Virtual Tour Stop, Hazel Grove

Hazel Grove was a high plateau clear of trees with a narrow corridor of open ground connecting it to the clearing around Fairview and Chancellorsville. In the 1970's this was the first area to undergo historic scene restoration on any battlefield in the National Park Service. The narrow corridor connects the Confederate artillery position at Hazel Grove with the Union artillery positions at Fairview and Chancellorsville.

 

The key spot on the May 3 battlefield was Hazel Grove. General Daniel Sickles's Union Third Corps held this high ground the previous night that separated General Lee's forces from General Jackson's men now commanded by J. E. B. Stuart. Around daylight on the 3rd, General Hooker pulled Sickles's men back to Fairview to shorten his defensive line. Confederates quickly seized the vacated plateau and concentrated artillery. The Confederate guns had a superior position to the Union cannon at Fairview and were on the flank of the Union Twelfth Corps along what is Slocum Drive.

 

Artillery at Hazel Grove

While the artillery dueled, Confederate infantry launched attack after attack upon the Union soldiers at Fairview. This was the bloodiest part of the battlefield on the third bloodiest day in American history. Around mid-morning, a shell fired from Hazel Grove struck a column on the porch of the Chancellor House. The column fell knocking General Hooker out. Soon thereafter, the Union troops and artillery withdrew to Chancellorsville and a final line near the Bullock House. A two mile trail goes from Hazel Grove to Fairview and loops back.

 

Fairview is Tour Stop #10 on the driving tour of the battlefield

Proceed to Tour Stop, Fairview