Research for my next book, More Than Grit, is going well. I plan on visiting the Lincoln Library in Illinois next weekend. I will be sifting through collections from soldiers who fought in the Army of Tennessee. I hope to find soldiers' insight into some of Grant's battles in the Western Theater while simultaneously looking for the opinions of their commanding general. Meanwhile, I await to hear back on my dissertation if it will be considered for publication.
I am always coming across some posts on social media that inspire me to write about this week's subject. This past week, I read about the Battle of Chancellorsville, known as Robert E. Lee's greatest victory. To summarize, Joseph Hooker took command of the Union army in January of 1863 after the Union lost a terrible battle to Robert E. Lee at Fredericksburg. Hooker's initial movement against Lee's outnumbered army went well in late April. However, as the Union army situated itself just west of Fredericksburg, Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson planned a massive flank attack against the Union army on 2 May 1863. It worked well until the Union army stabilized its position. However, after a few days of indecision, Hooker decided to retreat after massive casualties on both sides.
The Army of Northern Virginia suffered close to 13,000 casualties or 22% casualties. This data has caused some to reevaluate Lee's victory, calling it a pyrrhic victory due to the high casualties sustained. It is good that this information is scrutinized and reconsidered, as historians should also act as auditors. Nevertheless, this battle did not keep Lee from continuing the offensive months later. That is likely why I disagree that it was a pyrrhic victory. A pyrrhic victory indicates that an army wins the ground but cannot sustain the offensive due to losing many men. Such was the case for Charles Cornwallis's army after the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. Even though Lee lost the Battle of Gettysburg in the following months, his men maintained high morale and put together a force of 70,000 men. Therefore, Chancellorsville was Lee's greatest victory.
No, I will not entertain the idea of Jackson being at Gettysburg.
Historical Would You Rather: Would you have rather been a part of Ferdinand Magellan’s crew or Hernando Cortes…after he burned the ships.
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