Why did the union lose the Battle of Fredericksburg?

Answer 1

In the Battle of Chancellorsville in the American Civil War, the Union army was defeated through a combination of primarily two factors. The first factor was the timidity of the Union general, who repeatedly over-estimated the striking capacity of the smaller Confederate Army facing his units. The second was the boldness of the Confederate General, Robert E. Lee, who cunningly took the fight to the enemy despite its greater size.

Answer 2

It was a major Confederate victory, that led the Confederates to invade Pennsylvania in order to gain a decisive victory in Union territory, which would obtain British and French acknowledgment of the Confederacy as a nation fighting for its independence.

Answer 3

Lee convinced Hooker that his smaller army would remain in a defensive posture. In the mean time, Lee sent Stonewall Jackson and his corps on a flanking march on the exposed Union right. In the afternoon, Jackson's men burst out of the woods and hit the federals like a juggernaut, and drove them from the field. Jackson was later wounded by his own men after dark, mistaken for Union cavalry, and died a few days later.

Answer 4

Great Britain had already given the Confederacy defacto recognition almost as soon as the US Civil War began. It helped the Confederacy by building warships for the South and continued to supply the South with firearms. Great Britain's position was based on sound reasoning. The South had a constitution, an army and a central government.

Answer 5

The Union problems at Chancellorsville began long before the battle. The insistence of US President Lincoln that the Confederate capital of Richmond had to be captured had already cost the Union many troops in the Eastern Theater. Now once again, Lincoln, Halleck, and the new head of the Army of the Potomac, General Joseph Hooker were to repeat earlier mistakes. To them collectively, Richmond was a "center of gravity" whose capture would practically end the war.For Halleck's part in this almost conspiracy of defeat, he continued to push Hooker towards his slavish dedication to the Jomini tactics of battle. Halleck was convinced, in particular, of operating on interior lines, which when in effect, would position Union forces to concentrate separated forces more quickly than the enemy could adjust for. Enabling a concentration of Union troops to break through weaker enemy lines.

April rains caused Hooker to abandon earlier plans. But Hooker finally did cross the Rappahannock River. Hooker was confident that he commanded the best army he had ever seen and after smashing the Army of Northern Virginia, he would march unimpeded to Richmond and end the war.

Hooker was well underway towards that goal as he marched his 73,000 troops on Lee's left flank. Hooker left another 40,000 troops to keep watch on another Lincoln nemesis, Fredericksburg. Hooker encountered some resistance and formed a defensive line at the crossroads of the town of Chancellorsville and an area of heavy thickets and underbrush. The area was known as the Wilderness. To the credit of Hooker's officer staff, they had advised continuing, convinced that their large army needed to advance. With this Union arrangement, Lee had time to figure out a solution to the clear problem Hooker's forces presented. As an aside, it's good to pause here and say that the Virginia terrain, to a certain extent softened the two to one advantage Hooker had in troops. It made planing his offensive in an area he really never wanted to be.

In addition to this predicament he himself had placed on himself, Hooker also came down with a case of the "McClellan syndrome" meaning Hooker over estimated Lee's strength and was in doubt about Lee's position.

Lee believed he had to take a chance and attack. He chose one of Hooker's flanks and divided his army. Lee sent Stonewall Jackson's forces through the thickets and broke through Hooker's right flank. The assault was a total surprise. Jackson planned on continuing his assault right through the night, but yes, there he was wounded.

Never the less, Hooker feared the destruction of his army and retreated north back over the Rappahannock River. His losses surmounted those of General Burnside at Fredericksburg. Many details of this epic battle have been left out due to space. The main point, however, was with a smaller army, Lee repulsed once again the Army of the Potomac, saved the destruction of his own army and left Richmond safe ( for the time being)

Answer 6

they killed more of the union fighters and caused them to back down.

Answer 7

The commanding general at the Battle of Chancellorsville was Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, otherwise known as Fighting Joe Hooker.

Answer 8

Because the delivery of pontoons requested by Burnside for the river-crossings was delayed, giving Lee a crucial few days to fortify the heights.

Answer 9

Lee's audacity, in a word. His much smaller army completely baffled his foe and caused Hooker to lose his nerve. Jackson's flank attack rolled up Hooker's lines.