America’s Civil War: XI Corps Fight During the Chancellorsville Campaign

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At 8 a.m. on May 2, 1863, Major General Joseph Hooker, commander of the Union Army of the Potomac, reined in his horse about 2 1/2 miles west of Chancellorsville, Virginia, and studied the XI Corps’ position. Nearby, on the Orange Turnpike, a road connecting Fredericksburg and Orange Court House, stood the XI’s new commander, Major General Oliver O. Howard. Though the troops cheered Hooker, he did not feel comfortable with either Howard or his men. Both were untested–the first as a corps commander, the second as a fighting unit.

After the Second Battle of Bull Run in August 1862, the I Corps of Maj. Gen. John Pope’s Army of Virginia became the XI Corps of Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac. During the Antietam campaign, the XI Corps remained on guard in Washington, and by the time of the Battle of Fredericksburg, the XI Corps had been combined with the XII Corps into a Grand Division led by Maj. Gen. Franz Sigel, though Sigel’s command did not see action at that Union debacle.

Even though 16 of the XI Corps’ 27 regiments had seen combat, they had fought in actions considered ‘minor’ by the survivors of Antietam and Fredericksburg, and the corps was held in contempt. In many cases, the hostility was based on nothing more than prejudice. It was a common but erroneous belief that regiments composed of German immigrants made up the corps. Actually, close to 50 percent of the corps were American citizens by birth, and a large portion of the foreign-born were naturalized citizens.

After he took command, Hooker disbanded Sigel’s Grand Division. Unhappy with the change, Sigel submitted a letter of resignation on February 12, 1863, and on March 31 Hooker announced that Howard ‘being the senior major-general not in command of a corps is temporarily assigned to the command of the XI Corps.’

At age 33, Howard was Hooker’s youngest corps commander. A devout teetotaler, Howard had fought at Antietam and Fredericksburg and earlier at Fair Oaks, where he was severely wounded, resulting in the amputation of his right arm. But to the men of the XI Corps, their new commander was unacceptable. The loyalty and spirit reflected in their boast, ‘I fights mit Sigel,’ was replaced with suspicion and distrust between Howard and his troops. The situation soon became worse.

At Hooker’s request, Brig. Gen. Charles Devens, Jr., a Massachusetts blue blood, left his VI Corps brigade and took the helm of Howard’s 1st Division on April 20; Brig. Gen. Nathaniel C. McLean, the division’s temporary commander since January, returned to lead the division’s 2nd Brigade. That was an unpleasant surprise, particularly to the Ohio regiments that made up the brigade and had served with McLean since early 1862.

As Hooker’s inspection party approached the region west of Chancellorsville, McLean’s brigade cheered the general. The troops were in high spirits because they had just been part of a successful turning movement that placed three Federal corps in General Robert E. Lee’s rear, forcing the Army of Northern Virginia to either flee or fight. Characteristically–but evidently to Hooker’s surprise–Lee chose the latter.

By May 1, five Federal corps were at or near Chancellorsville in Virginia’s Wilderness, an eerie, sparsely populated region of thick second-growth forest. From west to east were aligned the XI, III, XII, II and V corps. Below Fredericksburg, the I and VI corps were across the Rappahannock River. On April 30 they had held Lee in place while Hooker marched past the Confederate left and crossed the river. Except for Maj. Gen. Jubal A. Early’s division, Confederate forces had quickly marched west toward Chancellorsville. After the Southerners clashed with Federals east of Chancellorsville on the afternoon of May 1, the Union commander reasoned that if Lee wanted to continue the fight, he would have to do so on ground chosen by Hooker. ‘Fighting Joe’ voluntarily gave up the initiative, had his troops at Chancellorsville dig in and waited for events to unfold in his favor.

Tags: 19th Century, America's Civil War, American Civil War, Historical Conflicts, Historical Figures

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