Lee's Perfect Battle: The Chancellorsville Campaign

On January 26, 1863 General Joseph Hooker was appointed the commander of the Army of the Potomac. General Hooker wanted to attack General Lee’s army while a large portion of his troops were engaged at the town of Fredericksburg. He commanded an army that was almost twice the size of Lee’s forces. Hooker then moved the Union forces toward the town of Chancellorsville and had his men set up in defensive positions just outside the town. When General Lee learned of this he moved a portion of his men to assault Hooker and his army. When he arrived, Lee split his men in order to attack from different locations and General Stonewall Jackson commander of the cavalry moved his men to an exposed section of the Union defense and exploited it. On May 3 the fighting was so fierce that it caused General Hooker to withdraw his men and move them to the other side of the river that was nearby. This is when General Lee learned of federal troops gaining the advantage

The Civil War, composed of the Union run by numerous generals replacing one another, and the Confederacy lead by Robert E. Lee, was and still is one of the most gruesome wars in American History, and the Battle of Gettysburg is considered by most as an incredible turning point of the war. This is due to how the Union brought down the Confederacy’s winning streak, and gave the Confederacy a huge blow to their manpower, supplies, and overall strength to win (Battle of Gettysburg, 1). Robert E. Lee, though a great general throughout the Civil War, was a failure during the Battle Gettysburg because he was not able to get his men to their jobs done in time. Another reason he was a failure was because of his plan to attack again on July 3rd which

The Battle of Gettysburg was the turning point of the American Civil war. General Robert E. Lee was the commanding officer of the Confederate army. During the battle of Gettysburg Lee’s military strategy was to fight offensive. Lee’s goal during the battle was to seize the high ground and out last the union army. The Union army had outnumbered the Confederate soldiers. General Lee’s first hand man was General James Longstreet. Longstreet believes the new technology in warfare would make attacking the Union army bloody for the Confederate soldiers. Longstreet suggests to Lee that defensive warfare tactics such as using trenches and rocks for cover and concealment would be the Confederacy’s best fighting chance. Lee denies Longstreet’s ideas and continued with the plan to fight out in the open and attack the enemies head on. After three days of fighting the Confederate army lost the battle at Gettysburg. Lee’s tactical approaches that led to this lost included the lack of communication and the absence of and with General J.E.B Stuart, Lee’s continuation to pursue offensive attacks and Pickett’s charge.

The Battle of Gettysburg was a short lived battle with tremendously tragic amounts of bloodshed and casualties. The physical battle, lasting the short span from July 1st to July 3rd 1863, is considered by many, the most significant and important battle of the American Civil War. Unfortunately what many consider the most significant battle of the American War was also indeed the bloodiest battle fought on American soil. Confidence can be to blame for the outset of this battle and how it began. In May of 1863, the Confederate army leader, Robert E. Lee was fortunate enough in Chancellorsville, Virginia when he and his army claimed the victory against the Army of the Potomac. Lee experienced a high of confidence from the victory, which ultimately

The Battle of Second Bull Run was not an expected victory for the Confederacy. The Battle of Chancellorsville, one of the greatest battles for Lee’s army, Lee faced Major General Joseph Hooker. Hooker’s army was not expecting Lee to brilliantly split up his army when they took an the massive Union troops. Lee was able to stay calm in the mites of battle facing odds that were against him and stop Hooker’s troop. The Battle of Chancellorsville is often referred to one of Lee’s greatest battles and highlights his military skill.

The Battle of Gettysburg was clearly one of the biggest battles in the Civil War. General Robert Lee led his Northern Virginia Army to victory at Chancellorsville and was feeling a great deal of confidence ("Battle of Gettysburg"). He then decided with this confidence he would try a second attempt at invading the North. The reason Lee took his troops north was because he wanted to take the pressure off of the Virginia farms. Lee also thought that if he won any battles on northern territory, that it could possibly put pressure on President Lincoln to settle the war ("History Place - Battle of Gettysburg").

Civil War historians view the Battle of Chancellorsville as General Robert E. Lee’s “greatest and most remarkable” victory (Sears 1). Lee, facing an army twice his size, defies all military doctrine and divides his army multiple times in order to out-maneuver and surprise the Union forces. The daring maneuver succeeds and ultimately forces the Union’s Army of the Potomac to retreat. The victory was another major blow to Union troops, but it came at a huge cost to the Confederacy: the loss of General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson. By evaluating the battle through the lens of the mission command activities, one can see how Lee’s daring maneuver was actually very calculated and his only option for victory. Throughout the rest of this paper, I will describe the timeline of the battle and how General Lee used the mission command activities of understand, visualize, assess, and lead to ultimately achieve victory at Chancellorsville.

The battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia was fought from April 30 through May 6, 1863. It was fought between the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia commanded by General Robert E. Lee, and the Federal Army of the Potomac commanded by Major General Joseph Hooker. The intent of this battle was for Major General Hooker’s Union force to cross the Rappahannock River west of Chancellorsville in order to gain control of the Virginia Central and Fredericksburg rail lines; these rail lines were essential to the Army of Northern Virginia because they were the main supply lines to Richmond, the capitol of the Confederate states. The Union knew that by gaining the supply line to Richmond and defeating General Lee, was crucial because this would cause the Confederate strategic center of gravity to fall, essentially leading to an end of the Civil War. However, the Army of the Potomac lost the battle of Chancellorsville against General Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, and the Civil War raged on. The battle of Chancellorsville is generally viewed as General Robert E. Lee’s greatest victory of the Civil War. General Lee expertly demonstrated mission command by leading his troops into an unlikely battle, understanding the battle, visualizing, and directing his troops in a victory for the Confederacy.

Despite being outnumbered by the Union, General Robert E. Lee and the Confederates managed to come out on top of every battle. This definitely boosted the confidence that the Confederate soldiers had; they felt unbeatable. The Confederacy won the First and Second Battles at Bull Run, and the battles at Shiloh and Chancellorsville.

The Battle of Gettysburg is one of the most important events to occur in the American Civil War. The Federals were attacked by the Confederates from the left and the right. General Robert E. Lee learned that the Army of Potomac was on its way and he assembled his army in the Harrisburg. When he arrived, he found that two Union brigades had arrived the day before. By July 2nd, the Union Army had strong forces in Culp’s Hill and Cemetery Ridge. General Lee decided to attack the Federals where they already were. It was a devastating defeat for the Confederates. The Union lost 23,000 men. The Confederate lost 28,000 men. This battle turned the Civil War in the Union’s favor.

     As the battle wore on, the superior numbers of the Union Army began to wear down the Confederate lines. At a critical point, as the Confederates began to fall back, an officer pointed out a line of rebels who were still strong. He said, “look at Jackson’s men standing like a stone wall”. He was talking about General T. J. Jackson’s men. Jackson would from then on be known as “Stonewall Jackson”, one of the most famous of all Confederate generals. This seemed to inspire the Southern troops at Henry

The Battle of Gettysburg is considered a turning point. For the rest of the war Lee was on the strategic defensive, forced into the war of attrition he feared and eventually cornered in an unwinnable siege around Richmond. The Battle of Gettysburg was a decisive victory for the Union. Tactically it may have seemed about even. Both armies lost about the same number of men, and Lee kept his army on the field until the evening of the day after the battle, waiting for a counterattack by Meade which never came. But Meade's larger army could better afford the losses. All eight of Lee's Infantry Divisions lost about a third of their strength, while Meade's largest Army Corps was virtually untouched. Lee was almost out of Artillery ammunition, while Meade had enough for another battle. Also Meade had no need to throw himself into a dangerous counterattack; time was on his side as Union reinforcements moved to surround Lee, deep in enemy territory with no hope of

First, this part of the plan was a battle to forcefully occupy Richmond, Virginia, the political, military capital of the Confederacy. Second, a battle known as the Seven Days’ Battles took place in Richmond, Virginia from June 25, 1862, to July 1, 1862. Third The Union's army in this battle was led by George B. McClellan, while the South was led by Robert E. Lee. Robert E. Lee is regarded as a military genius and was recruited by both the Confederacy and The Union. Fourth, the United States wanted Richmond because it was the heart of the Confederacy. Without Richmond, the Confederacy might cease to exist. However, The Union failed to capture the Confederates capital. Despite the South suffering heavier casualties, McClellan's army was forced to

On June 3rd of 1863 Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. This would be his second campaign into the north. If he could get Maryland he would have the upper hand on Baltimore, the District of Columbia, and Philadelphia. Lee headed into the campaign with 72000 men. Union Major General George Meade's Army of the Potomac had over 100000 men. Lee eventually pushed his way up through Virginia to meet the Union army at Gettysburg. The commanding officers of the Union army were Major General George G. Meade, Major General John F. Reynolds, Major General Winfield Scott Hancock, Major General Daniel E. Sickles, Major General George Sykes, Major General John Sedgwick, Major General Oliver O. Howard, Major General Henry W. Slocum,

from April 29 to May 6, 1863 as part of the Civil War. To be more precise, the battle of Chancellorsville took place in the vicinity of Fredericksburg where other two battles took place. The Confederate army was led by General Robert E. Lee, while the Union army was led by Major General Joseph Hooker. Impressively, General Hooker’s army was composed with as many as 130,000 soldiers. The Union army was very well trained, equipped, and had all odds in favor. The Union army was two times as big as that of General Robert E. Lee, whose army was composed of merely 60,000-65,000 Confederate soldiers. Of these, 30,000 soldiers were from General Stonewall