The final stop was the site of the Chancellor house, right on Highway 3 (The Orange Turnpike). Hooker took over the large house for his headquarters from the start. A woman and her daughters occupied the former inn. At one point during the battle, an artillery projectile struck a nearby column and knocked Hooker down, and he apparently was quite mentally and physically shaken. Only part of the foundation remains of the house, which Rebel batteries set ablaze during the struggle. This location does contain cannons and a few battle paintings portraying the action at Chancellorsville. We finished our tour around mid-day and picked up cheap hotdogs at a convenience store (not much food out that way) on the way to our next site, the nearby Wilderness battlefield. In fact, we were able to eat our food at picnic tables in the now somewhat tamer version of the Wilderness just after turning onto Hill-Ewell Drive. Click here if you wish to follow us through Grant's first match with Lee. |
Chancellorsville |
The One-eyed Traveler |
Chancellorsville - The Battle |
Chancellorsville - The Visit |
At Chancellorsville, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson cemented their spots in the list of America's greatest generals. "Fighting" Joe Hooker's Army of the Potomac had an unquestioned numerical superiority at two-to-one odds, and he had worked out on paper what seemed a very creative battle plan to draw Lee's troops out of their winter encampments and either trap them or make them retreat. Hooker sent most of his force across the river undetected and then re-crossed far beyond the Confederate right flank. He left the rest of his troops facing Fredericksburg to keep Lee in place while he made the move. When Lee's cavalry informed him of the flanking maneuver, the Confederate commander sent Stonewall Jackson out to meet the enemy. |
The two forces came together around Chancellorsville, a small community near the expanse of the dense Wilderness forest. Hooker backed off after the Confederate counterattack, and Lee and Jackson (both supremely daring), whipped up a plan to send the Yankees fleeing. Jackson marched with most of the army around the Union right, leaving Lee with but a small force in front of the enemy. Luckily for the Rebels, Hooker did not attack Lee. Jackson's movements were not undetected. However, Hooker thought it was more likely a retreat than an attempt to outflank him. Still, the Union commander on the unanchored right flank was advised to be alert. Not only did he discount the warning, but he was also isolated by well over a mile after the troops to his left were called over to attack the marching rebels. The rear of Jackson's column held them off, and the march continued. |
Jackson fell on the unprepared Union flank and sent the Yankees running for their lives back toward the crossroads of Chancellorsville. In the evening Stonewall Jackson rode out to take a look at the situation and was wounded by his own men who mistook him for the enemy. Surgeons amputated the general's arm, provoking Lee to comment that "Jackson has lost his left arm, but I have lost my right." The wound did not seem life threatening, but the Confederacy suffered a terrible blow when the great Stonewall expired at Guinea Station a few days later. After Jackson's success on the flank, the fighting waged unabated for a few more days around Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, and Salem Church, until a mentally beaten Joseph Hooker withdrew back across the river. Total casualties at Chancellorsville numbered over 30,000, making it one of the costliest battles of the war. It inspired confidence in the South, perhaps too much as Gettysburg would soon show, and was a humiliating defeat for the Army of the Potomac. Afterward, a distraught Abraham Lincoln wondered "What will the country say?" |
The visit began at the Chancellorsville-Spotsylvania visitor center, located on Highway 3, the former Orange Turnpike, less than half an hour west of Fredericksburg. We were among the first visitors of the day. I looked through the bookstore, while Claire danced around singing "ashes, ashes, we all fall down" to the entertainment of the two staff people. We spent at least half an hour in the exhibit, which I consider one of the better battlefield museums. It displayed artifacts from Chancellorsville, the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania, including personal effects of Stonewall Jackson - many items written or drawn in his own hand. It was a good time to visit. Since we were the only ones there, we could let Claire run around a little while we looked at the artifacts. The bookstore was decent but not nearly as impressive as the large one at Fredericksburg. Just outside the visitor center, we saw a plain stone marker at the spot where Stonewall Jackson was removed from his horse after he was shot and a nearby monument to the fallen general. |
I enjoyed the driving tour at Chancellorsville, but it can get lengthy and dusty. We traveled mile after mile on small dirt roads, following the course of Stonewall Jackson's flank march. If you are really interested in the details of the battle, it is highly recommended. Chancellorsville, much like the Wilderness battle fought in the same vicinity a year later, was all about roads, as there were few through this thickly wooded region, and the drive gave me a better sense of their relationships. Following the driving tour, one of our first stops brought us to McLaws Drive (Furnace Road during the war). It was in this vicinity that the Confederate divisions under Anderson and McLaws entrenched on the battle's opening day, after Hooker had inexplicably withdrawn his forces back to the lower, more open ground around the Chancellor house. Jackson had attacked the Union forces advancing up the Orange Turnpike and Orange Plank Road toward Fredericksburg. The trenches are eroded now but still quite apparent. A nearby stop brought us to a roadside clearing marking the spot where Robert E. Lee conferred with Jackson on the eve of the first day. It was here that the two developed the audacious plan for an attack on the opposite blue flank. |
Our next stop was Catharine Furnace, one of the few period, manmade landmarks remaining on the battlefield. Only a small portion stands of this former iron works, destroyed by Yankee cavalry in 1864. The son of the proprietor was the guide who led Stonewall Jackson through the backcountry roads to the Union left flank the following day. A sign at the furnace pictured how the large facility looked in 1863. Much fighting occurred in this vicinity on May 2 (Day 2 of the battle) when Hooker launched a strike at the tail end of Jackson's column, which he apparently believed was retreating. Jackson posted a Georgia regiment to protect his marchers. Lee eventually threw in other troops after the regiment was overrun. |
For the next half hour or more we drove down a series of paved and dirt roads to trace the route of Jackson's flank march, the column of which stretched for ten miles or more. The Rebel general had cautioned his men not to cheer, as they always did when he passed, so as not to give away the move to the enemy. The Union leaders knew he was moving off to their left, but Jackson zig-zagged around a bit, going far out of the way at times, to ensure that they did not suspect his real motive. This part of the tour was long and boring at times, but I had the tape to entertain me for a while. Still, it was the most rewarding part of the Chancellorsville tour because it did more than anything else to teach me the geography of the area and how it related to the most important event of the battle. Nothing better illustrates the willingness of Lee to take chances with his inferior numbers or the confidence he placed in his chief subordinate to get the job done. I would think you could avoid the dirt road, if you choose, by turning onto Sickles Drive at the furnace and continuing to Fairview. Finally we turned right onto the Orange Turnpike, a few miles beyond the Chancellor house and turned into a modern day cemetery. Certainly this part is a little anti-climatic, considering the importance of the site. It was here in a large open space that the Union right flank sat, largely unaware, on May 2. Oliver O. Howard, in command of the corps on the far right, discounted what warnings he did receive. In fact, he was away with part of his force, summoned to join the fight back around the furnace. The adjoining corps had been called away as well, leaving Howard's men isolated. Jackson fell on the unsuspecting men with a fury, and most fled as fast as they could in a pell-mell scramble for their lives; some didn't stop until they had reached the river back of the Chancellor house. So much for outfoxing Bobby Lee. Chancellorsville is a perfect example of how the top leaders in the Army of Northern Virginia generally out-generaled their opposites. |
Our next stops were at Hazel Grove and Fairview. Hazel Grove was a key point, perhaps the key point, in the fighting on the battle's third day. In an adjustment of his lines, Hooker moved his infantry back from the strategic high ground at Hazel Grove to the vicinity of Fairview, an artillery position about a half-mile away. Fairview is quite visible, just at the opposite end of a long stretch of open ground. Jackson's forces, now under the command of cavalry leader Jeb Stuart (after Jackson's wound and a wound as well to A. P. Hill, his likely successor in command), attacked and found that the Yankees no longer occupied the ground they sought. The graybacks moved their own guns onto the slopes of Hazel Grove, and the blue position at Fairview gave way before the subsequent onslaught. Hooker contracted his lines further, encircling Chancellorsville, with the flanks anchored by the river at his back. Hazel Grove offered the best photo ops on the battlefield. It held several cannons, along with their accompanying limbers. It also served as a great place to stretch our legs after the long car ride. Our little girl enjoyed running around and posing with a few cannons for family keepsakes. Claire had slept through the flank march tour, fortunately. She learned that cannons say "boom" on this trip goodness knows, she saw enough of them in over a week of battle sites. |
The final stop was the site of the Chancellor house, right on Highway 3 (The Orange Turnpike). Hooker took over the large house for his headquarters from the start. A woman and her daughters occupied the former inn. At one point during the battle, an artillery projectile struck a nearby column and knocked Hooker down, and he apparently was quite mentally and physically shaken. Only part of the foundation remains of the house, which Rebel batteries set ablaze during the struggle. This location does contain cannons and a few battle paintings portraying the action at Chancellorsville. We finished our tour around mid-day and picked up cheap hotdogs at a convenience store (not much food out that way) on the way to our next site, the nearby Wilderness battlefield. In fact, we were able to eat our food at picnic tables in the now somewhat tamer version of the Wilderness just after turning onto Hill-Ewell Drive. Click here if you wish to follow us through Grant's first match with Lee. |
This page was last updated on: April 1, 2005
Text and photos copyright 1984-2002 Dan Woodlief |
