can someone explain what happened at the battle of chancellorsville?

Answer 1

The battle was a classic example of Lee's strategic brilliance on the battlefield with the tactical brilliance of Stonewall Jackson. Splitting his force in the face of superior numbers and outflanking him, was the key to the rebel victory. Joe Hooker lost the psychological battle of wits.

On April 27, "Fighting Joe" Hooker led the V, XI, and XII Corps on a campaign to turn the rebel left flank. The Federals concentrated near Chancellorsville on April 30 and May 1, 1863. Sedgwick’s VI Corps and Gibbon’s division remained to demonstrate against the Confederates at Fredericksburg. In the meantime, Lee left a covering force under Jubal Early in Fredericksburg and marched with the rest of the army to confront the Federals.

As Hooker’s army moved toward Fredericksburg, they encountered increasing Confederate resistance. Hearing reports of overwhelming Confederate force, Hooker ordered his army to suspend the advance and to concentrate again at Chancellorsville. Pressed closely by Lee’s advance, Hooker adopted a defensive posture, thus giving Lee the initiative.

On the morning of May 2, T.J. Jackson directed his corps on a march against the Federal left flank, which was reported to be “hanging in the air.” . At 5:20 pm, Jackson’s line surged forward in an overwhelming attack that crushed the Union XI Corps under command of the hapless O. Howard. Federal troops rallied, resisted the advance, and counterattacked. Disorganization on both sides and darkness ended the fighting.

While making a night reconnaissance, Jackson was mortally wounded by members of the 18th North Carolina Regiment, and carried from the field. J.E.B. Stuart took temporary command of Jackson’s Corps.

On May 3, the Confederates attacked with both wings of the army and massed their artillery at Hazel Grove. This finally broke the Federal line at Chancellorsville. Hooker withdrew a mile and entrenched .

This battle was considered by many historians to be Lee’s greatest victory, although the outcome doomed him to future failure at Gettysburg. Without TJ Jackson, the high ground behind the small town of Gettysburg was not taken on the first day's fighting and the rest is history..

Answer 2

The Battle of Chancellorsville was a major battle of the American Civil War, fought near the village of Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia, from April 30 to May 6, 1863. Called General Robert E. Lee's "perfect battle" because of his risky but successful division of his army in the presence of a much larger enemy force, the battle pitted Union Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker's Army of the Potomac against an army half its size, Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Lee's audacity and Hooker's timid performance in combat combined to result in a significant and embarrassing Union defeat. The Confederate victory was tempered by the mortal wounding of Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson to friendly fire, a loss that Lee likened to "losing my right arm."

The Chancellorsville campaign began with the crossing of the Rappahannock River by the Union army on the morning of April 27, 1863. Heavy fighting began on May 1 and did not end until the Union forces retreated across the river on the night of May 5 to May 6.

Answer 3

(May 1-5, 1863), in the American Civil War, bloody assault by the Union army in Virginia that failed to encircle and destroy the Confederate army of northern Virginia. Following the "horror of Fredericksburg" (Dec. 13, 1862), the Confederate army of General Robert E. Lee and the Union force under General Joseph Hooker had spent the winter facing each other across the Rappahannock River, Virginia. On April 27 Hooker dispatched his cavalry behind Lee's army, intending to cut off a retreat. Two days later he sent a small diversionary force across the Rappahannock below Fredericksburg and crossed upriver with the main body of his army. By May 1 his superior forces were massed near Chancellorsville, a crossroads in a densely forested lowland called the Wilderness. Deprived of his cavalry, however, Hooker was blind to Lee's movements, and on May 2, when Lee ordered General T.J. "Stonewall" Jackson's "foot cavalry" to swing around and attack the Union right, Hooker's surprised flank was routed.The Union general withdrew, and Lee's pressure over the next three days forced a Union retreat north of the river. The South's greatest casualty was the loss of Jackson, who died May 10 of battle wounds. Of 130,000 Union soldiers engaged at Chancellorsville, more than 17,000 were lost; of 60,000 Confederates, more than 12,000 were lost.

Answer 4

Read:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chancellorsville