Jackson’s Flank Attack at Chancellorsville, including the location where
the Stonewall Brigade bivouacked on May 2, 1863. Start adding content here.
History
The fighting that raged over the ground we’re working to preserve pitted the 28,000 soldier-strong assault force of Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson against the Army of the Potomac’s Eleventh Corps. Believing reports that Jackson’s marching force was in retreat rather than positioning to make the attack, orders preparing the Federal regiments, brigades, and divisions to make adjustments went unsent. The results were devastating to the Eleventh Corps. Despite several pockets of resistance that put up noble efforts to check Jackson’s assault force, the Federals were all eventually forced out of any brief strongholds. These 44 acres were of particular significance in that unfolding drama. In addition to the killed, wounded, and missing Union troops, soldiers from the brigades of Doles, Evans, and Colquitt in the Army of Northern Virginia, also fell on this ground. It is named “Stonewall Brigade III” because they bivouacked here on the night of May 2, 1863.
The Stonewall Brigade tracts would have been crossed by many of the retreating soldiers of the XI Corps. They were pursued by Doles’ GA Brigade in the front line of the attack, then Warren’s VA Brigade and Colquitt’s GA Brigade. In the evening unit’s from A.P. Hill’s 3rd Corps would pass to the front and these tracts bore soldiers from Lane’s NC Brigade, and McGowan’s SC Brigade. Paxton’s VA Brigade – the famous “Stonewall” Brigade – was posted there during the overnight hours.
Preservation Story
There are numerous benefits to saving these acres. Doing so will maintain the historical integrity and current rural state of this historic greenspace, preserving these acres of ground also helps tie several other previous Chancellorsville battlefield acquisitions together. In addition, when purchased, interpreted, and opened, this land will be an invaluable resource for Civil War enthusiasts, as well as the general public, to learn about our nation’s shared past. Finally, and importantly, saving this land will serve as a worthy tribute to the men who fought and died on it.
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