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Conflict30 April – 6 May 1863

Battle of Chancellorsville

Lee defeated Hooker’s Union army, more than twice his size, with a daring division of his forces; but Stonewall Jackson was shot by his own men and died.

Battle of Chancellorsville — Kurz & Allison chromolithograph, 1889, Library of Congress
Battle of Chancellorsville — Kurz & Allison chromolithograph, 1889, Library of Congress

Kurz & Allison. · Public domain · Source

At the end of April 1863 Joseph Hooker crossed the Rappahannock with about 130,000 men to trap Lee’s 60,000. Lee split his army and on 2 May sent Jackson’s corps through the woods to strike the exposed Union right flank, routing an entire corps. Hooker withdrew across the river on 6 May.

It is reckoned Lee’s greatest victory, but the Confederates lost some 13,000 men. Returning from a reconnaissance on the night of 2 May, Jackson was hit by fire from his own troops; his left arm was amputated, and he died of pneumonia on 10 May. Emboldened, Lee invaded the North again, heading toward Gettysburg.

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States and rulers at the time
United States · defeated — President Abraham Lincoln
Places
Chancellorsville

People

  • Robert E. Lee1807 – 1870

    commander · Confederate general who led the Army of Northern Virginia to many victories, lost at Gettysburg and surrendered at Appomattox in 1865

  • Stonewall Jackson1824 – 1863

    commander · Confederate general who earned the name “Stonewall” at First Bull Run and was mortally wounded by his own men at Chancellorsville

Before and after

Earlier
1862 Emancipation Proclamation
Later
1863 Battle of Gettysburg

Themes that include this event

  • The American Civil War1850 – 1865

    From the Compromise of 1850 to Lincoln’s assassination — a nation divided over slavery fought four years of civil war, preserving the Union and ending slavery