Battle of Chancellorsville (1863): Lee's Greatest Gamble

The Battle of Chancellorsville was fought from 30 April to 6 May 1863 in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, during the American Civil War. Robert E. Lee’s Confederate army, outnumbered about two to one, divided itself and sent Stonewall Jackson on a daring flank march that routed part of Joseph Hooker’s Union army. It is remembered as Lee’s most brilliant victory and as the battle in which Jackson was fatally wounded by his own men.

Background

After the bloody Union defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862, President Abraham Lincoln replaced Ambrose Burnside with Major General Joseph Hooker. Hooker reorganised the Army of the Potomac, improved its food and morale and created a unified cavalry corps. By spring 1863 he commanded roughly 130,000 men.

Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia held the heights behind Fredericksburg with about 60,000 men. Two of James Longstreet’s divisions were away in south-eastern Virginia gathering supplies, which left Lee weaker than usual.

Hooker’s plan was ambitious. One part of his army under John Sedgwick would threaten Fredericksburg from the front, while the main body marched upstream, crossed the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers and came down on Lee’s left flank and rear. His cavalry was sent on a deep raid to cut Lee’s supply line.

What happened

The flanking march worked at first. By 30 April several Union corps had gathered around Chancellorsville, a brick house and road junction in a thick second-growth forest known as the Wilderness. Hooker was confident that Lee would have to retreat or fight on unfavourable ground.

Lee did neither. He left Jubal Early with about 12,000 men to hold Fredericksburg and marched west with the rest. On 1 May the two armies clashed east of Chancellorsville, and Hooker, to the surprise of his subordinates, pulled back into defensive lines around the crossroads. The initiative passed to Lee.

That night Lee and Jackson planned a bold stroke. Cavalry under J. E. B. Stuart had found that the Union right flank, held by Oliver O. Howard’s XI Corps, was “in the air”, meaning it was not anchored on any natural obstacle. On 2 May Jackson led around 28,000 men on a march of about 12 miles (19 km) along hidden forest roads, while Lee kept fewer than 15,000 men in front of Hooker’s main force.

At about 5:15 p.m. Jackson’s columns burst out of the woods onto Howard’s flank. The XI Corps, facing the wrong way, collapsed and fled for more than a mile before nightfall and Union resistance stopped the advance.

Around 9 p.m. Jackson rode forward to scout for a night attack. As his party returned, soldiers of the 18th North Carolina mistook it for Union cavalry and opened fire. Jackson was hit three times, and his left arm had to be amputated. Stuart took temporary command of his corps.

On 3 May the Confederates renewed the attack. They seized the clearing at Hazel Grove, placed artillery there and pushed the Union army out of the Chancellorsville clearing in some of the fiercest fighting of the war. Hooker was stunned when a cannonball struck a pillar of the Chancellor house against which he was leaning.

Meanwhile Sedgwick had broken through at Fredericksburg and was advancing west, but on 3 and 4 May he was stopped at Salem Church and withdrew across the river. On the night of 5–6 May Hooker’s whole army retreated across the Rappahannock.

Key people

• Robert E. Lee – Confederate commander whose repeated division of his army gave the battle its reputation.
• Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson – Lee’s most trusted corps commander, who led the flank march and was mortally wounded.
• Joseph Hooker – Union commander whose strong plan faltered when he went on the defensive on 1 May.
• Oliver O. Howard – commander of the Union XI Corps, which was routed on 2 May.
• J. E. B. Stuart – Confederate cavalry leader who scouted the open flank and briefly led Jackson’s corps.

Consequences

Chancellorsville was a clear Confederate victory, but an expensive one. The Union lost about 17,000 men killed, wounded or captured; the Confederates lost about 13,000, a far larger share of a smaller army.

The greatest loss was Jackson. He developed pneumonia and died at Guinea Station on 10 May 1863. His last words, recorded by his doctor Hunter McGuire, are usually given as “Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees.” Lee reorganised his army into three corps and never found a replacement of the same calibre.

Confident after the victory, Lee decided to invade the North. The campaign that followed ended in defeat at the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863, where Lee’s aggressive style met a well-placed defence.

Myths and facts

A popular story holds that Hooker lost because he was drunk. There is no reliable evidence of this; most historians blame a loss of nerve, poor communications and the concussion he suffered on 3 May.

It is also sometimes said that Jackson was killed in the battle. In fact he survived his wounds for eight days and died of complications.

Timeline

• 1863, 27–30 April: The Army of the Potomac crosses the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers and gathers around Chancellorsville.
• 1863, 1 May: First clashes east of Chancellorsville; Hooker pulls back to a defensive position.
• 1863, 2 May: Jackson’s flank march and attack rout the Union XI Corps; Jackson is shot by his own men that night.
• 1863, 3 May: Confederates take Hazel Grove and the Chancellorsville clearing; Sedgwick captures Marye’s Heights at Fredericksburg.
• 1863, 3–4 May: Sedgwick is checked at Salem Church and withdraws.
• 1863, 5–6 May: Hooker’s army retreats across the Rappahannock.
• 1863, 10 May: Stonewall Jackson dies at Guinea Station, Virginia.

Why it matters

Chancellorsville showed how daring leadership could overcome superior numbers, and it is still studied in military schools. Yet it also drained the Confederacy of men and of one of its best commanders, and it set Lee on the road to Gettysburg.