Video: 'The Battle Of Chancellorsville | Civil War Combat (S1, E7) | Full Episode'

(Friday, May 1, 1863, 11:20 a.m. local time; during the Battle of Chancellorsville, part of the American Civil War) — The Battle of Chancellorsville — a major battle of the American Civil War — began today in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, near the village of Chancellorsville, pitting Union Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker’s Army of the Potomac against an army less than half its size, Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.

Video: 'The Battle of Chancellorsville'

Hooker advanced today from Chancellorsville toward Lee, but the Confederate general split his army in the face of superior numbers, leaving a small force at Fredericksburg to deter Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick from advancing, while he attacked Hooker’s advance with about four-fifths of his army.

Video: 'Ken.Burns.The.Civil.War.4of9.Simply.Murder.' (Battle of Chancellorsville at 43:08)

Despite the objections of his subordinates, Hooker withdrew his men to the defensive lines around Chancellorsville, ceding the initiative to Lee.

The battle would rage for the next five days.