American Civil War
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Chancellorsville
Battle · Eastern Theatre
Battle of Chancellorsville
April 30 – May 6, 1863 · Spotsylvania County, Virginia
Narrative
Commanders
At a glance
Outcome
1
Hooker’s great gamble
The Finest Army on the Planet
Hooker (North) swings the bigger army behind Lee, a brilliant plan that marches two-to-one numbers into a forest that erases the edge.
2
The audacity of the outnumbered
Splitting an Army Already Too Small
Outnumbered two to one, Lee divides his force twice in two days, and Stuart’s (South) scouts find the open Union flank that makes it possible.
3
Dusk on the Orange Turnpike
Jackson Comes Out of the Woods
Jackson marches twelve miles unseen and shatters Howard’s (North) XI Corps from the side in under an hour, the war’s most famous maneuver.
4
The cost of the masterpiece
Shot by His Own Men
Jackson is wounded by his own men in the dark; Stuart (South) takes the corps, Hooker (North) is concussed on his own porch, and the Union line buckles.
5
A victory too expensive to keep
The General Loses His Nerve
Hooker (North) quits with the bigger army intact. Lee wins his masterpiece and pays with a fifth of his army and Stonewall Jackson, dead by May 10.
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the American Civil War
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