Salem Church
The Battle of Salem Church was fought on May 3 and 4, 1863 about four miles west of Fredericksburg, Virginia. It was part of the Chancellorsville campaign between Union Major General Joseph Hooker’s Army of the Potomac and Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.
Tour the Salem Church battlefield
Only small bits of the battlefield have been preserved in a sea of shopping malls and concrete, but several monuments and historical markers and the historic church itself still tell the story of the battle and the people who lived here in the Civil War.
Summary of the Battle
The Union army had attacked Lee’s position at Fredericksburg in December. It had been a disaster, with Union infantry mowed down in rows as they advanced against Lee’s men on the bluffs behind the river.
Hooker had taken over command and had rebuilt the army’s strength and morale. He also had a plan to pull Lee’s army away from its deadly defensive position and into an open fight. Hooker split his army, keeping a large force at Fredericksburg under Major General John Sedgwick while swinging the majority of his army upstream and around Lee’s flank. Lee would be caught between two pincers, forced to fall back or fight on two fronts.
The plan almost worked. Lee was surprised but decided to meet Hooker’s main army while leaving a small delaying force at Fredericksburg. Sedgwick’s Sixth Corps at Fredericksburg were able to push this force off the bluffs that had cost them so many men the previous December. They then advanced west to take the rest of Lee’s army from behind while it was engaged with Hooker. While most of the Fredericksburg defenders fell back to the south, one Confederate brigade under Brigadier General Cadmus Wilcox fell back towards Lee’s main force to delay the Union advance.
But Lee had not been idle in the meantime. In one of the most audacious moves of the war, he had split his army, sending Lieutenant General Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson on a flank move of his own. Jackson’s attack surprised and shattered Hooker’s flank. Hooker pulled back onto the defensive, pinning his hopes on Sedgwick coming up behind Lee.
But with Hooker on the defensive Lee was able to send McLaw’s Division and a brigade of Anderson’s Division to reinforce Wilcox falling back from Fredericksburg. The Confederates were able to put 10,000 men into a defensive line on a low wooded ridge centered on Salem Church, as Sedgwick advanced along the Orange Plank Road with 20,000 Federals.
The fighting on the ridge began around 3:30 in the afternoon of May 3rd when Confederate artillery opened fire on the advancing Federals. Two batteries of Union guns replied and Federal infantry advanced, expecting only a single Confederate brigade. They were surprised to find a reinforced division, but pushed forward and broke the Confederate line around the church, capturing Alabama sharpshooters who had been shooting from its second floor gallery.
But the Union attack slowed and was struck be a counterattack from Wilcox’s Alabamans that pushed the Union line back to its artillery support. The Confederate attack died out in turn and both sides came to an uneasy balance at dusk.
On the morning of May 4 Confederate troops reoccupied the bluffs in Fredericksburg and began moving up behind Sedgwick, while Lee sent more reinforcements from the main army. Sedgwick was now in the uncomfortable position that he had hoped to create for Lee; enemies in front and in the rear and quite possibly outnumbered. But lack of coordination between Confederate commanders gave him time to form a solid defensive position with both flanks anchored on the Rappahannock and a line of retreat to Banks’ Ford across the Rappahannock. A coordinated Confederate attack was finally launched by late afternoon, but after heavy fighting it failed to cut Sedgwick’s men off from the ford. It was the last combat of the Chancellorsville campaign. That night Sedgwick withdrew across the river to safety.
Sedgwick’s Sixth Corps had lost 4,600 casualties in the two days he was south of the Rappahannock River, while inflicting around 4,900 on the Confederates. Roughly half of those were suffered around Salem Church. It was a bold move for the Federals that might have destroyed Lee’s army, but once Hooker’s half of the pincers had been battered into immobility Sedgwick was in grave danger. He rightfully felt himself fortunate to have brought his corps out intact.
Map and directions to Salem Church
The Old Salem Church portion of the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields National Park is a small island in a sea of shopping centers. It is on Plank Road, Virginia Route 3, four miles west of downtown Fredericksburg and 1.5 miles west of exit 130 on Interstate 95. To reach the Old Salem Church parking area turn south from Plank Road onto Salem Church Road, then turn left briefly onto General Semmes Road, and turn left again onto Old Salem Church Road. Old Salem Church Road ends at the National Park property, marked with a National Park sign and with the parking area on the left.