re: The Will of a Southerner to a roaring Confederacy victory - The Battle of Chancellorsville

quote:

---

What was Hooker’s goal? To flank Lee’s strong defensive position at Fredericksburg and take Richmond.

---

Incorrect. Hooker's goal was to lure Lee into battle on ground of his (meaning Hooker's) own choosing. Hooker succeeded in doing that. What doomed Hooker's Chancellorsville operation was the over complicated nature of the operation itself. The Achilles heel of the whole campaign was its over reliance on technology that was still in its infancy - namely the telegraph. Hooker trusted the telegraph system with relaying orders between his field headquarters at the Chancellor Mansion and Fredericksburg.

What made Jackson's flank attack possible was the failure of Hooker's order (telling the First Corps to extend the flank of the army to the river) to reach Fredericksburg on time. Similar snafus and miscommunications with Sedgwick prevented the latter general from reaching the battlefield on time to effect Lee's rear. It also must be said that Jackson's flank attack was aided by Howard's blatant disregard of Hooker's order to dig in, citing his belief that the terrain was too impossible for a Confederate attack to succeed in his area.

Also...the battle was not lost when Jackson's attack routed the Eleventh Corps. Reynolds was able to move into line with his vaunted First Corps that evening and the Union defensive line was formidable. Lee suffered staggering losses trying to assail it the next morning. It was a miraculous coincidence that Hooker was felled by a cannon ball right at the moment of crisis. For it was in that moment that the Third Corps line began to bend under the pressure of Confederate assaults around Fairview. Right before he could order reserves forward to aid Sickles and the Third Corps, he was knocked unconscious. And that was the battle right there.

quote:

---

Incorrect. Hooker's goal was to lure Lee into battle on ground of his (meaning Hooker's) own choosing.

---

Hooker's plan for the spring and summer campaign was both elegant and promising. He first planned to send his cavalry corps deep into the enemy's rear, disrupting supply lines and distracting him from the main attack. He would pin down Robert E. Lee's much smaller army at Fredericksburg, while taking the large bulk of the Army of the Potomac on a flanking march to strike Lee in his rear. Defeating Lee, he could move on to seize Richmond.

Source Wikipedia