{"id":533,"date":"2025-03-01T12:02:32","date_gmt":"2025-03-01T17:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cvbt.local\/?post_type=battlefields&p=533"},"modified":"2025-04-07T12:23:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T16:23:10","slug":"beckham-tract","status":"publish","type":"battlefields","link":"https:\/\/cvbt.org\/battlefields\/beckham-tract\/","title":{"rendered":"Beckham Tract"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Beckham Tract<\/h2>\n<\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\r\n
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HISTORY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the late afternoon of May 2, 1863, thousands of Confederate soldiers waited in the shadowed woods a little more than 3 miles west of the Chancellor crossroads clearing in the Central Virginian Wilderness. Most of them had accomplished a march of approximately 12 miles in the hot hours of the day. Their commander, Lieutenant General Thomas J. \u201cStonewall\u201d Jackson, had hurried them along the secretive, wooded trails and up Brock Road, ordering them into position on the Union Army of the Potomac\u2019s right flank. The fields ahead of them hosted the encampments of the XI Corps, most of its soldiers unsuspecting that the Second Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia was poised in the bordering forest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 5:15 p.m., \u201cStonewall\u201d confirmed readiness with his division commanders and said the memorable words, \u201cYou can go forward, then.\u201d Moments later, one of the most famous flank attacks in military history charged into the open fields. \u201cJackson\u2019s veterans . . . bounded forward towards the astounded and perfectly paralysed enemy, while the thunder of our horse-artillery, on whom devolved the honour of opening the ball, reached us from the other extremity of the line . . .\u201d wrote Heros Von Borcke of the Confederate cavalry.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Two guns from the Stuart Horse Artillery under the command of Major Robert F. Beckham rolled along the Orange Turnpike, taking advantage of the rises of high ground on the roadbed to blast projectiles into the camps and fleeing Union soldiers. The tactics employed by the Stuart Horse Artillery had been perfected by Major John Pelham and used with great effect on battlefields like Antietam and Fredericksburg. After Pelham\u2019s mortal wounding at Kelly\u2019s Ford in March 1863, Major Beckham had been transferred to command the highly mobile guns. At Chancellorsville, he kept the guns moving at the infantry\u2019s pace and firing regularly into the Union camps and fleeing groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the early evening surprise attack, some of the Union soldiers believed that the artillery projectiles from Beckham\u2019s guns were aimed at them individually with special vengeance. First Sergeant James Peabody of the 61st Ohio Regiment considered making a stand, but seeing his comrades fleeing, he decided: \u201cIt would have not been good generalship on my part to have stopped and made a close examination, so I followed the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just east of the intersection of the Orange Plank Road with the Turnpike, Union Colonel Adolphus Buschbeck, who commanded a brigade in the 2nd Division of the XI Corps, rallied some of his regiments and other units willing to make a stand. Known as the \u201cBuschbeck Line,\u201d this defensive position opposed the Confederate advance for a short time, but Beckham\u2019s guns moved into position and fired toward the Union position, helping to break it into retreat.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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The new tract of land ready for preservation is the position of Major Beckham\u2019s two guns as he confronted the Buschbeck Line. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYoung man, I congratulate you,” Jackson told Beckham.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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PRESERVATION STORY<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For years, Central Virginia Battlefields Trust has been working to save land from Jackson\u2019s Flank Attack at the Chancellorsville Battlefield. In triangular corner of historic Orange Plank Road and the historic Orange Turnpike (modern Route 3), all that remains to complete the preservation puzzle is a 1.2-acre parcel\u2014and we now have the chance to save it! This is an extraordinary opportunity and the history connected to the land is quite unique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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