These were only two battles in the entire Civil War, but countless lives were lost in each. These battles were only two months apart. The goal of this article is to provide information on these two Civil War battles, Chancelorsville and Gettysburg. The Battle of Chancelorsville At the Battle of Chancelorsville, Hooker was the Union general and Lee was the Confederate general. Hooker had 130,000 men and Lee had 60,000. Hooker had more men and supplies and Lee was outnumbered. Before the battle Hooker said, "May God have mercy on General Lee, for I will have none." On the morning of May 1, 1863, Hooker was condensing his forces waiting for Lee to attack. Fighting began that afternoon, with Hooker and Lee skirmishing outside Chancelorsville. Hooker then retreated to Chancelorsville to wait for Lee to attack. Lee took advantage of this and divided his forces. Lee was in charge of one group and gave Jackson command of the other group. Lee had 15,000 men and Jackson had 25,000. Jackson was to attack Hooker's flank the next morning. On May 2, 1863, at 10:00 am, Jackson's forces began moving toward Hooker's flank. Union scouts found Jackson and reported it to Hooker, but Hooker thought they were retreating Confederates. By 3:00 PM Jackson had crossed the Orange Turnpike towards Hooker's side. At 5:00 PM, Jackson's forces attacked Oliver O. Howard's 11th Corps near Wilderness Church. Jackson's attack was so rapid that the Union had no time to form a line. By 8:00 pm the Union had formed a secondary line. That night, when Jackson returned to camp from a scouting mission, he was shot by his own guards who did not recognize him. Commanding Jackson's portion of the Confederate force, we... center of paper... the Confederates led a charge directly into the Union center in the famous "Pickett's Charge" across an open field. The attack failed and the Confederates retreated to the other side to await a counterattack but it never came. On July 4, 1863, Lee retreated to Virginia. Over the course of three days the Union lost 23,000 men and the Confederates 28,000. This was only a small portion of the number of brave men lost in the American Civil War. It was a great step forward for the United States of America but at very high costs. Works Cited Borrit, Garbors. "Civil war." The World Book Encyclopedia.1998 ed.Creason, Pamela B. and Larson, Rachel C. The American Republic for Christian SchoolsGreenville: South Carolina, 1988Symonds, Craig L. A Civil War Battlefield AtlasBaltimore: Maryland, 1983