The Union Sixth Army Corps in the Chancellorsville Campaign

The winter of 1862-1863 found the Union Army of the Potomac in sad shape, after bloody battles, multiple defeats, lack of adequate provisions and high desertion rates. When Major General Joseph Hooker took command, he set about revamping conditions. Instructed by President Lincoln to make the destruction of General Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia the Union’s top priority, Hooker mounted the Chancellorsville Campaign. Lee’s aggressive battlefield manner coupled with Hooker’s failure to initiate an assault led to a sound defeat by Confederate forces and left Hooker—who ultimately had only himself and his lack of initiative to blame—looking for a scapegoat. Among those Hooker attempted to hold responsible was the courageous Sixth Army Corps, Major General John Sedgwick commanding, the unit responsible for the sole Union victory of the entire campaign. This history of the battlefield engagements of the Sixth Army Corps on May 3 and 4, 1863, is compiled from contemporary accounts and a variety of postwar histories.

Philip W. Parsons is an educator in Maine State School District 22. A member of several Civil War roundtables, he lives in Hampden, Maine.

Philip W. Parsons

Foreword by Mac Wyckoff

Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 221
Bibliographic Info: 39 photos, maps, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2010 [2006]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6112-7
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1022-1
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      v
Foreword by Mac Wyckoff      1
Preface      5

1. “No Advance Beyond Chancellorsville…”      9
2. “May God Help Us and Give Us Victory”      20
3. Make a Demonstration      31
4. “The Enemy Is Fleeing…”      40
5. “Between Us We Will Use Him Up”      48
6. Forward Into Battery      54
7. Second Fredericksburg      65
8 “A Force Yet to His Front”      81
9. Salem Church      94
10. “I Find Everything Snug Here”      111
11. Battle for Scott’s Ford      126
12. “An Immediate Reply Is Indispensable…”      138
13. “While Such a Spirit Prevails”      150

Epilogue      164
Appendix A: The Organization of the Armies, Spring 1863      169
Appendix B: Emblems of Valor      176
Appendix C: Deeds of Valor      178
Appendix D: Trophies of Battle      180
Appendix E: Campaign Aftermath      182
Appendix F: Chancellorsville Campaign Timeline, April 13–May 8, 1863      184
Chapter Notes      187
Bibliography      199
Index      207

“insightful analysis…recommended…worthwhile contribution”—Civil War News.