|
The Battle of Chancellorsville occurred between April 26, 1863 through May 6, 1863. It is considered by many to be Robert E. Lee's greatest victory in the United States Civil War. As the Confederate commander-in-chief of the Army of Northern Virginia, Lee gained a victory at Chancellorsville through aggressive strategy using a smaller army then the opposing Union forces. He also had the assistance of valuable generals such as Jubal Early and "Stonewall" Jackson.
Lee's opponent in this battle was Joseph Hooker. He had been made commander of the Army of the Potomac in January 1863. Success for the Union forces had been evasive and the army was suffering from low morale, especially following the Union defeat at Fredericksburg. Desertion and insubordination was high in the Army of the Potomac. Joseph Hooker soon raised morale and the number of soldiers to almost 134,000 troops with over 400 artillery pieces. This was over twice the size of the 60,000 troops under Robert E. Lee. Hooker intended to use this large force to crush Robert E. Lee and hopefully bring a swift, victorious end to the war. Hooker's plan was to use a pincer strategy in an attempt to catch Lee's army between two wings of the Union army. Hooker planned to use half of his forces to cross the Rappahanock River below the town of Frederickburg. The other half of Hooker's forces would cross the Rappahanock upstream and attack the rear of Lee's troops. The implementation of the plan did not begin until late April because of uncooperative weather conditions. Finally, on April 26 the Union I and VI Corps crossed the Rappahanock near Fredericksburg. The Union V, XI and XII Corps cross the river upstream over the next four days. Through surveillance by Confederate general J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry, Lee ascertains Hooker's strength. It would have been a wise move for Robert E. Lee to retreat at this time. He was outnumbered with Federal forces threatening from two different directions. The course of Robert E. Lee was not to retreat. He decided to go on the offensive and even divide his forces to harass Hooker's troops at different places. Lee left Jubal Early at Fredericksburg with 30 pieces of artillery and 8,500 infantrymen. Lee then moved the remainder of his troops to the area of Chancellorsville to form an attack on the other half of Hooker's troops. By doing so, Lee split his army hoping to stop the Fredericksburg half of the Union troops from advancing so he could concentrate on the other half of the Federal army.
Hooker and his troops arrived at Chancellorsville on April 30. They had advanced without any serious conflicts with Confederate forces and Hooker's generals were elated at the progress made so far. Hooker made a serious blunder when arriving at Chancellorsville, though, when he decided to halt the advance to await additional troops. This decision galled his generals, who wanted to maintain the momentum of the campaign and to engage the enemy.
"Stonewall" Jackson marched from Fredericksburg to the Chancellorsville area called Zoan Church in five hours. On May 1st, Hooker ordered troop movement which ran right into Jackson's forces. The Union commanders were ordered to fall back and assume a defensive position. Hooker switched from being on the offensive to waging a cautious, defensive campaign. Hooker had his troops build defensive positions around Chancellorsville down to the Rappahanock River. The Confederates did not have the forces to attempt a frontal attack on these fortified Union positions. It was ascertained by Confederate cavalry that Hooker's right flank was the weakest. So, Robert E. Lee and "Stonewall" Jackson proposed a dangerous strategy of dividing the remainder of Lee's troops into two groups. Jackson would take 30,000 troops and march along back roads and woodland trails to be in position to attack Hooker's right flank. Lee would stretch his remaining 14,000 troops over a three-mile line in an attempt to divert Hooker from Jackson's movements.
Early on the morning of May 2, Jackson led his troops through the area known as the Wilderness along back trails. At one point Jackson's troops were observed and attacked by Union artillery. General Hooker was advised of the spotting of Jackson's troops and correctly viewed this as a hostile movement against his right flank. He advised General Oliver Howard, who was in charge of that area, to be on the lookout. As the day advanced, Hooker came to believe that Lee was actually retreating and that Jackson's troops were the rear guard of Lee's retreating army. Jackson enforced this stratagem by having his troops change course away from Hooker's right flank, only to later resume his intended course. Jackson and his men arrived at their position at about three o'clock in the afternoon and set up battle lines two miles long . At approximately five o'clock the Confederates attacked and routed the XI Corps. Later, as evening began, Jackson was riding ahead with some of his men to survey the situation. He wanted to continue the pursuit of the XI Corps and as he was returning to the Confederate lines he was mistaken as a Union soldier and shot three times. He died eight days later of pneumonia brought on by the wounds he received.
Fighting continued the next day with J.E.B. Stuart with the worst being in the morning. Hooker commanded his forces to fall back against the aggressive posture of the Confederates until they recrossed the Rappahanock in defeat.
Robert E. Lee, with lesser forces and artillery, had defeated a Union army over twice the Confederate army. He had lost a brilliant commander in "Stonewall" Jackson. The Battle of Chancellorsville illuminates some of the finest leadership of Robert E. Lee. Joseph Hooker was relieved of his command of the Union forces in June 1863.
|
| |
