Military
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On the morning of May 3, 1863, more than 17,500 men were killed or wounded in the woods and fields around Chancellorsville, a rate of one man shot every second for five hours. Entrenched Union lines in front of the intersection collapsed, and Confederate forces surged forward to seize it. About 25 Union cannons in the clearing made a valiant effort to cover the retreat, but Confederate crossfire soon smothered them. Major William H. Stewart of the 61st Virginia Infantry recalled the confusion and horror as the Chancellor house burned, men lay in the agonies of death, and the ground and roadsides were strewn with bread, empty haversacks, cartridge boxes, hundreds of knapsacks, and thousands of muskets.
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Lake Wilderness, Virginia · United States
