cullen, p. 19; Salmon, pp. He ordered Maj. Gen Hiram Berry's division of the III Corps, once his own division, forward, yelling "Receive them on your bayonets!" "[97], The fighting on May 3, 1863, was some of the most furious anywhere in the civil war. Fredericksburg. [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. For representative speculation about Gettysburg, see David G. Martin. 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.

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