Chancellorsville

Cover

Download PDF (116.3 KB)
 

Title Page, Copyright, Dedication

Download PDF (234.7 KB)
 

Contents

Download PDF (133.0 KB)
pp. vii-

Introduction

Download PDF (346.9 KB)
pp. ix-xvii

R. E. LEE'S stunning tactical victory at Chancellorsville capped a remarkable eleven-month period during which he built the Army of Northern Virginia into a self-confident and formidable weapon. Conditioned to expect success after defeating the Army of the Potomac at the Seven Days...

1. We Shall Make Richmond Howl: The Army of the Potomac on the Eve of Chancellorsville

Download PDF (968.6 KB)
pp. 1-35

ON JANUARY 27,1863, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker took command of perhaps the saddest, angriest, most grumbly army that ever marched under America's postrevolutionary flag. Pontoons and wagons by the hundreds lay hopelessly mired...

2. East of Chancellorsville: Jubal A. Early at Second Fredericksburg and Salem Church

Download PDF (961.2 KB)
pp. 36-64

JUBAL A. EARLY had been living in Canada for more than two years when he composed a letter to R. E. Lee in late November 1868. Begging Lee's indulgence for the intrusion, Early devoted most of this long missive to his role during the Chancellorsville campaign. "I think your official report,...

3. Stoneman's Raid

Download PDF (1.1 MB)
pp. 65-106

THE SUN rose on Friday, May 8, 1863, over a Virginia landscape alive with spring but brutally scarred by the aftermath of the battle of Chancellorsville. Hundreds of acres of Spotsylvania County betrayed the effects of an engagement that...

4. The Smoothbore Volley That Doomed the Confederacy

Download PDF (1.0 MB)
pp. 107-142

NINETEEN MEN in two distinct groups rode forward from the coalescing Confederate lines west of Chancellorsville at about 9:00 P.M. on May 2, 1863. Only seven of the nineteen came back untouched, man or horse. Although one of those nearest the offending musket muzzles, Maj. Gen. A. P. Hill...

5. The Valiant Rearguard: Hancock's Division at Chancellorsville

Download PDF (1.1 MB)
pp. 143-175

"IT WAS A delightful spring morning. The sun shone bright and warm, the trees were just beginning to put forth their green leaves and the grass and early flowers had already changed the grayish sandy soil to brighter and more attractive hues."¹ So seemed the early hours of May i, 1863, to one...

6. Medical Treatment at Chancellorsville

Download PDF (662.4 KB)
pp. 176-199

Two WEEKS after the battle of Chancellorsville, a Union surgeon used a rare quiet period to make an entry in his diary. "As I write this after all is past . . . I thank God for his goodness to me," he recorded, adding, "I consider war as a dire calamity and a visitation from the Almighty and especially...

7. Disgraced and Ruined by the Decision of the Court: The Court-Martial of Emory F. Best, C.S.A.

Download PDF (597.2 KB)
pp. 200-218

THE funeral OF Emory Fiske Best at Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon, Georgia, on April 29, 1912, was attended by only a few friends and relatives. According to a newspaper obituary, even Best's wife was absent, due to "hindering circumstances...

8. Stern Realities: Children of Chancellorsville and Beyond

Download PDF (774.3 KB)
pp. 219-243

FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD Sue Chancellor's life collapsed when her ancestral home—the imposing brick house that had at one time served as an inn on the Orange Turnpike between Fredericksburg and up-country Virginia—was caught in the middle of some of the heaviest fighting of the battle of...

Bibliographic Essay

Download PDF (218.2 KB)
pp. 245-248

Readers seeking sources pertinent to facets of the Chancellorsville campaign explored in the essays should look first to the notes, which collectively cite many of the most important works on military operations in Virginia between February and June 1863. As with all military (and many nonmilitary) aspects of the Civil War, the great fount of...

Contributors

Download PDF (167.5 KB)
pp. 249-250

Index

Download PDF (1.0 MB)
pp. 251-263