Chancellorsville Campaign 27 April ̶ 4 May 1863

The Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia, in April ̶ May 1863, was a spectacular Civil War victory under Confederate General Robert E. Lee. President Abraham Lincoln, frustrated by the Union progress in the war, replaced General Ambrose Burnside with General ‘fighting Joe Hooker’. After Hooker crossed the Rappahannock River on 30 April, he attacked Lee in ‘the wilderness’, near Chancellorsville. Outnumbered 2:1, and with 80,000 Union troops behind him, Lee broke with military convention and splintered his army, sending ‘Stonewall’ Jackson to make a left hook and attack from the far side. Early on 2 May, Jackson nearly destroyed the surprised Union force, but was accidentally shot and wounded by his own men. On 3 May, Hooker was driven back to a new defensive line at the river fords. Lee then defeated a further Union force to the east, at Salem Church. By 4 May the battle was a Confederate victory, but at the cost of many lives.