Stonewall Jackson, shot by friendly fire the night of May 2, has his mangled left arm amputated early in the morning of May 3 at a field hospital. General Robert E. Lee says of Jackson’s importance to him and the Army of Northern Virginia; "He has lost his left arm, but I have lost my right. Any victory would be dear at such a cost."

The best artillery officer of the Confederacy, Colonel Edward Porter Alexander, reports to General James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart early the morning of May 3 that a high piece of ground called Hazel Grove would be the perfect point to stage an artillery attack. Stuart sends a brigade made up of Tennessee and Alabama regiments to Hazel Grove. At dawn, the Confederates attack, just in time to capture four cannon and one hundred men of a Union rear guard.

Because of its very advantageous position for artillery, Hazel Grove is the key to the battlefield. If "Fighting Joe" Hooker controls Hazel Grove, he could keep the two wings of the Army of Northern Virginia separated. Hooker, with his superior number of troops, could then destroy Lee’s parted army.

Despite the great advantage of holding Hazel Grove, Hooker decides to abandon the position. Hooker chooses instead to have his troops fall back from Hazel Grove to an elevated clearing called Fairview.

Barnes&Noble: Lee’s Lieutenants: A Study in Command by Douglas Freeman, Abridged by Stephen W. Sears

Colonel Alexander quickly moves about 36 cannon into the open space of Hazel Grove and begins firing at Yankee artillery located about 1200 yards away at Fairview, and at the crossroads of Chancellorsville itself. The Confederate artillery is triumphant. It was recently reorganized into a battalion system, allowing it to have an ample amount of guns in large, mobile groups. This organization of the Confederate artillery made it much more efficient and effective. The advantageous high ground of Hazel Grove and the battalion system of artillery management led Douglas Southall Freeman (the Army of Northern Virginia’s leading historian) to comment; "At Hazel Grove the finest artillerists of the Army of Northern Virginia were having their greatest day." With the artillery support, the Confederate infantry stages a full attack on the Federal lines.

General "Fighting Joe" Hooker experiences personally some of the Confederate artillery. Hooker is at his Chancellorsville house headquarters leaning against a white porch column on the second-story veranda. A Confederate shell hits the porch column but does not explode. Hooker is knocked unconscious and suffers a concussion, but the dazed and groggy "Fighting Joe" continues in command.

Some of Hooker’s officers wish Hooker would start a counterattack in response to the Confederate offensive. These officers are disappointed when Hooker instead chooses to retreat one or two miles towards the north into a defensive line.

The two wings of Lee’s army reunite and Lee’s great gamble at Chancellorsville pays off. The Confederates push the Yankees back to the Chancellorsville crossroads intersection. General Lee rides his horse Traveller onto the battle scene, the sight of Lee with Traveller charges the enthusiasm of the Confederates and they cheer their general. Lee is in triumph and his men are celebrating, but a crisis soon comes.

Word comes from Fredericksburg that Lee’s rear guard is in trouble. General Jubal Early leads the rear guard and his 11,000 men are up against twice as many Union soldiers led by General John Sedgwick. On the morning of May 3, Confederate Colonel Thomas M. Griffen accepts (against regulations) a flag of truce. During the truce, the Federals see that they outnumber their enemy. The Federals advance upon the Confederates, moving over ground where so much loss and grief had occurred for them the previous December during the Battle of Fredericksburg. They cross the plain below Marye’s Heights, and move over the stone wall and Sunken Road, giving Sedgwick’s troops a path to the rear of General Lee’s position.

Sedgwick’s advance ends at Salem Church, about four miles west of Marye’s Heights. Five brigades of Alabama troops (all tough and veteran fighters) led by Marcellus Wilcox, use Salem Church for protection as they make a stand. Lee sends General Lafayette McLaws and his troops to Salem Church for reinforcement of Wilcox and his Alabamians. Later, Lee himself arrives. The fighting tapers off late in the day on May 3. On May 4, the Confederates push Sedgwick back to the Rappahannock River. The Union soldiers retreat across the Rappahannock on the night of May 4-5.

With Sedgwick now across the Rappahannock River, Lee returns to Chancellorsville on May 5 and begins planning a new offensive against Hooker’s men. Nevertheless, a new Confederate offensive proves unnecessary. On the morning of May 6, Lee learns from scouts that under the cover of night, the Yankees have retreated north of the Rappahannock River.

Barnes&Noble: Chancellorsville

President Lincoln has been monitoring the Chancellorsville battle from the telegraph office in the War Department. During the battle, Lincoln hears reports that are often contradictory or incomplete. On May 6 however, Lincoln learns the certain results of Chancellorsville. He is not pleased. A newspaperman wrote Lincoln’s face turned "ashen" upon hearing the bad news of Chancellorsville. The president exclaims, "My God! My God! What will the country say?" The country’s reaction to the Union defeat at Chancellorsville is not good. With the Union’s defeat at Fredericksburg, and now a loss at Chancellorsville, the country has been hearing too much bad news too often. Things are looking bad for the Union.

For General Robert E. Lee and the Confederacy, things are looking good. Lee has won a great battle at Chancellorsville, it his masterpiece.

Meanwhile, twenty-five miles southeast of Chancellorsville in a house at Guinea Station, General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson is healing from his wounds and amputation. The news from there is good too for General Lee and the South, as Stonewall seemed to be recovering…

The night of May 1, Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson are sitting on Union hardtack boxes by campfire. Lee and Jackson are working on their battle plans. Outnumbered more than two to one, Lee still wants to take the offensive against Hooker. Lee knows the Federals hold a good defensive position on the high ground around Chancellorsville and the situation is too risky for a direct attack. Moreover, the Rappahannock River protects the Federal left, so turning it is impossible. Lee needs a way to go on the offensive. General Jeb Stuart soon provides the way.

Stuart’s cavalry scouts have found that Hooker’s right flank has no natural or artificial obstacle to protect it, Hooker’s right flank is "in the air" and vulnerable. To move without detection around to the Federal right flank, Lee and Jackson need a route through the Wilderness. One of Stonewall Jackson’s staff officers finds a man who lives in the area, and this local knows of a road used to haul charcoal to an iron-smelting furnace. Jackson can move his troops to the Federal right flank by using the charcoal-hauling road and a few other roads.

At Chancellorsville, Robert E. Lee gambles with his battle plans. Lee stays with only 15,000 men to face Hooker’s main force, while Jackson takes his corps of about 30,000 men through a way of roads and paths to the Federal right. Stuart’s cavalry will screen Jackson’s movement from the Federals and Lee will divert Hooker’s attention as Jackson’s men make their way. Meanwhile, General Jubal Early has his men at Fredericksburg. Splitting the Army of Northern Virginia into three separate groups is a big risk. If Hooker chooses to take the offensive, his superior number of troops can destroy any of Lee’s separated groups. Lee counts on "Fighting Joe" Hooker to do nothing while Stonewall Jackson makes his march to the Federal right flank.

Early the morning of May 2, Stonewall Jackson begins his march. As Lee remains behind with his relatively meager amount of troops, Jackson takes his 30,000 men on a twelve-mile march around Hooker’s army. Jackson has Stuart’s cavalry to screen his march, but Union infantry still detects the Rebel movements and troops under General Dan Sickles attack the tail of Jackson’s column. General "Fighting Joe" Hooker knows of Stonewall Jackson’s flanking movement, but Hooker thinks the Rebels are retreating instead of making offensive movements. Hooker does nothing to prepare for an attack on his right flank. By late in the afternoon of May 2, Stonewall has 30,000 men behind the unaware Federal troops.

Stonewall Jackson tells Major Eugene Blackford, "You can go forward then," and with their bone-chilling Rebel Yell battle cry, the Confederates advance out of the cover of the Wilderness. The 11th Corps, under command of General Oliver O. Howard, have the Federal right. Mostly made up of German-Americans, the 11th Corps is about 12,000 strong. The 11th Corps, known as the "Dutch Corps" (a mangling of the word "Deutsche" for "German"), has a poor reputation based on previous battle action. Today would not improve the "Dutch Corps" reputation. The Confederate attack took place near suppertime and most of Howard’s troops are preparing food or relaxing. The oncoming wall of attacking rebels surprises the Federals. By nightfall, Jackson’s men have backed the Federals up two miles. It was a moonlit night, and even after dark some fighting continues in the woods and thickets of the Wilderness. Night fighting was very rare in the Civil War, but this is an example of it. Finally, darkness ends the Confederate attack.

General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson and several other officers are looking for a way to renew the attack. They are out ahead of their lines in the darkness and confusion of the Wilderness, scouting for the best way to begin a new attack. As they are returning to their lines at a trot, they come upon a regiment from North Carolina. In the dark, the Tarheels hear the horses approaching and mistake their riders as Federals, the North Carolinians begin firing and Stonewall Jackson is shot. One bullet hits Jackson in his right hand, a second in his left wrist, and the third strikes him in his left arm between the shoulder and elbow. Stonewall’s frightened horse bolts and runs toward the Federal lines, bashing Jackson’s face into a low tree branch before Jackson regains control of the horse. The most damaging third bullet shatters bone and cuts an artery. Stonewall Jackson is severely injured. He is in great pain and moved to the rear on a stretcher, but not before urging his men to continue the fight and finish the victory. General Jeb Stuart assumes command of General Jackson’s 11th Corps.

Barnes&Noble: Smoothbore Volley That Doomed the Confederacy

Barnes&Noble: A Bullet for Stonewall

Night has now fallen and the fighting ends for this day. The morning of May 3 would renew the Battle of Chancellorsville.

Chancellorsville is "Lee’s Masterpiece" (Chancellorsville is a brick plantation house located in the area known as the Wilderness). At the Battle of Chancellorsville Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia is outnumbered by Union Major General Joseph "Fighting Joe" Hooker’s Army of the Potomac by more than two to one, yet Robert E. Lee and his "right-arm" General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, defeat the Federals. Lee’s victory at Chancellorsville will provide him his path to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and another meeting with the Army of the Potomac in early July of 1863. Despite being Lee’s most canny and skillful victory, Chancellorsville will also bring a great loss to General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia.

General Joseph "Fighting Joe" Hooker was a bombastic, egotistical, and conceited individual. He was a person who thought his ends always justified his means and he would often disobey orders, jump over levels of command, or just flat out lie in order get what he wanted. Hooker was a handsome six-footer and popular with the women. Among the men Hooker served with, he was not so popular. He was not well liked or trusted.

General Joseph Hooker’s nickname of "Fighting Joe" came about by accident. The New York newspaper Courier and Enquirer had received a report about some action Hooker was involved in during McClellan’s Peninsular Campaign. The heading of the report said "Fighting – Joe Hooker" and it was meant to indicate that the report should be used to add more information to an already existing article about Joe Hooker’s part in the battle. Due to an error at the newspaper, this new report was treated as a separate article and was given the heading of "FIGHTING JOE HOOKER" with the hyphen omitted. The newspaper readers loved the nickname and it stuck. At first, Hooker himself did not much care for the nickname, but as time progressed, he liked it more and more.

President Lincoln (with some reservations) gave Hooker command of the Army of the Potomac on January 25, replacing General Ambrose Burnside. Ambrose Burnside had been a weak leader. He failed at Fredericksburg and later brought about a blunder known as the "Mud March."

The goal for the North was "On to Richmond!" If the Army of the Potomac could take the Confederate capital of Richmond, then the Confederate cause would be broken and the war won. Burnside’s loss at Fredericksburg left General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia firmly dug in with a defensive position at Fredericksburg, blocking the Army of the Potomac’s path to Richmond. With Hooker as the new commanding general, the Army of the Potomac would launch a new offensive on Richmond.

Joe Hooker went to work getting the Army of the Potomac into shape. Hooker reorganized the army and made changes in commands. The Army of the Potomac at this time consisted of nearly 150,000 troops and was the largest mobilized field army in the world. This army had become dispirited after the Union loss at Fredericksburg the previous December, but with Hooker it regained its morale. President Lincoln gave General Joe Hooker the freedom to make his own plans for the offensive campaign that would take place with the arrival of spring and the drying of the muddy winter roads. Lincoln did require two things of Hooker; that he go on the offensive as soon as possible, and that he leave Washington guarded.

Hooker planned to have one wing of his army march 40 miles upstream of the Rappahannock River and then cross it and the Rapidan River at fords located west of Confederate defenses. These troops then would move east and attack the Confederate left flank. The rest of the Army of the Potomac would cross the Rappahannock at a point below Fredericksburg to harass the Confederates there. "Fighting Joe" Hooker thought his plans were good, (his plans in fact, were not bad), and he was confident. Before the campaign he said; "My plans are perfect and when I start to carry them out, may God have mercy on General Lee, for I will have none."

Barnes&Noble: Chancellorsville

Hooker began his troop movements on April 27. General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia had spent the winter entrenched at Fredericksburg. Lee’s troops numbered about 61,000 men and Hookers’ troops about 134,000 men. Lee had less than half the men Hooker had. By April 30, Hooker had 50,000 men at a brick mansion named Chancellorsville. Chancellorsville was located at a crossroads in the dense, thicket-like, scrubby, secondary growth known as the Wilderness of Spotsylvania, ten miles west of Fredericksburg.

General Lee and his "right hand" General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson had correctly sized up the situation. They realized that the Yankees at Chancellorsville, and not those who were opposite them and below Fredericksburg, were the main threat of Hooker’s offensive advance. The Confederates left a division to hold the Fredericksburg entrenchments, and the greater part of Lee’s army headed west toward Chancellorsville.

On the morning of May 1, Jackson’s troops met up with Hooker’s men a few miles east of Chancellorsville. Despite having a superior number of troops, Hooker fell back to a defensive position in the Wilderness terrain around Chancellorsville. The Union troops put up entrenchments around General Hooker’s Chancellorsville headquarters.

Barnes&Noble: Lee’s Terrible Swift Sword

Major General Darius N. Couch was the Army of the Potomac’s senior corps commander and he told General Hooker there was disappointment amongst the army leaders that Hooker had chosen a defensive posture at Chancellorsville. Couch himself, had favored an offensive strategy. "Fighting Joe" Hooker told General Couch "It is all right, Couch, I have got Lee just where I want him; he must fight me on my own ground." Couch was in disbelief with what Hooker had said to him; "To hear from his own lip that the advantages gained by the successful marches of his lieutenants were to culminate in fighting a defensive battle in tha t nest of thickets was too much, and I retired from his presence with the belief that my commanding general was a whipped man."

Hooker distributed to his corps commanders a circular that included these words, "The major general commanding trusts that a suspension in the attack to-day will embolden the enemy to attack him."

Lee and Jackson would meet the night of May 1 to decide upon a plan. What these two Confederate generals conceived during their night meeting was one of the most remarkable military gambles ever devised.

On the coming day of May 2, "Fighting Joe" Hooker was going to see emboldened enemy attacking him.