Salem Church, May 3, 4:30pm
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
Salem Church, Part IV: While Wilcox performed stalling maneuvers along the Plank Road, Confederate reinforcements under McLaws arrived at Salem Church. When Wilcox’s brigade fell back to Salem Church the Federal soldiers of Brig. Gen. William T. H. Brooks surged ahead expecting only one brigade at their front. Instead, they faced 9,000 reinforcements under McLaws and a fierce engagement ensured around Salem Church. A Confederate countercharge stopped the Federal advance and forced Sedgwick to take up a defensive position on the evening of May 3.
Images
Expecting only Wilcox in front of them, Brooks' brigades surged forward to attack Wilcox at Salem Church. There the Federal soldiers met the new reinforced line of McLaws' brigades. (Map by Kathleen Thompson)
Wilcox led a countercharge that broke the Union momentum and force Sedgwick's VI Corps to stop on the Orange Plank Road for the night of May 3 (map by Kathleen Thompson)
Brigadier General William T. Wofford (Confederate)
Brigadier General Joseph B. Kershaw (Confederate)
Brigadier General Paul J. Semmes (Confederate)
Brigadier General William Mahone (Confederate)
Brigadier General Cadmus Wilcox (Confederate)
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Major General Lafayette McLaws (Confederate)
Brigadier General Joseph J. Bartlett (Union)
Colonel Henry W. Brown (Union)
Brigadier General David Russell (Union)
Brigadier General William T. H. Brooks (Union)
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Brigadier General Frank Wheaton (Union)
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Major General John Newton (Union)
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Report of Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws, page 1 (Confederate)
Report of Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws, page 2
Report of Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws, page 3
Report of Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws, page 4
Report of Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws, page 5
Report of Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws, page 6
Report of Brig. Gen. Joseph J. Bartlett, page 1 (Union)
Report of Brig. Gen. Joseph J. Bartlett, page 2
Report of Brig. Gen. Joseph J. Bartlett, page 3
Report of Brig. Gen. Joseph J. Bartlett, page 4
Report of Brig. Gen. Joseph J. Bartlett, page 5
Reports of Brig. Gen. Paul J. Semmes, page 1 (Confederate)
Reports of Brig. Gen. Paul J. Semmes, page 2
Reports of Brig. Gen. Paul J. Semmes, page 3
Reports of Brig. Gen. Paul J. Semmes, page 4
Reports of Brig. Gen. Paul J. Semmes, page 5
Report of William Penrose, commanding Brown's New Jersey Brigade at the end of Salem Church, page 1 (Union)
Report of William Penrose, commanding Brown's New Jersey Brigade at the end of Salem Church, page 2
Report of William Penrose, commanding Brown's New Jersey Brigade at the end of Salem Church, page 3
Report of Brig. Gen. Joseph B. Kershaw, page 1 (Confederate)
Report of Brig. Gen. Joseph B. Kershaw, page 2
Report of Brig. Gen. Joseph B. Kershaw, page 3
Report of Brig. Gen. Joseph B. Kershaw, page 4
Report of Brig. Gen. Joseph B. Kershaw, page 5
Report of Brig. Gen. Frank Wheaton, page 1 (Union)
Report of Brig. Gen. Frank Wheaton, page 2
Report of Brig. Gen. Frank Wheaton, page 3
Report of Brig. Gen. Frank Wheaton, page 4
Reports of Brig. Gen. William Mahone, page 1 (Confederate)
Reports of Brig. Gen. William Mahone, page 2
Reports of Brig. Gen. William Mahone, page 3
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
Falling back a distance of about 1,000 yards between the tollgate and the ridge where Salem Baptist Church and accompanying schoolhouse stood, Wilcox reformed his line across the Plank Road. The 8th and 10th Alabama were south of the road, the 11th and 14th Alabama were north of the road, and companies of the 9th Alabama occupied the church and schoolhouse, with the rest of the regiment in reserve behind the 10th. As Wilcox took his position on the Plank Road, McLaws filed in with the reinforcements. The brigades of Brigadier Generals William T. Wofford and Joseph B. Kershaw moved to the right of Wilcox, south of the road, and the brigades of Brigadier Generals Paul J. Semmes and William Mahone went north, extending the Confederate line towards Banks’ Ford.
Brooks’s Division did not know that the Confederate line was suddenly 9,000 men stronger. Expecting only Wilcox’s brigade in front of them and with the goal to reach Chancellorsville quickly, the Union continued forward against Salem Ridge. Trying to minimize the delay, Brooks had his division deploy into battlelines to attack Wilcox by Salem Church. To the left of the Plank Road was Bartlett’s Brigade: the 5th Maine, 96th Pennsylvania, and 121st New York, with the 16th New York behind as reserve. To Bartlett’s right, spanning the road, was Brown’s Brigade: the 23rd New Jersey, 1st New Jersey, and 3rd New Jersey, with the 2nd New Jersey and part of the 3rd New Jersey ahead of the line as skirmishers. Brooks also ordered two regiments from Brig. Gen. David Russel’s Third Brigade to Brown’s right, the 95th Pennsylvania and 119th Pennsylvania.
Still unaware that Wilcox had been reinforced, Brooks’ line moved forward. Initially the Union line struggled with the dense brush and fence lines between the tollgate and the clearing around Salem Church. Once they got to the clearing the Union soldiers were able to push the Confederate skirmish line back and capture the Confederate men inside both the schoolhouse and the church. As the Federal line surged past the church, the Confederate line of reinforcements finally revealed itself and engaged with Brooks’ oncoming men.
The fighting quickly became heavy on both sides of the Plank Road as the Federal line tried to press forward against the Confederates. At one point the 121st New York managed to break Wilcox’s line and advance. However, the 8th Alabama wheeled and fired into the New Yorkers, making it difficult to hold their progress. As the Union line became stalled against the Confederates on Salem Ridge the 15th New Jersey moved up the Plank Road and joined the fight there and Newton’s Division rushed to extend the Union line on the right of the road. The 2nd Rhode Island and 10th Massachusetts entered the battle on the right of Brooks’ division.
With the reinforced Confederate line able to withstand the Federal assault, Wilcox ordered his men into a counterattack which was joined by the 10th and 51st Georgia of Semmes’ Brigade. The Confederate charge was successful in breaking the Federal attack and forcing the Union regiments back along the Plank Road. Wilcox’s troops successfully recaptured Salem Church, liberating their captured comrades there, and captured Union detachments around the church yard. The Union assault turned into an all-out retreat as the Confederates pursued them back down the slope towards the tollgate. Wilcox’s counterattack was stopped by Union artillery fire from Sedgwick’s position near the tollgate.
While Wilcox’s countercharge successfully pushed back the Federal force on the Plank Road, to the north of the road the fight continued. The 53rd and 50th Georgia did not participate in the counterattack on the road because they were heavily engaged with the 15th New Jersey, 2nd Rhode Island, and 10th Massachusetts. Mahone’s brigade, to the Confederate left of Semmes also did not charge because Newton was sending more regiments from his division to extend the line. The 102nd and 93rd Pennsylvania from Brig. Gen. Frank Wheaton’s Third Brigade tried advancing to the right of where the 10th Massachusetts was engaged, but they came under heavy fire on their flank from Semmes’ Georgians. Newton then sent the 7th Massachusetts and 139th Pennsylvania in support to help cover Wheaton’s withdrawal to safety.
Wilcox and Semmes, having forced a Union retreat and under heavy artillery fire from the Federal position by the tollgate, pulled their soldiers back to the main line on Salem Ridge. Sedgwick quickly moved fresh troops to the front in preparation for another assault, but daylight was almost gone and the attack did not go forward. Instead, Sedgwick had to recalculate. Wilcox’s action had worked. He had delayed the Union advance long enough for Lee to send reinforcements and the Confederates had successfully blocked the road to Chancellorsville. Sedgwick’s VI Corps would not reach Hooker on May 3. At Salem Church the VI Corps lost 1,523 casualties and the Confederates lost approximately 650.
Sources
Furgurson, Ernest B. Chancellorsville, 1863: The Souls of the Brave. New York: Vintage Books, 1992.
Gallagher, Gary W. The Battle of Chancellorsville. National Park Civil War Series. Eastern National, 2007.
Parsons, Philip W. The Union Sixth Army Corps in the Chancellorsville Campaign: A Study of the Engagements of Second Fredericksburg, Salem Church and Banks’s Ford, May 3-4, 1863. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2006.
Sutherland, Daniel E. Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville: The Dare Mark Campaign. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1998.
Map by Kathleen Thompson
Map by Kathleen Thompson
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