For the first two days of May 1863, distant gunfire from Chancellorsville and Fredericksburg reached Salem Church, where local farmers likely took comfort that the fighting seemed far away. That changed on the afternoon of May 3, when Federal forces broke through at Fredericksburg and moved west on the Orange Turnpike. Robert E. Lee quickly moved east with 8,000 men to stop them, and the clash came on the ridge at Salem Church, the first substantial high ground west of Fredericksburg. Confederates held a mile-long line centered on the church and, after a brief but furious battle, repulsed the Federals. To fight there, Lee divided his army at Chancellorsville, where 43,000 men faced Hooker’s main force of more than 80,000. The gamble succeeded: Lee defeated the Federals at Salem Church, then returned to Chancellorsville to confront Hooker’s main force again, and Hooker retreated on May 6.