A Midnight Conference

After Lee drove Hooker from the Chancellorsville crossroads on May 3, 1863, Hooker fell back to a new defensive line covering U.S. Ford, 3.5 miles to the rear. For two days he strengthened his defenses and waited for an attack, while Lee used Hooker's passiveness to reinforce Confederate troops fighting John Sedgwick at Salem Church. After Sedgwick retreated across the Rappahannock on May 4, Lee turned his attention back to Hooker. In a council of war, Hooker asked his corps commanders whether the army should fight Lee south of the river or withdraw. By majority vote they chose to stay and fight, but after listening quietly to their recommendation, Hooker announced that he would withdraw, a decision regarded as his last and perhaps greatest mistake of the campaign.

Virginia · United States