Peninsula Campaign Cont.

In spite of this, the Confederate retreat gave the much needed victory that Lincoln had waited for. It was then that he announced the Emancipation Proclamation.

Fredericksburg:

Lincoln was unimpressed with McClellan because he rested after the successful defence of Antietam and he was replaced by General Ambrose E. Burnside who planned to attack Lee at Fredericksburg in Virginia, on the Rappahhannock River. The Confederates, however, had strong defences with a line of fortified hills called Marye's Heights. On December 13, Burnside ordered his men to storm the hills in a courageous but futile attack. His troops were cut down with ease. Over twelve thousand Union soldiers were killed or injured, and the Northern army was forced to retreat. Demoralized, Burnside requested that he be relieved of his own command.

Chancellorville:

Lincoln chose General Joseph "Fighting Joe" Hooker to replace Burnside as commander of the Army of the Potomac. In spring, 1863, this army numbered more than one hundred and twenty thousand men. Lee, with his sixty thousand battle hardened veterans, still held the Rappahannock River. While Hooker occupied Lee at Fredericksburg, he sent a small force to

attack the Confederate flank (side). This maneuver began on April 27 and could have been successful but for Hooker's hesitation. On April 30 he withdrew his flanking troops to build a defensive position in the small town of Chancellorville.

This was a bad move, because on the next day, Lee cleverly moved and attacked Hooker. He sent "Stonewall" Jackson to attack the right flank while he struck in the front. This attack almost cut the Northern army into two, but the Union troops were organised enough to set up a defensive line. Hooker retreated four days later. The Confederate victory however, cost the life of "Stonewall" Jackson, Lee's most brilliant General. He was shot accidentally by his own men. His left arm had to be amputated, and Lee told Jackson's chaplain "...He has lost his left arm, but I have lost my right arm." Jackson, wounded on May 2, died from pneumonia and the effects of the amputation on the 10th.