Battle of Chancellorsville

12 Pages 3122 Words

The Battle of Chancellorsville took place from May 1, 1863 to May 4, 1863 after the Battle of Fredericksburg and is said to be one of General Robert E. Lee’s greatest accomplishments during the Civil War. General Lee wanted to take the to fight to the enemy’s territory in Pennsylvania, to break up and capture the coalfields, and to cut off the fuel supplies for the manufacturing establishments, railways, and steamships. At the beginning of 1863 he directed the topographical engineers to prepare a detailed map from the Potomac River to the Susquehanna River. This map ended up being used at the Battle of Gettysburg.

After the battle of Fredericksburg and the failure of the Mud Campaign the Union army was demoralized. Desertions were frequent and insubordination was common practice throughout the ranks. To rectify this problem President Lincoln appointed Major General J. Hooker to replace Major General Burnside as the Commander of Union Army in the Potomac. He restored forces to about 134,000 soldiers. General Hooker wanted to start a campaign to take the fight to General Lee and start the campaign towards the end of April.

General Hooker sent Major General Sedgwick across the Rappahannock River with three battalions, just below Fredericksburg. General Hooker with the Fourth Corps would march up north of the Rappahannock River concealed by the forest, and cross the river Germanna and Ely Fords near Chancellorsville. Then they marched on the road leading to Fredericksburg. General Hooker was hoping to come across General Lee’s rear flank and force him to retreat towards Richmond. Hooker was then planning on giving chase to the Confederate Army.

On April 13, 1863, General Hooker started executing his plan by sending an advance cavalry lead by General Stoneman with 10,000 troops to cross the Rappahannock River at Kelly’s Ford. To attack his supply base and railroad deep behind Confederate Army lines at Gordonsvill...