“Stonewall” Jackson Flank Attack – New battlefield land saved by Central Virginia Battlefields Trust
This new two-acre tract, which we call Jackson’s Flank Attack—First Wave, is a vital parcel.
This land marks the position where many XI Corps troops of the Army of the Potomac first encountered the opening wave of Jackson’s flank attack.
It will help link the many properties CVBT has preserved to the east with land saved by our friends at the American Battlefield Trust to the west.
Around midnight May 1st, 1863, Lee’s cavalry chief, “Jeb” Stuart, brought startling news: the Union right flank was exposed. Lee and Jackson began planning how to reach it, while Jackson consulted staff officers and sent his topographical engineer to scout western roads
Before dawn, Lee and Jackson studied a rough map and chose one of the boldest gambles in American military history.
Jackson would lead 27,000 men by back roads toward the Union right, while Lee used 14,000 infantry along a three-mile front to hold Hooker’s attention.
Once Jackson was in position, his attack would leave the Confederate army dangerously divided into three parts.
Early on May 2, Jackson led his column down Furnace Road. When Union scouts at Hazel Grove spotted the march, Federal artillery fired on his men and alerted Hooker. Hooker correctly saw the move as a threat to his right and warned Major General Oliver O. Howard to watch for an attack from the west. But as the morning passed, Hooker decided Lee was retreating and ordered the Third Corps to harass the rear.
Major General Daniel E. Sickles advanced from Hazel Grove toward Catharine Furnace. By mid-afternoon, his troops had overwhelmed Jackson’s rearguard near an unfinished railroad cut and captured nearly a Georgia regiment. The fighting drew about 20,000 Union soldiers away, leaving Howard’s Eleventh Corps isolated on the right.
Meanwhile, Jackson’s column moved along narrow, uncharted trails. By twice turning away from the Union line, “Stonewall” strengthened Hooker’s belief that the Confederates were retreating, then slipped through the Wilderness toward Howard’s unsuspecting troops.
Jackson continued north to the Orange Turnpike, beyond the Union right. Around 3 p.m., his men completed the 12-mile march and formed a battle line nearly two miles long, with 11 of his 15 brigades in position before the attack.
Though some Northern soldiers warned that Jackson was nearby, Eleventh Corps headquarters dismissed the reports. With little cavalry to scout the Wilderness, only two small regiments and half a New York battery faced west toward Jackson’s corps.
Late in the afternoon of May 2, 1863, wild game, turkeys, rabbits, and deer, suddenly burst from the woods west of this clearing, amusing Federal XI Corps soldiers as they prepared camp and cooked rations.
Moments later, gray-clad soldiers emerged behind them: the first wave of Jackson’s 27,000-man flank attack. As one Massachusetts soldier recalled, “Along the road it was pandemonium…and on the side of the road it was chaos.”
Howard’s men fought bravely, forming three more lines, but their position could not hold. Confederate assaults overran each stand and drove the Eleventh Corps from the field. The rout had begun, and Jackson had reached the height of his success, fame, and military glory.
Since our first acquisition in 1998 of five acres along the route of Jackson’s Chancellorsville flank attack, CVBT’s supporters have helped us acquire or assist with ten other tracts totaling over 110 acres. All ten of the most recent acquisitions have been on the south side of Route 3. These purchases have allowed us to piece together an amazing amount of road-fronting acreage over the years.
It only seems fitting that in this, CVBT’s 30th Anniversary year, yet another flank attack property, nearly across the road from the original one purchased in 1998, would become available to add to the ever-growing list of what is becoming a battlefield preservation corridor along modern Route 3.
Jackson’s bold maneuver made history. Its success helped secure the Confederate victory at Chancellorsville and shaped later decisions by both armies that influenced the war’s outcome. Military leaders still study the flank attack today.
Thanks to generous supporters across the United States, the nearly 30-year dream of preserving the Chancellorsville flank attack route is becoming a reality—one parcel at a time.
We need to raise $125,000 to preserve this property. Will you help us save it?
Together, we can carry CVBT’s 30-year legacy forward by preserving this important parcel.
Please consider supporting this campaign so future generations can experience this battlefield landscape and understand the history that still resonates today.