In the early morning hours of May 5th, 1863, Maj. Gen. Sedgwick's Sixth Corps, 23,000 troops with many wounded and dying in tow, retreated to this area after several days of fighting elements of Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, first at Marye's Heights in Fredericksburg and later at Salem Church and Bank's Ford. Combined losses for the Sixth Corps, including killed, wounded, and missing, totaled roughly 4,600, the highest number of casualties suffered by a Union corps in the Chancellorsville Campaign. Union artillery was positioned nearby overlooking Scott's Ford and Bank's Ford, where it exchanged fire with Confederate batteries across the Rappahannock River.