It happened exactly 163 years ago today. The date was May 1, 1863. The place was Chancellorsville, VA. Chancellorsville was an important crossroads between Fredericksburg and Gordonsville. The name is a misnomer -- there was no "ville" there, just a large 2-story brick building with pillared porches.
Today you'll find neither ville nor building, only a few bricks that mark the outline of the structure.
Union commander Joseph Hooker reached Chancellorsville around 6:00 p.m., promising that the "enemy must either ingloriously fly or come out from behind his entrenchments and give us battle on our ground, where certain destruction awaits him." The once quiet rural crossroads was humming with activity. Hooker continued to boast: "God Almighty cannot prevent me from destroying the Rebel army." Even the most irreligious were troubled by this blasphemy. One wrote, "There was too much boasting and too little planning, swagger without preparation." Soon Lee and Jackson would put an end to the Union swaggering.
Lee never lacked audacity, and Chancellorsville was his most audacious battle yet. The Battle of Chancellorsville was one of the bloodiest of the war. Federal casualties numbered 17,287. Confederate casualties were 12,764. But Lee's risky decision to divide his army in the presence of a much larger force -- the Federals numbered 133,868, the Confederates 60,298 -- resulted in a significant Confederate victory. Lee, flushed with success, reorganized his army and began what was to become the Gettysburg Campaign a month later. Hooker, who began the Chancellorsville Campaign believing in certain victory, lost the battle mostly through the collapse of his own confidence. When Lincoln learned of the defeat he exclaimed "My God! My God, what will the country say!" Lincoln relieved Hooker and replaced him with George Meade.
Everything was perfect for the Federals at the Chancellorsville crossroads until the one thing they hadn't planned on happening. How much like life.