Battle of Chancellorsville • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments & Markers • The Armies

Slocum’s Line is Stop 7 on the Battle of Chancellorsville Auto Tour. It is on Slocum Drive east of Stuart Drive.

Union Major General Henry Slocum’s Twelfth Corps built and held earthworks here from May 1 to May 3, when they were finally forced to retreat to the Chancellorsville clearing by relentless Confederate attacks. Remnants of the trenches are still visible.

The Union Center wayside marker

The Union Center wayside marker is at Stop 7 on the south side of Slocum Drive.

Text from the marker:

The Union Center

Upon reaching Chancellorsville on April 30, 1863, General Joseph Hooker deployed the Army of the Potomac in a defensive perimeter around the intersection. General Henry W. Slocum’s Twelfth Corps held the center of the Union line. For three days his troops entrenched, creating a sturdy earthwork screened by a line of fallen trees known as an abatis. The trench in front of you is a remnant of that fortified line.

At first the Confederates did not test Slocum’s position, but on May 3 Lee ordered a general assault. While Virginians led by General William Mahone attacked these works in front, Confederate artillery on the Orange Plank Road and at Hazel Grove sent shells screeching into Slocum’s line from the rear. The Twelfth Corps gamely held its ground, but as the hours passed, its supply of ammunition ran low. At 9 a.m., Slocum ordered a retreat.

“During the night (I) received instructions to fell the timber in front for the purpose of forming an abatis, which was improved on afterwards by the men building a breastwork, and throwing the dirt up with bayonets, swords, tin plates, and many using nothing but their hands, completing an intrenchment which resisted repeated attacks of the enemy in front.”

Colonel Charles Candy, Twelfth Corps

 From the caption to the drawing:

Pennsylvania troops fight along this line, May 3, 1864

Map and directions to Stop 7

Directions to the next stop:
It is about 3.2 miles to Stop 8. Continue east on Slocum Drive until it ends at Old Plank Road. Turn left and continue 0.15 mile to Plank Road, Virginia Route 3. Turn left (west) onto the divided highway and continue 2.7 miles, passing the Orange Plank Road intersection. (Yes, they have a lot of plank roads.) The driveway to Stop 8 is on the right, with the stop at the end of the 0.15 mile drive.