At Chancellorsville, from 30 April to 6 May 1863, Robert E. Lee won what many historians call his greatest victory2, beating a Union army under Joseph Hooker that was more than twice the size of his own. Lee boldly divided his forces and sent3 Stonewall Jackson on a flank march that shattered the Union right. But Jackson was shot by his own men in the confusion and died days later, a loss the Confederacy never replaced.
At Chancellorsville, Robert E. Lee did everything a general is told never to do, dividing a smaller army in the face of a larger one, and won his masterpiece. The victory cost him the one man he could not spare.
Part of The greatest battles of the Civil War · Before: The Battle of Fredericksburg · Next: The Battle of Gettysburg
Hooker's plan
In the spring of 1863 the Union commander Joseph Hooker led a rebuilt and confident Army of the Potomac across the river, aiming to swing around Lee's army near Fredericksburg and crush it. For a moment his plan worked, and he had Lee at a grave disadvantage.
Lee divides his army
Instead of retreating, Lee left a small force to hold Hooker's front and marched the rest of his outnumbered army to attack. Then he divided again, sending Stonewall Jackson with a large column on a long, hidden march around the Union flank.
Jackson's flank march
Late on 2 May, Jackson's men burst out of the woods onto the unguarded Union right2 and rolled it up in confusion, one of the most famous attacks of the war. The next morning Hooker was stunned when a Confederate shot struck the porch pillar beside him, and he lost his grip on the battle and pulled back.
The loss of Jackson
Riding forward in the dark to press the advantage, Jackson was fired on by his own nervous troops and badly wounded1. His arm was amputated, and he died of pneumonia days later.1 Lee is said to have remarked that he had lost his right arm.1
Why Chancellorsville mattered
Chancellorsville was a brilliant Confederate victory that confirmed Lee's daring and emboldened him to invade the North again2, a march that ended at Gettysburg. But the death of Jackson deprived him of his finest subordinate at the worst possible moment4. See also Fredericksburg.