American History - Part 101 - Lincoln -  Lee hammers Hooker at Chancellorsville - Stonewall killed
Channel: ListenAndReadAlong
Date: 2013-06-15

Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION -- American history in VOA Special English.
General Joe Hooker was the new commander of the Army of the Potomac. He replaced General Ambrose Burnside, when Burnside suffered a terrible defeat at Fredericksburg, Virginia, at the end of 1862. Burnside had replaced General George McClellan, when McClellan kept refusing to obey President Lincoln's orders.
Hooker had one hundred thirty thousand men. They were well-trained and well-supplied.
The Confederate force opposing Hooker's was under the command of General Robert E. Lee. Lee had only about sixty thousand men. They did not have good equipment. And their supplies were low. But their fighting spirit was high. They had defeated the Union army before. They were sure they could do it again.
Lee's army still held strong defensive positions along high ground south of Fredericksburg. This was almost halfway between the capitals of the opposing sides: Washington and Richmond.
On the last day of April, 1863, the Union force reached Chancellorsville. Chancellorsville was a crossroads near the edge of the wilderness. The next day, the soldiers would be in open country. There, General Hooker could make the best use of his men.
Hooker was extremely pleased. Everything was going as he had planned. He told his officers: "I have Lee in one hand and Richmond in the other."
The next day, Union soldiers began moving out of Chancellorsville and the wilderness. They did not get far. They ran into several thousand Confederate soldiers. Lee had sent them to slow the Union force.
Hooker sent new orders: break off the fight. Return to Chancellorsville. Put up defensive positions.
Lee met that night with his top general, Stonewall Jackson. They discussed the best way to attack the Union force.
The center of the Union line was strong. The right side was not. Jackson was sure he could get around behind it. Lee asked Jackson how many men he would take. "All of them," Jackson answered. "28,000."
Jackson's men began to leave the next morning. Union soldiers watched as they marched away. General Hooker thought Lee was withdrawing.
It took Jackson only half a day to get behind the Union force. He spent a few more hours putting his troops into position. Then he attacked. It was six o'clock in the evening.
The right end of the Union force was not prepared for an attack. The soldiers could not believe their eyes when they saw Confederate troops running out of the woods behind them. Many Union soldiers were killed or wounded. Thousands fled.
The sun went down. The fighting continued under a bright moon. The Confederate troops kept moving forward. The Union troops kept falling back. One northern soldier wrote later: "Darkness was upon us. Jackson was upon us. And fear was upon us."
Jackson seemed to be everywhere. He rode his horse among his men, urging them forward. He would not let the Union force escape.
As Jackson and some of his officers rode into a cleared area of the woods, shots rang out. The bullets came from Confederate guns. The Confederate soldiers thought they were firing on Union officers.
Jackson fell from his horse. Two bullets had smashed his left arm. Another bullet had hit his right hand. He was hurried to the back of the line. A doctor quickly cut off his left arm and stopped the heavy bleeding.
Jackson seemed to get better. Then he developed pneumonia. He was unconscious most of the time. He seemed to dream of battle, and shouted commands to his officers. Then he grew quiet. He opened his eyes and said, "Let us pass over the river and rest in the shade of the trees."
The great Confederate General, Stonewall Jackson, was dead.
While Jackson lay dying, the battle of Chancellorsville continued.
Robert E. Lee's Confederate army was much smaller than Joe Hooker's Union army. But for five days, Lee kept part of his army moving between Chancellorsville and Fredericksburg. Wherever the Union army attacked, Lee quickly added more men to his lines. The Union army could not break through.
The fighting was taking place on the south side of the Rappahannock River. The Union army's supply lines were on the north side.
Spring rains were beginning to make the Rappahannock rise. General Hooker did not want to get trapped without food and ammunition. So he ordered his men back across the river.
The South had won the battle of Chancellorsville. Robert E. Lee was sure of that. Once again, he had forced back the Army of the Potomac. 
Lee, however, would find it more difficult to replace his soldiers. The South was running out of manpower. Every Confederate army needed men -- more and more men. Yet fewer and fewer southern boys were willing to become soldiers.