Battle of Chancellorsville • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments & Markers • The Armies
The “A Very Hot Place” and “Lee Renews the Attack” wayside markers are at Hazel Grove, Stop 9 on the Chancellorsville Battlefield Auto Tour.
Looking past the markers and two artillery pieces to the clearing of Fairview in the distance.
From the marker:
A Very Hot Place
At Hazel Grove, Lee’s artillerists enjoyed perhaps their greatest success of the war. No sooner had the Union army evacuated the ridge than Southern cannon appeared – first four pieces, then eight, twelve, sixteen. Within an hour more than thirty guns crowned this ridge. Eager hands rammed home charges and sent shot and shell screeching toward the center of the Union line at Fairview, 1200 yards away.
The concussion of the cannon blasts deafened some of the artillerists and caused the noses of others to bleed. Burning powder filled the air with black, acrid smoke that filled the lungs and stung the eyes. Even worse was the counter-battery fire from Fairview. Union shells exploded among the Confederate guns, disemboweling men and horses alike. It was, admitted one officer, “a very hot place.”
In the end, however, the Confederates were victorious. After five hours of fighting the Union army abandoned Fairview and retreated toward the Rappahannock River. For the men of Lee’s artillery, it had been a glorious day.
Lee Renews the Attack wayside marker
Text from the marker:
Lee Renews the Attack
Confederate artillery here supported one of the largest infantry attacks of the Civil War. At dawn “Stonewall” Jackson’s corps, now led by J.E.B. Stuart, struck the Union line from the west, in the woods to your left-front. At the same time, Lee’s forces converged on Hooker from the south and east. The Union army found itself beset on all sides.
For nearly five hours the battle ranged fiercely in the woods around you, as opposing troops attacked, retreated, and attacked again through the brush-choked thickets. It was some of the most stubborn – and bloody – fighting of the war. More than 17,500 men fell in the morning slaughter. At 10 a.m., Hooker ordered a retreat to a new line north of Chancellorsville.
Location of the Markers
The markers are on the west side of Stuart Avenue. They in the middle of the battery of artillery on display. (38°18’14.1″N 77°39’05.3″W)
(go to the main Stop 9 page)
(return to the main Chancellorsville Battlefield Auto Tour page)