BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE

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IMPORTANT PEOPLE

Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee was the general of the Confederate army. In this battle in particular, he shined through. Lee and his most trusted general, “Stonewall” Jackson, had one of the most brilliant strategies in the war. Lee, along with Jackson, helped concoct a plan to expose the Union’s flank by separating the army in two to expose it. This worked very well as Lee, Jackson, and the Confederates won the battle. This was seen as one of Lee’s greatest victories and one of the greatest wins in the war.

Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson was one of the most trusted generals in the Confederate army. He contributed to the battle by helping Robert E. Lee, the Confederate's commander, think of an idea to expose the Union's flank. He took half the Confederate's army and went a different route to expose the flank. Lee and Jackson were able to win the battle however faced a great lost after Jackson was wounded by friendly fire and died.

BATTLE SUMMARY

The ingenious Battle of Chancellorsville. The battle is perhaps one of the greatest battles of the Civil War. The battle started off with General Joseph Hooker sending troops to Robert E. Lee’s, the commander of the Confederate army, rear but was foiled by high waters. After thinking it over a bit, Hooker decided to send 10,000 mounted soldiers in his rear and 36,000 soldiers to the right side across the Rappahannock. Lee set up soldiers on the left front before he knew the trouble he was in trouble. Lee, wanting to know what he was up against, General Jubal Anderson sent to Fredericksburg to hold the position down. This lead into a very interesting and complex strategy that ended up winning the battle.

Lee refused to battle Hooker head on knowing he'll lose when it's 97,000 versus his 57,000 so sent no one other but Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson on a secret flank. Jackson took 25,000 soldiers and lead them through “ The Wilderness”. Jackson and his army encountered soldiers and won the tiny skirmish. While in a battle after the army was being rounded up, Jackson was wounded by friendly fire. This happened because while Lee was focusing on Hooker’s left and center positions, Jackson had cut off the Union’s communication with the United States Ford and reached an advantage. When coming back, some of Jackson’s men mistaken them for National cavalry and shot at them which mortally wounded Jackson. In this section, the Union recovered some land but not very much.

Having the battle continue elsewhere, the chant of, “Charge, and remember Jackson!” can be heard from General James Ewell Brown Stuart. After losing Fredericksburg to the Union, Lee became careful. Lee, after being fresh off a couple of victories decided to finally end the battle. He went straight after Hooker who retreated finally after 7 days of battle (April 30th to May 6). With the Confederacy facing around 12,000 casualties to the Unions 17,000 (around that amount). Made the impact as probably Lee’s greatest victory.

SOURCES

• historynet.com
• sonofthesouth.net
• civilwar.org

THAT'S ALL FOLKS