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==== The March to Chancellorsville ====
[[File:Chancellorsville_May2.png|thumbnail|300pxleft|250px|Map showing Jackson's flanking march to Chancellorsville.]]
General Jackson’s ideology of military strategy was to “always mystify, mislead, and surprise the enemy.”<ref>John B. Imboden, “Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah,” in ''Battles and Leaders of the Civil War'', vol. 2, edited by Clarence C. Buel and Robert U. Johnson (New York: 1888), 297.</ref>He did indeed surprise the Federal troops who were camped on the outskirts of Chancellorsville in May 1863. The general was waiting near Chancellorsville for the remaining infantry and artillery regiments under his command to complete the 12-mile flanking maneuver they began earlier on the morning of May 2, 1863. Union General Joseph Hooker cleverly moved the bulk of his troops west from Fredericksburg, Virginia into the Chancellorsville area and set-up a defensive stance. This move forced Robert E. Lee to also leave troops stationed at Fredericksburg to prevent the Yankee soldiers from making a move south toward Richmond.
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The generals led their men on a 12 mile quick, forced march throughout this warm spring day. The men in the file were unaware of their destination. Private John Casler remembered, “We could not imagine where we were going. We continued marching through the fields and woods until about three o’clock in the afternoon. The day was hot, and we marched fast ̶ ̶ the men throwing away their overcoats and blankets.” He continued, “The other two divisions were in front of ours, and we began to think Jackson was on one of his flank movements when one of his couriers came back and told our General to hurry up his command, as General Jackson was waiting for it to form in line."<ref>Casler, location 1897</ref> The Stonewall Brigade pushed on and reached the position of their first commander by late afternoon before the battle of the wilderness surrounding Chancellorsville commenced.
The men of the 11th Corps of the Union Army, commanded by Oliver O. Howard, were resting and beginning to cook their evening meals. They were situated on the right flank and were wholly unaware that Jackson’s men were poised to attack. Initially, deer, rabbits, and other forest denizens scurried from the woods past the men of the 11th Corps. What followed was a massive attack that consisted of “a front two miles wide and three divisions deep.”<ref>James McPherson, ''Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988),642</ref>The Union flank crumbled for two miles and never fully recovered. Hooker constructed an ersatz battle line from troops that had never before fought together and soon found his position untenable. Jackson understood the severity of the Union’s position and thought it strategically prudent to sever the two separated Union forces by inserting his troops between the Union positions in Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. A masterful tactician and meticulous planner, Jackson deemed it wise to reconnoiter in front of his lines to determine the most expeditious way to encircle the enemy.
== Death of Jackson ==
