Battle of Chancellorsville

Union Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker and much of the Army of the Potomac arrived here on 30 Apr. 1863, having maneuvered westward from Falmouth in an attempt to turn Gen. Robert E. Lee's left flank. Fighting began east of here along the Orange Turnpike on 1 May. On 2 May, Lt. Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson marched around the Union positions and attacked Hooker’s exposed right flank west of here. Jackson was accidentally shot by his own men that night and died eight days later. The Confederates broke the Union line here on 3 May. After the battle, which resulted in 13,000 Confederate and more than 17,000 Union casualties, Lee took the initiative to invade the North.