News & Updates
PBS will be filming at the Chancellorsville event! Jim
Hammarstrom of Blue Ridge PBS Television Broadcasting will
be filming a TV special at our Chancellorsville event.
January 11, 1863
Washington City
Abigail Elizabeth (A.E.)
Reynolds
War Correspondent New
York World
News in Washington at the
War Department is once again most disturbing, and at the
same time most hopeful. Major General Ambrose Burnside has
been replaced by Major General Joseph “Fighting Joe”
Hooker, following General Burnside’s defeat at
Fredericksburg.
The Union Army, under the
command of General Burnside, suffered horrendous
casualties in futile frontal assaults on December 13, 1862
against entrenched Confederate defenders on the heights
behind the city, bringing to an early end their campaign
against the Confederate capital of Richmond. The Union
Army has once again pulled back to position themselves for
a future assault, this time with yet another new
commander.
General Joseph Hooker has
been described as a man of great courage and fortitude and
somewhat questionable morals. However, General Hooker
promises that he will refit the Army of the Potomac and
move aggressively against General Robert E. Lee and the
Army of Northern Virginia at his most opportune
appointment.
Can this, yet another
change in the command structure of the North provide the
necessary will and conviction to bring about the end of
this terrible conflict? Only time will tell.
General Lee and his
lieutenants have also vowed to end this terrible atrocity
with the defeat of the Union Army. According to sources,
the victory at Fredericksburg has given them the impetus
to advance once again against Union forces, possibly
moving into Maryland or Pennsylvania as early as May.
General Hooker has
already issued orders to refit his army and to prepare to
march into Virginia as early as April, thus cutting of Lee
and his men from advancing further. General Hooker is
hopeful of removing Lee from his entrenched position
around Fredericksburg Virginia, forcing the gray fox to
retreat. The Union General states he will eventually win
the day, and the war, with a Union victory in Richmond.
As General Hooker
continues his plan, the War Department will do everything
in its power to insure a Union victory at this most
crucial time in the war. Another Union defeat such as
recently suffered in Fredericksburg, and as well as the
Union stalemate at Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg Maryland
this past fall, would likely lead to a Confederate victory
of the entire war. This would undoubtedly end not only the
present fighting, but all hopes of forever preserving the
Union.
Fast Forward to the
Present: Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
August 29 to 31, 2008
Come and join 2000
Reenactors in the sleepy village of Loudon Heights,
Virginia, just minutes from historic Harpers Ferry and
less than an hour from Gettysburg, for the 145th
Anniversary Reenactment of the Battle of Chancellorsville.
With in this website, all the information you, your unit
and your family will need to make plans now for this
exceptional event to be held over Labor Day weekend. If
you have ever attended an event sponsored by the
Shenandoah Alliance, then you already know how enjoyable
and positive these events are for the entire family. This
event is a non-spectator event, allowing for the
activities to be more spontaneous, conducted for the
reenactors and not the spectators.
So visit the web site
today and find out all the details. Register early as
there is a 2000 re-enactor limit and come to Harpers Ferry
for the time of your life. See you there.
Abigail E. Reynolds
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