Jackson's Flank Attack - Chancellorsville VA
N 38° 18.929 W 077° 40.872
18S E 265589 N 4244221
On this quiet meadow, Stonewall Jackson led one of most famous and successful Confederate attacks during the Civil War.
Waymark Code: WM8H01
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 04/01/2010
Views: 7
During the Chancellorsville campaign in May 1863, the 11th Corps of the Army of the Potomac under General Oliver Howard was encamped near the Orange Turnpike (today's Route 3). General 'Stonewall' Jackson deployed 30,000 troops of the Confederate 2nd Corps just beyond their right flank and along the highway. On the evening of May 2, Jackson led one of the most famous and successful attacks of the Civil War. His men, bursting through the woods and driving all sorts of wildlife before them into the Union camps, took the Federals by surprise. The 11th Corps was fairly new and composed of German soldiers. They broke rank and ran. Even though officers were able to restore order, the 11th Corps earned the moniker, the "Flying Dutchmen".
Today, there is a quiet rolling landscape amid farmland where the battle once raged and Jackson urged General A.P. Hill forward to cut off Union supply lines at the Rappahannock River from Wilderness Church that stood here near the woods. A short dirt road that turns off Rt. 3 leads to an NPS spot with 3 historical signs documenting the attack in this area and the Flying Dutchmen.