It was a strategy that few generals have dared to practice, fewer still to acknowledge.
On the 4th of May the great Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan and advanced toward Chancellorsville.

Lee moved two divisions of his army to oppose them.

Next morning the battle began at daybreak on the old ground where Lee had defeated Hooker the year before.

All day long the division of Ewell supported the attack of the army corps of Sedgwick and Hancock.
Along a front of six miles, in the midst of the thick forest, the battle raged the whole of the day.

The Confederates, in spite of the utmost efforts of the Northerners, although re-enforced in the afternoon by the army corps of General Burnside, held their position, and when night put an end to the conflict the invaders had not gained a foot of ground.
As soon as the first gleam of light appeared in the morning the battle recommenced.