Showing results for "Chancellorsville"
Battlefield Markers & Monuments: Jackson at Chancellorsville
In early 1887, as fans of Union General John Sedgwick prepared to raise a monument to him at the Spotsylvania Court House battlefield, local residents got to wondering about erecting a monument of their own to a fallen Southern general. Of course, the natural candidate was Lt. Gen. Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson, mortally wounded during […]
Read more...Jackson’s Wounding: The Best Thing to Happen to Lee at Chancellorsville
I made a somewhat inflammatory comment the other day that—although I didn’t realize it until I said it—I’ve been thinking about a lot over the last decade or so: “Stonewall Jackson’s wounding was probably the best thing that happened to Lee during the battle of Chancellorsville.”
Read more...Impressed with Coming Disaster: Alsop’s Field at Chancellorsville
On May 9, 1864, Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick, commanding the VI Corps in the Army of the Potomac, was killed at Spotsylvania Court House. Visitors to the battlefield can walk from the Exhibit Shelter to a monument that stands on the spot where the Union general fell. In doing so, they pass through the midst […]
Read more...Was Chancellorsville Lee’s greatest victory?
Chancellorsville was Robert E. Lee’s greatest victory in the Civil War, right? At least, that’s what is often said of the Confederate chieftain’s triumph over his Federal adversaries in early May 1863. But was it really? If you were to ask the general himself, he probably would not have thought so. Speaking to Confederate Secretary […]
Read more...The Shared Ground of Chancellorsville and the Wilderness
Yesterday, I wrote of the Civil War Trust’s current focus on a tract of land it’s calling the Chancellorsville-Wilderness Crossroads, which saw troop movements during both battles. Separated by a year, the battles shared much of the same geography even though each maelstrom centered in different spots. That brought to mind, in particular, the men […]
Read more...The Chancellorsville-Wilderness Crossroads
Early May is a busy month for Civil War buffs in my neck of the woods. In 1863, the battle of Chancellorsville roared through the eastern half of the Wilderness; in 1864, the battle of the Wilderness ripped through the western half of that same 70-acre second-growth forest. Today, May 4, serves as a transition […]
Read more...At Chancellorsville…
May 2nd, 1863. On this date, this famous man was shot and badly wounded at Chancellorsville Obviously not Stonewall Jackson. Instead, this is Friedrich Karl Franz Hecker, the famous Republican hero of Germany. Wait, who?
Read more...Remembering Stoneman’s Raid in the Chancellorsville Campaign
Today marks the 153rd Anniversary of the beginning of Stoneman’s Raid. After weeks of delay due to poor weather, Stoneman’s troopers began crossing the Rappahannock at Kelly’s Ford. Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker intended for Stoneman’s cavalry corps to wreak havoc on the Confederate rear and upset enemy logistics. Hooker hoped this manuever would force Gen. […]
Read more...The Fall of the Chancellorsville Crossroads
The following is a chapter excerpt from “That Furious Struggle: Chancellorsville and the High Tide of the Confederacy, May 1-4, 1863,” authored by Chris Mackowski and Kristopher D. White. The Chancellor House site will be one of the stops on the upcoming Emerging Civil War tour of the Chancellorsville Battlefield, which is part of the Second Annual Emerging Civil War Symposium at Stevenson […]
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