Artillery Duel

On the morning of May 3, 1863, Union artillery at Fairview endured the most intense artillery bombardment of the battle as more than 40 Confederate guns at Hazel Grove, visible 1,200 yards ahead, concentrated fire on 34 Union cannon there. After five hours of fighting, the Union guns withdrew, and the Union infantry slowly fell back into the Chancellorsville clearing, leaving behind devastating carnage. Corporal Rice C. Bull of the 123rd New York Infantry recalled reaching the brow of the hill where the cannon had been in action and seeing nearly a hundred horses scattered around the rear of the field, lying on their backs with their feet in the air and their bodies enormously swollen, a gruesome reminder that not only men had suffered and died.

Lake Wilderness, Virginia · United States