On Location: The Lee-Jackson Bivouac Site
On May 1, 1863, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson held their now-famous “Crackerbox Meeting” at Chancellorsville. Today, I went On Location at the Chancellorsville battlefield to visit the Lee-Jackson bivouac site.
For more on the history of the bivouac site, see this installment from the series “Shaping Chancellorsville” by Chris Mackowski.
To see some of ECW’s other Chancellorsville coverage, click here.
Very impressive, Chris. I have seen much of the area, but not that particular site. How could they know that within a fortnight Jackson would be gone. His death may well have changed the course of history. As you know, it has been argued that if he been leading the Second Corps instead of Ewell on the first day at Gettysburg, some two months later, the result of the battle would have been different. Then again, “what ifs” are infinite and pointless. Churchill said the result of our Civil War was “almost inevitable”. Shelby Foote agreed.
Nice piece Chris. I was there myself on Friday, on a Civil War Education Assoc. tour with retired NPS historian Bob Krick that focused on Lee, Jackson and the events of Day 2 of fighting at Chancellorsville. As so rightly say in your video, the quiet little intersection sits there “with a history all its own.” A worthwhile stop on a driving tour of the battlefield that I’d previously missed.