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Battle Of Chancellorsville: General Hooker, Intelligence, And Poor Decisions

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Battle of Chancellorsville: General Hooker, Intelligence, and Poor Decisions Multiple studies, reviews, and accounts have been conducted on the Battle of Chancellorsville. Each describes the battle space, provides order of battle statistics, and label it General Lee’s greatest victory against the Army of the Potomac (also referred to as the Union Army and Union). This paper will include information on the battle space and force strength of the Union and Confederate Armies to establish background and general understanding of the battle. It will also explore the Army of the Potomac under the command of General Hooker during the Battle of Chancellorsville, the creation of the Bureau of Military Information (BMI), and the application of multi-source …show more content…

Following a previous defeat at Fredericksburg, the senate pressured President Lincoln for a victory. Prompted by the loss at Fredericksburg, a failure by General Burnside, the previous Union Army Commander, Lincoln appointed General Hooker to the task. According to Sears (1996), the Union Soldiers at Chancellorsville were better equipped, and clothed than their opponents (p. 130), but they suffered low morale due to the recent loss and the inability of their previous commander to strategically lead the fight. General Hooker sought to gain a victory for the Union which could have potentially elevated the popularity of the war and reinvigorate his troops. He was well equipped to seize a victory at Chancellorsville and it began with the intelligence he was able to …show more content…

He realized that there were no tools in place that could provide him with information on the Confederate Army. Furthermore, he lacked estimates of any opposing force he may come in contact with. He then, wittingly, charged Colonel Sharpe with ascertaining the location, size, and disposition of the opposing force in and around Chancellorsville (p.101). Thus, the Bureau of Military Information was created. The BMI was an operational level intelligence unit (Ibid), similar to our modern day Analysis Control Element, or ACE. The BMI conducted analysis on all sources of information then compiled that data into a single assessment for the

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