In the aftermath of his disastrous defeat at Fredericksburg, Major General Ambrose Burnside is fired from command of the Union Army of the Potomac after a revolt of generals in the High Command. He is replaced by his archrival, Major General Joseph Hooker - a hard drinking womanizer who also happened to be a very skilled leader on the battlefield.

Hooker quickly begins to reform the army and raise morale within its ranks. He does away with Burnside's clunky Grand Division structure and reverts back to the Corps system of higher echelon army organization. Hooker establishes unit identity by creating a badge system for the individual corps:

I Corps - A circle
II Corps - A cloverleaf
III Corps - A diamond
V Corps - A Maltese cross
VI Corps - A cross
XI Corps - A crescent
XII Corps - A star

Each division within the individual corps would also have its own identity. If you were a member of the first division of the II Corps, the cloverleaf patch on your cap would be colored red. If you were a member of the second division, it would be a white cloverleaf; and if you were a member of the third division, you would sport a blue cloverleaf on your cap.

This did two things for the infantry: 1) it made units more easily identifiable and 2) it brought a sense of unit pride to the men in each division.

When Hooker took over command of the Army of the Potomac, morale was number one on his list of priorities. The Battle of Fredericksburg had done much to destroy whatever morale boost the army had enjoyed after their victory at Antietam back in September. Desertions were at an all-time high and enlistments were at an all-time low. So Hooker put in place a furlough system that allowed men to take leave to go home and see their families. This endeared him to the men of the Army of the Potomac. As winter turned to spring, morale in the army had been boosted back to near what it was before the Battle of Fredericksburg.

And with the coming of spring, the campaign season was also about ready to get under way. Hooker was building up an army that could not only defeat the Confederate army in the field, but all but annihilate it in a single battle of decision. That is the battle that Hooker and his top generals were in the process of planning for.

His opponent was Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Ever since the conclusion of the Fredericksburg campaign, Lee and his army had remained entrenched atop the heights behind the city of Fredericksburg. Hooker and the Army of the Potomac had done nothing but stare at it from across the river all winter. Ole "Fighting Joe" as Hooker was nicknamed, was not about to attack Lee while he defended a fortified position. No. It was Hooker's intention to draw Lee out into the open and fight a battle on his terms.

For Robert E. Lee, the daring Confederate general who had stymied Union leadership time and time again since taking command in June 1862, the situation in front of Fredericksburg was dire. Due to developments along the Atlantic coast of Virginia, Lee was forced to detach two divisions from Longstreet's corps and send them to Richmond. This left him short 15,000 men and brought the strength of his army down to just 60,000 of all arms. Across the Rappahannock River sat Joe Hooker with some 135,000 men of all arms. If Hooker made an offensive move against Lee, it would be very difficult for him to parry it.

That offensive move began in late-April as Hooker constructed a genius, but complex, plan to maneuver Lee into a no-win situation. Hooker's strategy involved splitting his force into three different parts. The largest part, under Hooker's direct supervision, would march north away from Fredericksburg and would cross the river behind Lee's left flank. This move would be made with some 75,000 men. An additional 40,000 troops under Major General John Sedgwick would cross the Rappahannock in front of Fredericksburg, forcing Lee to either remain at Fredericksburg or fall back on to Richmond. If Lee chose the latter course, George Stoneman and 10,000 cavalry troopers would swing to the south and cut Lee's line of retreat/communication/supply to the Confederate capital.

It was a brilliant plan but in order for it to work, the plan required impeccable communication. To coordinate between his main force and Sedgwick back at Fredericksburg, Hooker would utilize wired telegraph communications for quick, almost instantaneous message traffic.

Hooker's Plan for the Chancellorsville Campaign

Hooker's plans got under way on April 27 as his men slowly began filing out of their Fredericksburg encampments. He had famously remarked to a journalist some days before the start of the campaign: "May God have mercy on Bobby Lee, for I shall have none." This line made it into the papers and found its way into the Confederate camp. From that time on, whenever Lee would bring up Hooker in conversation, he would contemptuously refer to him as "Mr. F.J. Hooker" - a play on his nickname, "Fighting Joe."

As Hooker ordered the campaign underway, he made a personal decision that would likely have significant ramifications for the coming battle. Hooker, a high functioning alcoholic, decided to temporarily give up drinking. Unfortunately for the Army of the Potomac, Hooker's withdrawal symptoms would begin as the two opposing armies prepared for a showdown.

The marching went smoothly those first few days and Lee remained none the wiser to the Army of the Potomac's intentions as the main body marched further and further north in an effort to get around his left flank. Union pickets skirmished with Confederate cavalry at the river fords Hooker had chosen to use to cross his army. Within a few hours they were seized and bridges began to go up. Union soldiers began to cross the river soon thereafter and the Army of the Potomac was officially on the Confederate side of the river.

Union soldiers crossing at Germanna Ford

The march was going swimmingly and Hooker was both pleased with the army's progress and the fact that Lee seemed to be acting as he wanted him to act. Hooker set up his headquarters at the Chancellor mansion, located beside a crossroads known locally as Chancellorsville.

Intelligence from Jeb Stuart's cavalry forces soon began to arrive at Lee's headquarters back at Fredericksburg of Hooker's march. Characteristic of the man, Lee acted decisively and not in the way Hooker thought he would. Suspecting that Lee would either have to fight at Fredericksburg or retreat to Richmond, Hooker never once considered the possibility that Lee would ride out and meet him in the fields and woodlots surrounding Chancellorsville.

Lee decided to leave 11,000 men under the command of Jubal Early at Fredericksburg to oppose Sedgwick's 40,000 troops across the way. The rest Lee took with him on a forced march from Fredericksburg to Chancellorsville. In the lead were troops under the command of Stonewall Jackson. As the sun set on April 30, 1863, Hooker had no idea that the balance of the Army of Northern Virginia was en route to oppose him.

The Battle of Chancellorsville was about to begin.