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The Chancellorsville Intersection
The intersection in front of you was the focal point of the Chancellorsville Battlefield. From here roads radiated in five directions. Four of them are visible; the fifth, River Road, lies just beyond the trees to your left. From this intersection on May 1, Union troops advanced eastward (to your left) in a failed attempt to get behind the Confederates at Fredericksburg.
"Our movements up to the arrival at Chancellorsville were very successful & were well planned. Everything after that went wrong, and Fighting Joe sunk into a poor driveling cur."
-- Union Major General Henry Slocum
The Chancellor family's house dominated the intersection, which had become known as Chancellorsville. For three days Union commander Joseph Hooker directed his army from the building. But on May 3, victorious Confederates swarmed over this ground, pursuing Hooker and his defeated army as they retreated to a new line farther north - leaving behind what had become one of the most famous intersections in America. |