The Greatest Brigade by Thomas J. Craughwell

Author:Thomas J. Craughwell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rockport Publishers
Published: 2011-04-06T04:00:00+00:00

THE CHANCELLOR FAMILY’S RED BRICK HOUSE WITH ITS LARGE TWO-STORY FRONT PORCH BECAME HEADQUARTERS FOR UNION GENERAL JOSEPH HOOKER. AT ONE POINT, HOOKER WAS STRUCK UNCONSCIOUS WHILE LEANING AGAINST ONE OF THE COLUMNS ON THE FRONT PORCH AFTER IT WAS SHATTERED BY A CONFEDERATE SHELL. UNFORTUNATELY FOR THE CHANCELLOR FAMILY, THE HOUSE DID NOT SURVIVE THE BATTLE.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

IN THIS MAP, ROBERT KNOX SNEDEN SHOWS THE POSITION OF THE ARMIES AT CHANCELLORSVILLE AT 8 IN THE MORNING OF MAY 3, 1863. ALSO VISIBLE ON THE MAP IS THE CHANCELLOR FAMILY’S HOUSE. CONFEDERATE ARTILLERY KILLED NEARLY ALL THE GUNNERS OF THE 5TH MAINE BATTERY, POSITIONED IN THE CHANCELLORS’ YARD. THE IRISH BRIGADE HELPED THE SURVIVORS KEEP THE MAINE GUNS FROM FALLING INTO ENEMY HANDS.

VIRGINIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Sickles still occupied the high ground at Hazel Grove, a vantage point that gave the Union artillery a clear, unobstructed field of fire. Sickles could have softened up the Confederate lines with his guns, then Hooker could have sent his men smashing into Jackson’s force, then Stuart’s, and finally into Lee’s command. But Hooker had not recovered his nerve; he remained behind his breastworks. Incredibly, he even ordered Sickles to abandon Hazel Grove. Once the Union gunners pulled out, the Confederates moved in. “There has rarely been a more gratuitous gift of a battlefield,” wrote a gleeful Colonel E. Porter Alexander of Georgia. Acting swiftly, his men rolled their guns to the summit of Hazel Grove and trained them on the Union lines.

Confederate regiments stormed the Union defenses, while Confederate artillery bombarded the Union troops. It was not yet ten in the morning, and already thousands of men lay dead and wounded. Seeing the Confederate brigades under Major General Henry Heth beginning to waver, Stuart sent in reinforcements, but some of the troops, horrified by the carnage they were witnessing, hesitated to join the fight.

At the Chancellor house, Hooker stood leaning against one of the columns on the front porch. A Confederate shell shattered the column, a piece of which struck Hooker. The general fell to the ground, unconscious. When he came to, he was dazed, but for a time he insisted on staying where he was to supervise the battle. It was with some effort that his staff convinced Hooker to retire to a tent at the rear and summon his senior subordinate, Major General Darius Couch. A New Yorker who had been educated at West Point, Couch had trained as a naturalist and once led a Smithsonian Institution–sponsored scientific expedition into northern Mexico. From his cot, Hooker told Couch, “I turn the command of the army over to you. You will withdraw it and place it in the position designated on this map.”

As Couch emerged from the tent with the map clutched in his hand, a small group of officers crowded around him. “We shall have some fighting now!” exclaimed Colonel N.H. Davis. Instead, to the shock and frustration of the officers, Couch issued orders for retreat.

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