These are only two battles in the entire Civil War, but countless lives were lost in each. These battles were only two months apart. The purpose of this article is to provide information on these two Civil War battles, Chancelorsville and Gettysburg. The Battle of Chancelorsville At the Battle of Chancelorsville, Hooker was the Union general and Lee was the Confederate general. Hooker had 130,000 men and Lee had 60,000 men. Hooker had more men and supplies and Lee was outnumbered. Before the battle, Hooker said, "God have mercy on General Lee, for I will have none." » On the morning of May 1, 1863, Hooker was condensing his forces while waiting for Lee to attack. That afternoon the fighting began, with Hooker and Lee having skirmishes outside Chancelorsville. Hooker then retreated to Chancelorsville to wait for Lee to attack. Lee took advantage of this and divided his forces. Lee was in charge of one group and he put Jackson in charge of the other group. Lee had 15,000 men and Jackson had 25,000 men. Jackson, the next morning, was supposed to attack Hooker's flank. At 10:00 a.m. on May 2, 1863, Jackson's force began moving toward Hooker's flank. Union scouts found Jackson and reported it to Hooker, but Hooker thought it was the Confederate retreat. By 3 p.m., Jackson had crossed the Orange Turnpike toward Hooker's flank. At 5 p.m., Jackson's force attacked Oliver O. Howard's 11th Corps near Wilderness Church. Jackson's attack was so rapid that the Union did not have time to form a line. By 8 p.m., the Union had formed a secondary line. That night, when Jackson returned to camp after a reconnaissance mission, he was shot dead by his own guards who did not recognize him. Commanding Jackson's portion of the Confederate force, then we...... middle of paper ......tt Confederates led a charge straight into the middle of the Union in the famous "Pickett's Charge" across an open field. The attack failed and the Confederates retreated to the other side to await a counterattack, but it never came. On July 4, 1863, Lee retired to Virginia. In three days, the Union lost 23,000 men and the Confederates lost 28,000 men. This was only a small portion of the number of brave men lost during the American Civil War. This was a great step forward for the United States of America, but at a very high cost. Works Cited Borrit, Garbors. "Civil war." The World Book Encyclopedia.1998 ed. Creason, Pamela B. and Larson, Rachel C. The American Republic for Christian SchoolsGreenville: South Carolina, 1988Symonds, Craig L. An Atlas of Civil War BattlefieldsBaltimore: Maryland, 1983