The Battle of Chancellorsville

The Battle of Chancellorsville

Lee’s Greatest Battle

Lee Hooker

What’s gone on in the Civil War?• Ambrose Burnside resigns as commander of the Army of Potomac

in January 1863, Lincoln accepts the resignation, sends him West. He’ll be back.

• JOSEPH HOOKER, aka “Fighting Joe” Hooker, a hard-fighting, hard-drinking Army Regular, had campaigned for the job under Burnside. He was appointed Army Commander on 26 Jan 63.

• Despite being somewhat controversial for many reasons (including the origin of the term “Hooker”), Hooker cared about his men, and greatly improved food, lodgings, sanitary conditions and rebuilt the Army’s spirit after Fredericksburg and the Mud March.

• One important innovation under Hooker was the reorganization of the Army of the Potomac into smaller, more flexible Corps level units, each with their own distinctive Corp badges.

I II V VI XI

Originally intended for better command and control, this simpleinnovation created tremendous espirit du corps among the corps of Army of the Potomac. Men wore their cap badges with pride.

Fact: He also created themodern Army’sSystem of Bugle Calls, includingTaps.

Hooker’s Plan of Campaign“A Grand Envelopment”

Leaving MGEN John Sedgewick with 30,000 men at Fredericksburg, Hooker intended to secretly march NW with the bulk of the army, then cross the Rappahannock in Lee's rear. Attacking East as Sedgwick advanced West, Hooker sought to catch the Confederates in a large double envelopment. The plan was to be supported by a large-scale cavalry raid conducted by MGEN George Stoneman which was to cut Lee's supply lines and isolate the Confederates . Moving out on April 26-27, Hooker's men successfully crossed the river and concentrated near Chancellorsville.

ARMY OF THE POTOMAC 134,000 TROOPS

ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA 61,000 TROOPS*

“May God have mercy onGeneral Lee, for I will have

none.” – Joe Hooker

* Half of Longstreet’s

First Corps was foragingIn the Southwest of VA

Events, First Day • On April 27, MGEN Joseph Hooker led the V, XI, and XII Corps on a campaign

to turn the Confederate left flank by crossing the Rappahannock and RapidanRivers above Fredericksburg.

• Passing the Rapidan via Germanna and Ely’s Fords, the Federals concentrated near Chancellorsville on April 30 and May 1. The III Corps was ordered to join the army via United States Ford.

• Sedgwick’s VI Corps and Gibbon’s division remained to demonstrate against the Confederates at Fredericksburg.

• In the meantime, Lee left a covering force under MGEN Jubal Early in Fredericksburg and marched with the rest of the army to confront the Federals.

• As Hooker’s army moved toward Fredericksburg on the Orange Turnpike, they encountered increasing Confederate resistance. Hearing reports of overwhelming Confederate force, Hooker ordered his army to suspend the advance and to concentrate again at Chancellorsville. Pressed closely by Lee’s advance, Hooker adopted a defensive posture, thus giving Lee the initiative.

What was that about “May God

have mercy on my soul”, again?

And the Cavalry?Delayed by riversrunning high fromrecent rainfallthrowing off the timetable!

May 1, 1863

Lee’s Plan in Response

• Lee knew he was badly outnumbered, therefore his plan was simple– fight in the Wilderness where terrain gave the ANV an advantage, maintain pressure on the enemy, and knock him off-balance.

• The night of May 1, General Jackson met with General Lee, to plan the next day’s action. Even though they were facing very bad odds, they would divide their forces, have Lee’s force “fix” the main body of Hooker’s army, and have Jackson swoop around to the open flank by 11th Corps, which was “hanging in the air”.

• Together, they set the plan in motion.

Events, Second Day• After a hard and dusty march on May

2, Jackson's column reached its jumping off point for their attack upon the unsuspecting Federal right flank.

• At 5:20 pm, Jackson’s line surged forward in an overwhelming attack that crushedthe Union Twelfth Corps.

• Federal troops, however, rallied, resisted the advance, and counterattacked. Disorganization and darkness ended the fighting.

• While making a night reconnaissance, Jackson was shot by his own troops in the darkness and fell mortally wounded—Shot by his own men. This was a serious blow to the Army of Northern Virginia.

• Major General Jeb Stuart, leader of the Cavalry Corps of the ANV, stepped into Jackson’s shoes as temporary commander of Second Corps for the next day’s fighting, and did a commendable job driving the men on to the converging attack.

Stonewall Jackson

May 2, 1863

Events, Third Day

• The 3rd of May was a slugging match in the woods on three sides of the Chancellorsville intersection. Hooker abandoned key ground in a further display of timidity; Confederate artillery roared from a crucial hilltop.

• When a Confederate artillery round smashed into a pillar against which Hooker was leaning, the Federal leader spent an unconscious half hour. His return to semi-sentience disappointed the veteran corps commanders who had hoped, unencumbered by Hooker, to employ their army's considerable untapped might.

• By mid-morning, Southern infantry smashed through the final resistance and united in the Chancellorsville clearing. Their boisterous, well-earned, celebration did not run long: word came from the direction of Fredericksburg that a Northern rearguard had broken through and threatened the rear.

• The May 3 Battle of Salem Church, just west of Fredericksburg, halted the threat from the east. Lee went to that zone in person to ensure final success on the 4th, then returned to Chancellorsville to superintend the corralling of Hooker's defeated army.

Events, Onward• Hooker, from every report of the battle, had lost his nerve. Perhaps it was

the effects of a possible concussion from that near-miss, or perhaps (as some suspect) he might have had a tot of “nerve-steadier” that day and it got the better of him, but he gave orders to retreat the Army of the Potomac across the Rappahannock River from whence it came.

• Hooker re-crossed the Rappahannock River to its left bank, whence he had come, early on May 6. The campaign had cost him about 18,000 casualties, and his enemy about 13,000. Perhaps the most important casualty was the death of Stonewall Jackson, the offensive counterpart to the defensive Longstreet. With Jackson’s death, Longstreet grew in influence.

• Without a doubt, this was a victory for the Confederacy, and perhaps the worst loss for the Union. Truly, this was Lee’s most audacious and successful battle plan of the war, bringing victory from a conflict where the enemy outnumbered his army two to one.

• What’s next for the Union Army? Once again, regime change.

EXIT, JOE… ENTER, GEORGE…

Finis

• "I was not hurt by a shell and I was not drunk. For once I lost confidence in Hooker, and that is all there is to it.“ -- Joseph Hooker*

* May be apocryphal