Chancellorsville is a historic site and

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Spotsylvania County,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, United States, about ten miles west of Fredericksburg. The name of the locale derives from the mid-19th century inn operated by the family of George Chancellor at the intersection of the Orange Turnpike and Orange Plank Road. The Battle of Chancellorsville occurred there during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

in May 1863, and the Battle of the Wilderness was fought nearby in May 1864. During the 1863 battle, Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson was wounded by friendly fire, dying eight days later on May 10, 1863, from pneumonia. Portions of both the Chancellorsville and Wilderness battlefields are protected within

Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park is a unit of the National Park Service in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and elsewhere in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, Spotsylvania County, commemorating four major battles in the American Civil ...

, although both battlefields have come under threat from development in recent years. The site of the Chancellorsville Inn, where Union Gen. Joseph Hooker had his headquarters during the 1863 battle, is preserved in the national military park, as is the site of Jackson's wounding. The site of Jackson's death is located at Guinea Station in Caroline County, south of Fredericksburg, and is also preserved as part of the park. File:WildernessChurchChancellorsville1863.jpg, Wilderness Church at Chancellorsville was the center of a stand made by Union general Schurz's division during Stonewall Jackson's surprise flank attack. File:ChancellorHouseChancellorsville1863.jpg, Ruins of the Chancellor House which was the headquarters of Federal General Joseph Hooker of the Army of the Potomac during the battle, later burned, May 1863 File:Confederate entrenchments at edge of woods, Palmer's field, on Orange Turnpike (cropped).jpg, Half stereo detail of Lt George Chancellor Co E 9th Virginia Cavalry on the Wilderness Battlefield, standing at some Confederate breastworks near Palmer's field on the Orange Turnpike – George Oscar Brown, 1866

References

Unincorporated communities in Spotsylvania County, Virginia Unincorporated communities in Virginia Stonewall Jackson {{SpotsylvaniaCountyVA-geo-stub