On May 1, 1863, Union Major General Joseph Hooker had the Confederate Army
exactly in the position he had hoped. The soldiers under Major General John Sedgwick, including his
own 6th Corps, threatened Lee's entrenched Fredericksburg lines. As Sedgwick's men held the
Butternuts in place, or so the plan went, Hooker's 70,000 man detachment had successfully swung
around Lee's left flank and closed in to catch the Southern Army between his two wings. The night
before, the men of Major General George Sykes Division of Major General George Gordon Meade's 5th
Corps camped within the distant wood line in the picture above.
As morning
came, they continued their advance and collided with Lee's forces about two miles to the east near
the Zoan Church. Falling back to the ridge pictured to your right (the same ridge on which you would
be standing if in the picture above looking towards the distant tree line) the men of the 5th Corps
prepared to defend their ground.
[C]
However, General Hooker feared that, although he had more men total than Lee, General Sykes' lone
Division may be outnumbered at the point of attack by Stonewall Jackson's entire Corps. Meade's
other two Divisions and the men of Major General Henry Slocum's 12th Corps, also
participating in the
advance, found themselves outside of immediate supporting distance of Sykes. With Jackson moving
aggressively westward, Hooker could only assume that General Sedgwick had not been successful in
holding him in his Fredericksburg lines.
[Q]
Much to the chagrin of General Meade, General Hooker ordered all advanced Federal forces to fall
back to the ground around the Chancellor home a mile to the west. General Meade, famous for his
quick, hot temper, angrily snorting words akin to, "If he can't hold the top of the hill, how
does he expect to hold the bottom of it."
The soldiers fighting over this ground did not find the scenic, rolling fields in the vista
presented above. Instead, a dense, young forest thrived on these hills during the time of the battle.
Locals had logged these lands to provide fuel for the iron works nearby. The younger growth which
took the place of the felled trees made this ground extremely difficult to navigate.
Confederate Major General Lafayette McLaws' small force would hold this ground for the next few days.
His aggressive sparing with the Federals in his front would sufficiently distract the Union
commander to allow Lt. General Thomas Jackson to execute an audacious flank attack against the
Federal left on May 2. The following day, McLaws and his greatly outnumbered men would participate in
the offensive that would drive General Hooker back from his Chancellorsville headquarters.
[C]