blog 7

It was may  1862. The battle of Chancellorville had begun. This battle was also know as the battle of the wilderness, because it was fought in the forests and at night.  it was a Confederate victory, but it cost them many men, including Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.  When the battle had begun, the Rebs quickly pushed the union forces under general Hooker back across the river, leaving both armies entangled and separated in the middle of the bloody forest.  The Rebs were pushing the yankee forces back so easily, that Jackson and Lee were very suspicious.  Suddenly they were attacked by artillery fire and were trapped.  However, Jackson had a plan where he would have to move his men around the Union forces and attack from behind. This was a very dangerous thing to do, and only General Jackson could be entrusted to carry it out. They marched all day, but by the time they had arrived, dusk had come.  Still Jackson pushed on, and advanced as his army attacked in the pitch darkness.  Jackson, and some men pushed ahead of the main body of troops to find the main road, instead they found the yankee trenches and retreated back quickly.  When they had arrived, Some of his centuries had mistaken them as the union cavalry and fired on Jackson. He was shot in the arm, fell off of his horse and hit head on a tree.  His men that were riding with him tried to save him, but were gunned down instead.  His left arm was amputated that very night and he was moved off the front.   he seemed to be healing in the days that followed, but that would not be the case.  I'm going to save that for later, but this chapter was called the fallen sword for good reason.  in my opinion, this was the battle that lost the south the war, just because of Jackson.   They might have won  the battle, but because of that one casualty the war was lost.  Its very sad and somber.