Battle of Corinth MS

By: Brian Freeman

The Battle of Corinth occurred on October 3-4 of 1862. This battle was actually the second battle to occur at the very important Confederate and Union strategic point of Corinth, Mississippi. The Battle of Corinth is often referred to as the Second Battle of Corinth. However, the battle that occurred earlier in April and June of 1862 is known as the Siege of Corinth. Aside from the fact that two battles were fought there, the strategic importance of Corinth in the Civil War cannot be stressed enough for both the Confederate and Federal armies. During the Civil War, the town of Corinth, Mississippi was part of the major Southern rail line junction which joined the Mobile, Ohio, Memphis, and Charleston railroads. For the Confederate army, Corinth was not only the major supply line, but also a strategic lifeline if the Confederate army wished to win the war. The historian James McPherson emphasizes the importance of Corinth to the Confederates in his book Battle Cry of Freedom, “Confederate leaders also considered Corinth a crucial strategic point. ‘If defeated here,’ wrote Beauregard two weeks after Shiloh, ‘we lose the whole Mississippi Valley and probably our cause.’”[1]If the Union were allowed to take control of Corinth they would be able to carry out General Winfield Scott’s Anaconda plan and squeeze the South out of the war. On the other hand, as long as the Confederates could continue to keep control of the area, they would be able to build defensive lines and supply their forces.

Prior to the major Battle of Corinth, two major battles had occurred for the area of Corinth. The first battle was the Battle of Shiloh, which was the Confederate attempt to keep the Union forces from entering Corinth, Mississippi and its important railroad junction. The Battle of Shiloh was fought on April 6 and 7 of 1862, in Southwestern Tennessee. Confederate forces, under Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard, launched a surprise attack against the Union Army of Major General Ulysses S. Grant and came very close to defeating his army. However, Grant was saved by the arrival of Don Carlos Buell and his Army of the Ohio, who aided him in launching a massive counter attack against the Confederate forces. By the end of April 7, 1862 it was clear the Confederates could not hold their position and were forced to retreat back to Corinth. After two days of battle it was clear this would be one of bloodiest battle in Civil War history. James McPherson points out the massive amount of lives lost, “The 20,000 killed and wounded at Shiloh (about equally distributed between the two sides) were nearly double the 12,000 battle casualties at Manassas, Wilson’s Creek, Fort Donelson, and Pea Ridge combined.”[2]

The second battle was the Siege of Corinth, fought from April 29 to June 10, 1862, in Corinth, Mississippi. In the Siege of Corinth the Union forces invaded and captured Corinth from Confederate forces. Lincoln, angry with Ulysses S. Grant after the heavy Union losses following the Battle of Shiloh, replaced him with General Henry W. Halleck. Halleck, cautious from the staggering losses at Shiloh, embarked on a tedious campaign of offensive entrenchment, fortifying after each advance. In the words of the historian James McPherson, “If Halleck’s precautions made sure that Beauregard could not attack him, they made equally sure that he could not effectively attack Beauregard.”[3] Halleck’s turtle-like siege was the largest in North American history. As a matter of fact, it was the largest in all of the Americas. The siege consisted of 120,000 Union soldiers and 70,000 Confederate soldiers. Confederate forces, in order to defend Corinth, dug many earth fortifications. Ironically, these fortifications would later prove more useful for the Union army in the Battle of Corinth. Confederate General P.G.T Beauregard understood he could not hold Corinth and decided to keep his army intact rather than keep the important railroad junction. Thus, Beauregard staged an ingenious retreat from Corinth. The Civil war Battlefield guide depicts the event: “Throughout the night of May 29-30 Beauregard orchestrated a perfect deception by running a succession of empty trains back and forth through the town while whistles blew and troops cheered as if massive reinforcements were arriving.”[4] Once he arrived “fifty miles to the south at his new base, Tupelo, Mississippi, Beauregard pronounced the evacuation of Corinth ‘equivalent to a great victory,’” believing the retreat was as successful as winning the battle.[5] One success of the battle was the low number of casualties. The casualties during the Siege of Corinth numbered 1000 for each side. This was low considering about 200,000 troops occupied the area.

After two major battles at Corinth, with both battles resulting in Union victory and control of the strategic railroad junction, it came time for the Confederacy to strike back and attempt to the area back. That time came October 3-4, 1862 in the Battle of Corinth when the Confederates posed a strike at the heavily fortified Union defensive at Corinth. At this point in time the Confederate army was under the command of Braxton Bragg. The Civil War Battlefield Guide explains, “CS General P.G.T. Beauregard went on sick leave in mid-June, and President Jefferson Davis took advantage of the opportunity to replace him with CS General Braxton Bragg.”[6] Bragg was anxious to fight the Union forces. He moved the Army of the Mississippi by rail to Chattanooga. Upon reaching Chattanooga, Bragg moved aggressively and continued deep into Kentucky. Before leaving Mississippi, Bragg left 32,000 soldiers under the command of Major General Sterling Price and Earl Van Dorn with the expectation that they would move into Tennessee. However, Earl Van Dorn, the senior of the two generals, used his seniority status and decided to attack Corinth before advancing to Tennessee. Earl Van Dorn was a career United States Army officer who made himself a reputation when he fought in the Mexican-American War and against the Indians in the West. James McPherson describes Earl Van Dorn as a, “diminutive but hard-bitten Mississippian who had been wounded five times in the Mexican War and in frontier Indian fighting.”[7] Yet, in spite of his previous successes, Van Dorn’s distinction during the Civil War would not match the reputation he earned during the Mexican War. On March 6-8, 1862, Van Dorn was in command of Confederate forces during Pea Ridge. During the Battle of Pea Ridge, Van Dorn made many critical mistakes, which lead to a major decisive and strategic Union victory. In the Battle of Corinth, Van Dorn continued his trends of mistake, which again lead to a Union victory.

On the morning of October 3^rd Van Dorn marched to Corinth with 23,000 men eager to retake the area. To Van Dorn’s surprise, the numerically equal Union forces led by William Rosecrans were well prepared for the battle. Rosecrans had ordered his troops to heavily fortify lines and connect them to a series of batteries. The batteries, consisting of Robinett, Williams, Phillips, Tannrath, and Lothrop in the area of College Hill, proved to be valuable to the Union cause. The defensive capabilities of the fortified batteries allowed Rosecrans to stop the Confederate advances. The Civil War Battlefield Guide points out, “This defensive enabled him to sap the Confederates’ strength as they advanced and to defend the supply depots in downtown Corinth and at the railroad intersection.”[8] Furthermore, Rosecrans took full advantage of the old Confederate trench line which had been built by the Confederate troops during the Siege of Corinth. It was at these old lines where Rosecrans’ and Van Dorn’s men first met. The morning of October 3 the troops clashed and by that night the Confederate troops had pushed Union forces nearly three miles into the interior defenses before exhaustion halted their advance. Intense heat of the October day punished both sides. The Confederates troops, under the command of Earl Van Don, suffered greatly due to lack of water and food, as he was notoriously known for having poor provisions. The next day Van Dorn made the critical mistake of attacking the daunting Union fortifications Battery Robinett and Battery Powell. As a result, the most intense and savage fighting during the Battle of Corinth took place. Wave after wave of Confederates troops charged the forts as massive 20-pound cannons continuously fired at them. Peter Cozzens describes how the “grape shot and canister tore terrible lanes through the Confederate ranks, but the determined men of Arkansas, Texas and Mississippi never faltered.”[9] Cozzens goes on to state, “Van Dorn's grand flanking movement had played itself out in a series of fierce but poorly coordinated charges against a foe numerically equal and supported by seven batteries of artillery.”[10] When the smoke cleared there was a mass of struggling Confederates bodies. The fortifications proved to be too overwhelming, and the “Union counter attacks soon drove the Confederates from Battery Powell and from the town.”[11] The Confederates withdrew from the heavy fighting with the burden of 4,800 casualties out of their 22,000 men. Rosecrans attempted to pursue and destroy Van Dorn’s army, but with his 2,350 causalities out of his 23,000 troops and exhaustion setting in from holding the city, was unable to mount an effective pursuit. Rosecrans would later receive a promotion for his command; whereas, Van Dorn was demoted. Van Dorn eventually “was assassinated in his headquarters at Spring Hill, Tennessee, May 7, 1863 by a Dr. Peters, who alleged as a justification for his act that Van Dorn had ‘violated the sanctity of his home.”[12]

In the aftermath of the Battle of Corinth, Grant was able to launch an invasion southward along the Mississippi Central Railroad to capture Vicksburg and the Mississippi Valley. The Battle of Corinth was the last Confederate offensive movement in the Mississippi theater. The Union forces continued to hold Corinth until they abandoned it in the winter of 1863-1864, for it had no strategic significance anymore. Nevertheless, the strategic railroad junction was as important for the Reconstruction as it was during the war. The area of Corinth was also crucially important to the education of freed slaves. Overall the Battle of Corinth was the turning point in the war. It was the key ignition for executing the Union Anaconda plan to squeeze the Confederacy out of the war. The Union control of Corinth allowed them to cut off much needed Confederate supplies and eventually capture the entire Mississippi Valley. If Confederates forces would have been allowed to keep or retake Corinth, their chances for winning a defensive war would have greatly improved. Even though we will never know what would have happen if the Confederate troops were allowed to retake Corinth, it cannot be denied that Corinth, Mississippi was vitally important during the war.

---

[1] James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom. (New York: Oxford University Press,1988), 416

[2] James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 413

[3] Ibid 416

[4] Kennedy,Frances H., The Civil War Battlefield Guide. 2^nd Edition, Iuka and Corinth, Mississippi, Campaign: September-October 1862. (Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998), 53

[5] James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom , 417.

[6] Kennedy,Frances H. The Civil War Battlefield Guide, 129.

[7] James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom. (New York: Oxford University Press,1988), 404

[8] Kennedy,Frances H. The Civil War Battlefield Guide, 131.

[9] Peter Cozzens. Moving into dead men's shoes, Civil War Times Illustrated; May97, Vol. 36 Issue 2.

[10] Ibid, 1.

[11] Kennedy,Frances H. The Civil War Battlefield Guide, 131.

[12]Ezra J. Warner, Generals In Gray. (New Orleans: Louisiana State University Press, 1959), 315.

How "Uncle Tom's Cabin" started the war

By:Brian Freeman

The Book That Started a War

The Civil War grew out of a mixture of causes including regional conflicts between North and South, economic trends, and humanitarian concerns for the welfare of enslaved people. The Civil War, which pitted one section of the country against another, almost destroyed the United States. Uncle Tom's Cabin contributed to the outbreak of war because it brought the evils of slavery to the attention of Americans more vividly than any other book had done before. The book had a strong emotional appeal that moved and inspired people in a way that political speeches, tracts and newspaper accounts could not duplicate. Uncle Tom's Cabin drew many people into the fight over the institution of slavery. Few books can truly be said to have altered the course of history and even fewer can be said to have started an entire war. Uncle Tom's Cabin was one such novel. It is a realistic, although fictional, view of slavery that burned images of brutal beatings and unfair slave practices into the consciousness of America.

The new Fugitive Slave Act that came out of the Compromise of 1850 empowered federal commissioners to catch runaway slaves, denied the blacks any judicial recourse, and penalized citizens for refusing to support the authorities (Stokesbury 19). Most importantly the Fugitive Slave Act brought the issue home to anti-slavery citizens in the North. It made the Northerners and their institutions responsible for enforcing slavery. Even moderate abolitionists were now faced with the immediate choice of defying what they believed as an unjust law. The Northerners were shamed by the sight of blacks led off in chains and many states passed personal freedom laws to counter act the Fugitive Slave Act. The new personal freedom laws passed by the Northerners would be useless against the Fugitive Slave Act.

A response to the new laws came in 1851 when a woman named Harriet Beecher Stowe, the wife of a professor at Bowdoin College in Maine, began publishing Uncle Tom’s Cabin as a Newspaper serial (Stokesbury 19). Originally planned for a series of short essays for the National Era in 1851-1852, Stowe gathered so much information that it was too large for newspaper print and was published originally by the Boston publishing company Jewett (Clinton 989). Immediately it became a hot seller with Northerners and Southerners alike. Within a year it sold 300,000 copies in the United States alone comparable to at least three million today (McPherson 89-90). Uncle Tom's Cabin ignited as a best seller in the United States and the novel enjoyed equal popularity in England, Europe, Asia, and eventually translated into over sixty languages. Catherine Clinton states, “Stowe’s novel swayed thousands of middle class whites to sympathize with the plight of slaves (Clinton 1110).” It is not possible to measure precisely the political influence of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. One can quantify its sales but cannot point to votes that it changed or laws that it inspired (McPherson 89). Uncle Tom’s Cabin had a huge impact on our nation and contributed to the tension over slavery. Stowe’s influence on the northern states was remarkable. Stowe single handedly changed the views of thousands and brought about the abolitionist "fever."

Immediately after its publication, Uncle Tom's Cabin was both lauded as a tremendous achievement and attacked as being one sided and inaccurate. Abolitionists and reformers praised the book for its compassionate portrayal of people held in slavery. Uncle Tom’s Cabin struck a raw nerve in the South. Southerners who claimed that slavery was sanctioned in the Bible attacked Stowe and accused her of fabricating unrealistic images of slavery. Southerners continued to criticize Stowe because she had never visited the South. Many Southerners argued that there were false reports in what she wrote because the slave owners were portrayed as heartless devilish men, and the slaves were portrayed as their victims. However, Max Herzberg states that the Southerners anger grew because the novel showed, “the evils of slavery and the cruelty and inhumanity of the peculiar institution, in particular how masters treat their slaves and how families are torn apart because of slavery (Herzberg-1167).” Southern States in order to fight back installed laws which made the ownership of Uncle’s Tom Cabin illegal. Despite the efforts to ban it copies sold so fast in Charleston and elsewhere that booksellers could not keep up with the demand (McPherson 90).

James McPherson states that Uncle Tom’s Cabin is, “written in the sentimental style made popular by best selling women novelists, Uncle Tom’s Cabin homed in on the breakup of families as the theme most likely to pluck the heartstrings of middle class readers who cherished children and spouses of their own (McPherson 38).” Max Herzberg states that Mrs. Stowe’s purpose of writing Uncle Tom’s Cabin, “was to expose the evils of slavery to the North where many were unaware of just what went on in the rest of the country (Herzberg 1167).” Mrs. Stowe once declared, “God wrote the book, and I took His dictation (Herzberg 1167).” Uncle Tom’s Cabin is an account of the trials and suffering of Uncle Tom, a negro slave. The novel also portrays his wife, Eliza, and their son Harry. Uncle Tom is a good and pious man who is too eager to please his white owner. Even in the worst circumstances Tom is optimistic. Tom often looks to the bible for hope, “Pray for them that ‘spitefully use you, the good book says (Stowe 771).” This is a reference to Matthew 5:44 from the King James Bible: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” Uncle Tom is eventually sold and cruelly mistreated by a Yankee overseer named Simon Legree and finally whipped to death by him (Herzberg 1167).In a later age “Uncle Tom” became an epithet for a black person who behaved with fawning servility toward white oppressors (Mcpherson 90).

Arthur Shelby is the plantation owner where Uncle Tom, Eliza, and Harry are living. Shelby, facing the loss of his farm because of debts, is forced to sell his slaves. When Shelby tells his wife about his plans, his wife is appalled because she has promised Eliza that they would not sell her son. Eliza overhears a conversation about her and Harry being sold and takes Harry and flees to the North for freedom. The scene where Eliza and Harry run away is one of the most important scenes of the book. Eliza feels desperate and lonely. She is tortured by a maternal sense of panic for her imperiled child. With a slave trader following close behind, Eliza is forced to run with her son in the dead of winter. Eliza runs across a frozen Ohio River with her son Harry in her arms to save him from being sold. Stowe writes, “She wondered within herself at the strength that seemed to be come upon her; for she felt the weight of the her boy as if it had been a feather, and every flutter of fear seemed to increase the supernatural power that bore her on, while from her pale lips burst forth, in frequent ejaculations, the prayer to a friend above- “Lord, help! Lord, save me! (Stowe 767).” Eliza fleeing across the ice choked Ohio River to save her son from the slave trader and Tom weeping for the children he left behind in Kentucky when he was sold south are among the most unforgettable scenes in American letters (McPherson 38-40). Stowe is able to capture moments like the one above in Uncle Tom's Cabin that humanized slavery by telling the story of individuals and families. Harriet portrayed the physical, sexual, and emotional abuse endured by enslaved people.

In one of the important sections of the book, Senator Bird sits in his house with his wife. The Ohio State Senator early during the day voted for a law forbidding the assistance of runaway slaves (The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850). Senator Bird’s wife realizing her husband voted in its favor states, “Now, John, I don't know anything about politics, but I can read my Bible; and there I see that I must feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and comfort the desolate; and that Bible I mean to follow (Stowe 778).” Mrs. Bird continues to rout Senator Bird by insisting that she will follow her conscience and her Bible rather than an immoral law. The quote above is an example of the main theme of the novel. The theme of the novel is condemning slavery as contrary to Christianity and specifically the passage above bear’s witness to Stowe's attack on the Fugitive Slave Act.

To Conclude, Uncle Tom's Cabin is a truly passionate novel that swayed the hearts of many readers. At the height of racial tension in nineteenth century America, Stowe revealed the sufferings and hardships the southern slaves endured. Stowe used her passionate words to help prompt abolitionist action. Uncle Tom’s Cabin swayed many Northerners attitudes towards slavery by showing the evils of slavery and the cruelty and inhumanity of the institution, in particular how masters treat their slaves and how families are torn apart because of slavery. Harriet Beecher Stowe will always be remembered as the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, which helped galvanize the abolitionist cause which contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War. When Lincoln met the author later that year, he reportedly greeted her with the words: “So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war.” (McPherson 89).

Work Cited

Clinton, Catherine. The Road to Freedom. 1st. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2004. Print.

Herzberg, Max. "Uncle Tom's Cabin, or, Life among the Lowly."The Reader's Encylopedia of American Literature. 3rd ed. 1962. Print.

McPherson, James. Battle Cry of Freedom. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. Print.

Stokesbury, James. A Short History of the Civil War. 1st. New York: Quill, 1995. Print.

Stowe, Harriet. "Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: Norton & Company, 2008. Print.

The Legend of Lee

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.”[1] 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.[2] 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”[3] 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.”[4] 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.”[5] 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.”[6] 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.”[7] 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.”[8] With these characteristics, “Jackson became one of the war’s best generals, a legend in his own time.”[9] 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.”[10] 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.”[11] 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.”[12] 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.”[13] 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,”[14] 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.”[15] 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.”[16]

On May 1^st 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.”[17] 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 1^st, 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.”[18] 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 2^nd, “Jackson’s march across the enemy’s front -- one of the most dangerous maneuvers in war -- left his strung-out column vulnerable to attack.”[19] Nonetheless, “Jackson displayed the enormous energy and determination that were dominant military traits as he hurried”[20], 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”[21]. James McPherson states, “The yelling rebels heist the south facing Union regiments endwise and knocked them down like tenpins.”[22] 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.”[23] 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.”[24] 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 10^th 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.”[25] Lee went on to write about the tragedy stating, “He has lost his left arm; but I have lost my right arm.”[26]

On May 3^rd, 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 4^th 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.”[27] 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”[28] 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.[29] 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.”[30] 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.

---

[1] James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), 280.

[2] McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 281.

[3] James L. Stokesbuy, Short History of the Civil War. (New York: William Morrow,1995), 30.

[4] McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 281.

[5] Ibid, 281.

[6] Ibid, 281.

[7] Ibid, 281.

[8] McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 342.

[9] Ibid, 342.

[10] Ezra J. Warner, Generals In Gray. (Louisiana State University Press, 1959), 151.

[11] McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 342.

[12] Kennedy,Frances H., The Civil War Battlefield Guide. 2^nd Edition, The Chancellorsville Campaign (Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998), 197.

[13] Ezra J. Warner, Generals In Blue. (Louisiana State University Press, 1959), 235.

[14] McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 639.

[15] Stokesbuy, Short History of the Civil War, 30.

[16] McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 640.

[17] Ibid, 640.

[18] Kennedy, The Civil War Battlefield Guide, 197.

[19] McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 641.

[20] Kennedy, The Civil War Battlefield Guide, 197.

[21] Ibid, 197.

[22] McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 642.

[23] Stokesbuy, Short History of the Civil War, 157.

[24] McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 643.

[25] Richard B. McCaslin, Lee in the Shadow of Washington. (Louisiana State University Press, 1959), 144.

[26] Warner, Generals In Grey, 152.

[27] McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 645.

[28] Stokesbuy, Short History of the Civil War, 99.

[29] Stokesbuy, Short History of the Civil War, 106-107.

[30] McCaslin, Lee in the Shadow of Washington, 155.