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b"The Battle of Chancellorsville is considered Robert E.\\xa0Lee\\u2019s masterpiece.\\xa0 His reputation as a military genius was sealed by fighting an incredibly successful offensive battle despite being outnumbered 2-to-1 and launching attacks on multiple fronts.\\xa0

After another humiliating Union defeat at Fredericksburg,\\xa0On January 26, Lincoln replaced Gen. Ambrose Burnside with Joseph \\u201cFighting Joe\\u201d Hooker\\xa0as the new commander of the Army of the Potomac, with 120,000 troops. Hooker's plan was to\\xa0send his cavalry on a raid behind Lee to cut off Lee\\u2019s communication with Richmond. He would leave 40,000 troops in front of Lee near Fredericksburg, and Hooker himself would march up the Rappahannock River and try to go around Lee\\u2019s left. \\xa0If he didn\\u2019t defeat Lee at that time, he would at least force Lee to retreat. But Lee managed to achieve victory despite splitting up his forces into vastly inferior numbers and fighting the Union on multiple fronts. The outcome was\\xa017,000 Federal casualties to 13,000 Confederates"