The Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia from May 1 to May 4, 1863 by David Cliffel

for Fire and Fury at 200 men per stand and 8 artillery pieces per stand.


The battle of Chancellorsville has been called Lee's Greatest Triumph, and rightly so. Outnumbered 110,000 to 60,000, Lee manages to defeat Hooker's Army of the Potomac. Using quick deployments of Union troops, Hooker is able to catch Lee without a large portion of his artillery, and without Longstreet, one of his two corps commanders, and without Hood's and Pickett's divisions which were in North Carolina. Instead of using the downstream crossing that Burnside had tried five months earlier, Hooker successfully flanks the Confederate position on the Rappahannock on the left by crossing at the upstream fords.

Lee is confronted by a large union force still opposite him at Fredericksburg, while Hooker's major thrust has threatened the collapse of his left flank.

Over a four day span, the Hooker's aggressive pincer attack fails to materialize, and Jackson, Lee's only Corps commander present, takes half of the confederate army and marches around Hooker's flank, resulting in the nearly complete destruction of the XI Union Corps. With the great victory comes a horrible price as Jackson is wounded (mortally), and his second, A.P. Hill is also wounded.

May 3rd finds JEB Stuart in command of half of the Army of Northern Virginia, and he tries to continue the rout of the day before. Meanwhile, the Union forces in front of Fredericksburg assault Marye's Heights and succeed in driving out the thinnly deployed confederates of Early's Division.

Sedgewick, the Union Corps commander leading this assault tries to link up with Hooker, but is stopped by Wilcox's Brigade at Salem Church. On the next day, May 4th, Early, McLaws, and Anderson concentrate on Sedgewick's exposed position at the Battle of Bank's Ford. That night Sedgewick withdrawals ending the battle of Chancellorsville.


    Chancellorsville Scenarios
  1. May 1st, Advance into Lee's Rear
  2. May 2nd & 3rd, Jackson's Flank Attack
  3. May 3rd, Sedgewick's Advance to Salem Church
  4. May 4th, Sedgewick pinned at Bank's Ford

The order of battle for each of the scenarios can be taken from the listing of the troops available in each scenario, ( feel free to keep a running count of losses in a multigame campaign over the course of the four days).

Complete Order of Battle

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