Chancellorsville, Battle of

CHANCELLORSVILLE, BATTLE OF

CHANCELLORSVILLE, BATTLE OF (1–4 May 1863). In April 1863 Gen. Joseph Hooker, with almost 130,000 men, faced Gen. Robert E. Lee's army of 60,000 that was entrenched near Fredericksburg, Virginia. Beginning 27 April, Hooker moved four army corps to Lee's left flank and sent 20,000 men under John Sedgwick to Lee's right. On 1 May, Hooker advanced across the river beyond Chancellorsville, Virginia, threatening Lee's communications and forcing him to leave 10,000 men at Fredericksburg under Gen. Jubal A. Early and march the remainder of his troops toward Chancellorsville. Late in the day the opposing armies took battle position on lines nearly perpendicular to the Rappahannock. At night Lee and Gen. T. J. ("Stonewall") Jackson devised a daring measure: Jackson, with about 30,000 men, would march around Hooker's right flank, while Lee, with less than 20,000, would hold the front.

The army corps on Hooker's extreme right were unprepared when Jackson, late on 2 May, fell upon them furiously. Gen. O. O. Howard's corps was routed, and only a serious injury to Jackson inflicted by fire from his own troops halted the Confederate attack. On 3 May, a cannonball struck a pillar against which Hooker was leaning. Hooker quickly withdrew his troops to the banks of the river. Lee, meanwhile, turned back to deal with Sedgwick's corps, which had routed the force under Early and was rapidly approaching Chancellorsville. On 4 and 5 May, Lee's veterans forced both Sedgwick and Hooker to withdraw their forces north of the river. Hooker lost 17,287 men and Lee 12,764. But Lee suffered the irreparable loss of Jackson, who after days of intense suffering died of his wounds.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Furgurson, Ernest B. Chancellorsville 1863: The Souls of the Brave. New York: Knopf, 1992.

Gallagher, Gary W., ed. Chancellorsville: The Battle and Its Aftermath. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996.

Sears, Stephen W. Chancellorsville. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998.

Alfred P. James / a. r.

See also Army of Northern Virginia ; Civil War ; Fredericksburg, Battle of ; Pennsylvania, Invasion of ; Trenches in American Warfare .