Then the woods, despite their spring sap and greenness, caught fire under the showers of exploding shells, and their flames spread along a broad front.
The defense made by the Union army was long and desperate.

No men could have shown greater valor, but they had been surprised and from the first they had been outgeneralled.

An important division of Hooker's army had not been able to get into the main battle.

The genius of Lee gathered all his men at the point of contact and the invisible figure of Jackson still rode at the head of his men.
For five hours the battle raged, and at last the repeated charges of the Southern troops and the deadly fire of their artillery prevailed.
The Northern army, its breastworks carried by storm, was driven out of Chancellorsville and, defeated but not routed, began its slow and sullen retreat.

Thirty thousand men killed or wounded attested the courage and endurance with which the two sides had fought.
The Army of the Potomac, defeated but defiant and never crushed by defeat, continued its slow retreat to Fredericksburg, and for a little space the guns were silent in the Wilderness.
The men of Hooker, although surprised and outgeneralled, had shown great courage in battle, and after the defeat of Chancellorsville the retreat was conducted with much skill.