By: Brian Freeman
The Battle of Chancellorsville occurred from April 30 to May 6, 1863 in Chancellorsville, Virginia. The majority of the battle was fought in the wilderness near Spotsylvania. The Battle of Chancellorsville is a very important battle, not only for keeping the Confederacy’s hopes alive of an overall victory but also for the legend of Robert E Lee. The Battle of Chancellorsville gave the Confederacy a much needed victory when southern fortunes were at its lowest. Lee was outnumbered two to one, but his tactics during the battle would be some of the most successful in American military history. Thus, the Battle of Chancellorsville became known as Lee’s perfect battle and a great victory for the Confederacy. However, this great victory also caused irreparable harm that would haunt the Confederacy for the rest of war. Nevertheless, the outstanding tactical leadership of Thomas Jackson, skilled veterans of the Army of Northern Virginia, and impassable thick woods gave the outnumbered Lee tremendous advantage during the battle.
One of the things the Battle of Chancellorsville will always be remembered for is exceptional Confederate leadership. The brilliant duo of Robert E. Lee and Thomas Jackson brought military genius and superb tactical management to the Confederate forces. The native born Virginian, Robert E. Lee, according to James McPherson, “was fifty-four years old in 1861, the son of a Revolutionary War hero, scion of the First Families of Virginia, a gentlemen in every sense of the word, without discernible fault unless a restraint that rarely allowed emotion to break through the crust of dignity is counted a fault.” Lee graduated from West Point in 1829 and spent his entire career in the U.S. Army. Having fought in the Mexican War, proving himself as a commander, his name was well known in military circles before the war. James McPherson points out, “General-in-Chief Winfield Scott considered Lee the best officer in the army. Lincoln, in the earlier days of the war, on the recommendation of Winfield Scott, offered Lee chief command of the United States forces. Even though Lincoln “first offered the position to Robert E Lee, he who had commanded the troops against John Brown… Lee decided to go with his home state of Virginia” to fight. Despite Lee not being a supporter of slavery or secession, he still fought for the Confederacy. In 1856 Lee’s own words described slavery as “a moral and political evil.” Five years later his view of secession was captured in this statement: “The framers of our Constitution never exhausted so much labor, wisdom, and forbearance in its formation, if it was intended to be broken up by every member of the [Union] at will….It is idle to talk of secession.” However, Lee’s decision to fight for Virginia and the Confederacy was based on pride for his home state. Lee is quoted as saying “I cannot raise my hand against my birthplace, my home, and my children.” After his refusal to join the Union forces, Lee “accepted appointment as commander in chief of Virginia’s military forces; three weeks after that he became a brigadier general in the Confederate army.” With the injury of Joseph E, Johnston at the battle of Seven Pines on May 31, 1862, Lee became commander of the Army of Northern Virginia. Lee then went on to gain success at numerous battles before Chancellorsville, including the Battle of Seven Days, Battle of Second Manassas, and Battle of Fredericksburg.
Lee’s second in command and right hand man at Chancellorsville was Lieutenant General Thomas Jackson. According to James McPherson, Thomas Jackson was, “a former professor at V.M.I…commanding a brigade of Virginians from the Shenandoah Valley. Humorless, secretive, eccentric, a stern disciplinarian without tolerance for human weakness, a devout Presbyterian who ascribed Confederate success to the Lord and liked Yankees to the devil.” With these characteristics, “Jackson became one of the war’s best generals, a legend in his own time.” It seemed inevitable that Jackson would become a general, as he “graduated from West Point in 1846, in a class which was to furnish twenty-four general officers to the United States and Confederate armies between 1861 and 1865.” Thomas Jackson was a brilliant tactical leader and had an efficient eye for strategic position on the battle field. He gained fame and his legendary nickname, Stonewall, for his actions during the First Battle of Manassas. McPherson states, “Jackson’s brigade stopped the Union assault and suffered more casualties than any other southern brigade this day. Ever after, Jackson was known as ‘Stonewall’ and his men who had stood fast at Manassas became the Stonewall Brigade.” Jackson would have several successes after Manassas and later joined Lee in the Battle of Fredericksburg where he commanded the right wing. Lee and Jackson defeated the Union forces at Fredericksburg commanded by Major General Ambrose Burnside.
The Battle of Fredericksburg was another devastating disaster for the Union. The Union forces suffered 12,600 casualties compared to 5,300 confederate casualties. The Union loss at Fredericksburg and the disastrous Mud March ended Major General Ambrose Burnside’s position as the leader of the Union Forces. According to The Civil War Battlefield Guide, “almost at once he was replaced by a general known for his political machinations and aggressiveness, US Major General Joseph ‘Fighting Joe’ Hooker.” Like Lee and Jackson, Hooker was a West Point graduate and a veteran of the Mexican war. Hooker was a solid leader and was popular among his men, but not a legendary battle leader like Lee and Jackson. Hooker was legendary for his close association with the creation of the term “hooker”, denoting a woman of questionable virtue. According to Ezra J. Warner, his name was “said to have derived from the class of females who frequented his headquarters-headquarters to which it was said ‘no gentlemen cared to go and no lady could go.” Despite his moral issue, Hooker had his men well prepared for the 130,000-troop march across the Rapidan and Rappahannock to attack Lee at Chancellorsville.
In late April Hooker moved his army and began surrounding and outflanking Lee’s army. Hooker, realizing the disaster of Fredericksburg and not willing to take on the “elaborate network of trenches that held along twenty-five miles of the Rappahannock near Fredericksburg,” which the Confederate forces had setup for defensive position, marched his army above Fredericksburg and attacked Lee in the rear. Lee’s army was stretched thin with two divisions breaking away to fight federal forces at Norfolk and the North Carolina coast. With these two divisions gone, Lee only had 60,000 troops compared to Hookers 130,000, creating the largest imbalance in the war. Therefore, Lee was forced to move his forces into Chancellorsville. James McPherson states, “Chancellorsville was in a large patch of territory known generally as the Wilderness, scrub pine and stunted hardwoods all cut up with little lanes and meandering streams, sudden ditches and tangled second growth copses.” The thick wilderness in combination with Lee’s small force formed a major strategic advantage for the Confederacy. By the last day in April, Lee was outflanked and surrounded by Hooker, who had divided his army three ways. Lee decided to break his army as well, leaving 10,000 men at Fredericksburg and the rest marching westward towards Hooker. Hooker was taken by surprise that Lee did not retreat, even when facing overwhelming odds. Mysteriously Hooker lost his fighting attitude, which had served him so well. James McPherson gives a possible reason for Hookers action, “Perhaps his resolve three months earlier to go on the wagon had been a mistake, for he seemed at this moment to need some liquid courage.”
On May 1st the two forces clashed east of Chancellorsville. Because the battle was east of Chancellorsville, the area was clear of dense underbrush, which offered open fields “where the Federals’ superior weight of numbers and artillery gave them an edge.” This allowed the Federal army to push Confederate forces back, but Hooker not being able to understand what was happening, or as a result of him losing his nerve, called for his forces to disengage. Hooker’s commanders were infuriated by this, especially when they realized they could win the battle almost by default. They protested Hooker but decided to obey. The night of the 1st, Jackson and Lee, not believing their luck, devised a risky and daring plan. The Civil War Battlefield Guide states, “In complete contravention of most of the established rules of warfare, they further divided their small force.” This plan was very risky for it left Lee only 15,000 troops to confront Hooker’s main battle group, while Jackson, with 30,000 troops marched twelve miles around Hooker’s army. On the morning of May 2nd, “Jackson’s march across the enemy’s front -- one of the most dangerous maneuvers in war -- left his strung-out column vulnerable to attack.” Nonetheless, “Jackson displayed the enormous energy and determination that were dominant military traits as he hurried”, and by mid afternoon Jackson’s men were in position behind Union forces. Yet, it would take a few more hours to get properly deployed due to the thick forest. It was late afternoon when the ragged Confederates lead by Jackson came out of the wilderness, “screaming their spine-chilling Rebel yell”. James McPherson states, “The yelling rebels heist the south facing Union regiments endwise and knocked them down like tenpins.” James Stokesbury points out the chaos that occurred: “The Union Forces regiments broke, piled up, tried to form, broke again, rallied died, and broke again.” Jackson’s men rolled up the entire right side of Hooker’s army for a full mile. The only thing that stopped Jackson and saved Hooker for another day was a make shift defensive line and nightfall.
As the night took over, tragedy struck the Confederacy. James McPherson states, “Jackson and several officers rode ahead of their lines to reconnoiter for a renewed attack. Returning at a trot, they were fired on by nervous rebels who mistook them for Union cavalry.” At this point in the battle, Jackson was severely wounded in the left arm and carried off the battlefield. Later his arm had to be amputated, and he then contracted pneumonia, from which he died on May 10th of that year. Jackson was struck down just after delivering the most storied flank attack of the Civil War. Lee and the Confederacy were devastated by Jackson’s death. The stunning and perfect duo of the Confederacy was no more. Following the loss of Stonewall Jackson, Lee wrote that he had “lost an officer on whom he relied greatly, and he feared that he could never replace him.” Lee went on to write about the tragedy stating, “He has lost his left arm; but I have lost my right arm.”
On May 3rd, the day after Jackson had fallen, the fiercest moments of the Battle of Chancellorsville occurred. Fighting took place on two different fronts: Marye’s Heights and Hazel Grove. Marye’s Heights would be the only bright spot for the Union for the day. As Union forces overwhelmed Confederate forces with a bayonet charge, they captured thousands of prisoners and sent the rebels falling back. At Hazel Grove, James Ewell Brown “Jeb” Stuart took over the fallen Jackson’s unit. Stuart, with his quick military eye, massed a large group artillery. The artillery proved very effective, as the Confederates pressed an all out attack on the Union troops at Hazel Grove. Stuart and Lee eventually reunited the two wings of their army and drove the Union forces back. Then, Confederates broke through and disabled the Union defense and eventually disabled Hooker himself. During the attack, a cannonball struck Hooker’s headquarters and knocked him unconscious. After Hooker woke up he ordered a withdrawal to form a defensive line.
The battle was not over yet. On May 4th Lee’s men cheered wildly as he rode by planning for the days attack. Lee and his men attacked the Union forces aggressively and recklessly. The Union forces were able to repel Lee enough for Hooker’s commanders to plan an organized retreat across the river. According to James McPherson, “Lee had planned another assault on the morning of May 6 and expressed regret, as he had done the previous summer, that the Federals escaped destruction.” Lee may have let the enemy escape, but he forced the more powerful Union army to retreat back across the Rappahnnock River. The manner which Lee accomplished this victory thrilled the Confederate hopes. Dividing his army no fewer than three times, he had marched rapidly, attacked furiously and vanquished a posturing foe.
The stunning victory at Chancellorsville in May 1863 confirmed Lee as the leading military hero of the Confederacy and demonstrated his genius. The Battle of Chancellorsville is also a great example of Lee and the Confederacy’s major weakness in that they are unable to completely destroy the enemy. James L. Stokesbury points out how Lee can not truly defeat his opponents on the battlefield, “Burnside at Fredericksburg or Hooker at Chancellorsville, he could not destroy his victim. Only Grant managed that, at Fort Donelson and again at Vicksburg” Union’s ability to regroup after a defeat as stated by James L. Stokesbuy would rob Lee of true victory, “Even in such horrendous defeats as Chickamauga and Chancellorsville, the defeated side, the Federals in both cases, retained sufficient cohesion to draw off the field in good order, or at least with a rearguard in adequate strength to discourage pursuit. Lee and the Confederacy may have won the battle, but they won it at a serious cost in leadership and troops. Richard McCaslin states, “Chancellorsville was not a great victory because it had cost the Army of Northern Virginia too much: Lee had lost 22 percent of his troops, while Hooker only lost about 15 percent.” Lee’s inability to defeat the enemy in strategic terms, and the inconceivable loss of Stonewall Jackson, stripped the battle of its chance to be a true strategic victory for the Confederacy. Instead, the Battle of Chancellorsville was another battle where the Confederacy would win but not in strategic terms. Instead, the Battle of Chancellorsville is another example of the extreme misfortune the Confederacy suffered during the entire war. Therefore, Chancellorsville will always be remembered as a stunning victory for the legacy of Lee and one of the greatest maneuvers in military history, but not a true victory for the Confederacy.
James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), 280.
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