Battle of Chancellorsville May 1-5, 1863
May 1, 1863, The morning started out foggy but soon dawned clear and cool as Union General Hooker’s Army of the Potomac troops rose from their night’s sleep and assembled themselves around their morning campfires. The aroma of coffee permeated the chilly morning air as they awaited the command to march. Hooker’s corps commanders were becoming increasingly impatient. They wanted to move out of the wilderness area that surrounded Chancellorsville and onto more advantageous ground to meet Lee’s ever-menacing army.
General Williams wrote: “I never saw my troops in better condition, more anxious to meet the enemy.” FTMC Pg. 186 His troops had been marching an average of 15 miles per day over hard, muddy roads and carrying about 60 pounds on their backs but still where not discouraged and they were eager to take on the rebels.
Around 11 a.m., Hooker finally passed the word to proceed along several routes eastward. The XII Corps would mass below the Plank Road and advance in small parties, to conceal themselves from the enemy, toward Tabernacle Church. XI Corps would follow about a mile to the rear of XII Corps; one division from II Corps would take up positions near Todd’s Tavern; III Corps would consolidate on the United States Ford Road about a mile from Chancellorsville; and Brig. Gen. Alfred Pleasanton would keep his cavalry detachments at Chancellorsville.
As Hooker advanced from Chancellorsville toward Lee, the Confederate general split his army in the face of superior numbers, leaving a small force at Fredericksburg to deter Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick from advancing, while he attacked Hooker’s advance with about four-fifths of his army. The two forces meet near the Zoan Church, three miles east of Chancellorsville, late that morning. On the Orange turnpike, the Union Fifth Corps encountered Confederate Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws’s division and was pushed back after three hours of fighting. Elements of the Twelfth Corps, including the 102nd NY Volunteers were likewise slowed by Confederate Lt. Gen. Richard Anderson’s division on the Plank Road to the south, but 10 regiments were in the woods close to the road and the men were eager and cheerful to become engaged with the confederates.
Then, inexplicably, Hooker ordered his corps commanders to fall back to Chancellorsville, despite the objections of his subordinates. Hooker withdrew his men to the defensive lines around Chancellorsville, ceding the initiative to Lee. Historians debate why Hooker pulled back when he had the advantage. Some think he lost his nerve in the Face of General Lee who was an imposing commander. Others believe his actions may have demonstrated his lack of confidence in handling the complex actions of such a large organization for the first time (he had been an effective and aggressive division and corps commander in previous battles), but he had also decided before beginning the campaign that he would fight the battle defensively, forcing Lee, with his small army, to attack his own, larger one. At the Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862, the Union army had done the attacking and met with a bloody defeat. Hooker believed it was better to have Lee to attack him, and Lee will oblige him. As darkness approached, both armies dug in for the night. Morale in the Army of the Potomac was sinking rapidly. One soldier in Meade’s corps remarked, “All enthusiasm vanished, all the bright hopes of success disappeared.” On the Confederate side, Lee and Jackson met on the Plank-Furnace crossroads to conceive a battle plan for the next day.
As for the 102nd NY Volunteers Colonel Lane reported: “At 1 o’clock fell in, marched by the left flank to the Plank road, and, together with the rest of the Twelfth Corps, made a reconnaissance 2 miles to the front, when the corps was formed in line of battle, the Third Brigade on the right of the Plank Road. Skirmishers were thrown out, and the brigade advanced half a mile without meeting the enemy, when we found ourselves under a heavy fire from the rebel batteries. The line was here halted, and, after remaining about 15 minutes, were faced to the rear and marched back to the ground of the first line of battle. Here the command rested on their arms for nearly an hour, when we were again marched to our camping ground of the previous night; cooked supper, and after dark formed rifle pits of logs, with abatis in front, and filled in outside with dirt from trenches. These trenches were dug by the bayonets of the men, and the dirt removed by their tin cups and plates. Six miles of rifle pits were reported to be completed in this army at sunrise next morning, and mostly completed without intrenchment tools.” WOTH Vol 25 Pg. 764
As for the 102nd NY Volunteers in the Third Brigade General Geary reported: “The conduct of Greene’s brigade was admirable at this juncture. Although exposed for quite a length of time to the fire of the enemy in a position where they could neither shelter nor defend themselves, nor return the assault, they bore themselves with the calmness and discipline of veterans, emulating the example so ably given them by their brigade commander. The fire of the enemy slackened after some half hour’s play upon our line, and I then received orders to fall back to my original position near Chancellorsville. This was accomplished in good order by the whole command, notwithstanding that a harassing attack was continued by the enemy upon our left flank almost up to the line of our defenses.” WOTH Vol 25 Pg. 729
On May 2, 1863, The morning began with dense fog and the troops had their breakfast before sunrise and the small amounts of tents they had used the night before were packed up and the troops were ready. The 12th Corps had built a breastwork of logs in their front.
Confederate General Robert E. Lee divided his army again, sending Stonewall Jackson’s entire corps of about 30,000 men on a flanking march that clandestinely crossed the front of the Union army and swung around behind it. Jackson’s objective was the right flank of the Union line that rested “in the air” along the Orange Turnpike near Wilderness Tavern. At about 5:00 p.m. Jackson, having completed his circuit around the enemy, unleashed his men in a violent attack on Hooker’s right and rear. While members of the XI Corps in the Army of the Potomac were settling down to fix supper, Jackson’s men burst out of the thickets screaming the “Rebel Yell.” They shattered the Federal Eleventh Corps and pushed the Northern army back more than two miles. The Union Army really should not have been surprised as some scouts had climbed a tall tree and seen the columns of rebels passing across the Orange Court House road and massing to the right of the 11th Corps. Geary’s Division including the 102nd NY Volunteers had been sent out on the Plank Road earlier in the day but had met stiff resistance and fell back to their entrenchments. When the 11th corps was attacked the men of the 12th Corps were there as the fleeing 11 Corps was pushed into them. General Williams wrote: “I saw at once that all effort to organize such a body of men was fruitless. They were lock a flock of scared sheep driven into a corner; not one thought of defense. The crack of the musket was close at hand.” Pg. 191 Two of his brigades of the 1st Division of the 12th Corps came to the rescue and checked the advance of Confederate General Jackson’s force. But then surprisingly General Hooker ordered the 12th corps to fall back to their previous entrenchments. General Williams saw this as a danger and wrote: ”No one could tell friend from foe nor see a hidden enemy a rod away.” Much confusion was caused, the fighting continued and many died because of it. General Williams wrote: “Human language can give no idea of such a scene; such an infernal and yet sublime combination of sound and flame and smoke, and dreadful yells of rage, of pain, of triumph, or of defiance.” FTMC Pg. 192
The battle raged in the dark for several more hours until suddenly it all stopped as no one could see. Each side lay quiet listening to see if they could determine where the other side was. The fighting was over for the night and the midnight air became unpleasantly cold.
While performing a personal reconnaissance in advance of his line that evening, Confederate General Jackson was wounded by fire after dark from his own men close between the lines during all this confusion. A North Carolina regiment opened fire, mistaking them for enemy cavalry. A bullet struck Jackson, shattering the bone above his left shoulder. Cavalry commander Maj. Gen. J. E. B. Stuart temporarily replaced him as corps commander. Jackson would die several days later, following amputation of his left arm.