Voices of the Civil War

One of the most dramatic battles of the Civil War, Chancellorsville was Robert E. Lee's masterpiece. Outnumbered two to one, Lee violated a cardinal rule of military strategy by dividing his small army, sending Stonewall Jackson on his famous twelve-mile march around the Union flank. Charging out of the Wilderness with Rebel yells, Jackson's troops destroyed one entire corps of the Union army, and Lee drove the rest across the Rappahannock River. Lee's great victory came at great cost, however: Jackson, making a night reconnaissance, was accidentally shot by his own troops and died eight days later. And ironically, the momentum of Lee's greatest triumph pushed him to launch an aggressive campaign that led to his greatest defeat, at Gettysburg. Drawing on a wealth of new sources, including personal accounts by soldiers on both sides, Stephen Sears has written the definitive book on Chancellorsville.

"The Civil War was a tragic conflict that destroyed many lives, but for those trying to save lives the tragedy was often compounded. Military doctors labored through the smoke of battle where impossible conditions and fear of infection often forced them to resort to amputation, and most operations were performed without painkillers. Thomas Fanning Wood recorded his wartime experiences as a Confederate Army surgeon, and his recollections of those events allow us to hear a distinct voice of the Civil War."--BOOK JACKET.