What Happened on April 27, 1863?

Today, April 27, 2014 I googled back 150 years to see what happened on April 27, 1863.. Union General Hooker crossed the Rappahannock River to attack General Lee's forces. This, as you probably know, resulted in the Battle of Chancellorsville.

Lee split his forces, attacking a surprised Yankee army in three places and defeating them. Hooker withdrew back across the river and the South had a victory, but it was the most costly for the Confederates in terms of casualties.

The worst casualty of all was the death of the great and good General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, accidently killed by his own men, having been mistaken for a Union soldier. In a sense, the Battle of Chancellorsville was in many ways both the zenith and the nadir of the War for Southern Independence.

Everything seemed to go rapidly downhill after that, with the fall of Vicksburg in July, as well as the disastrous Gettysburg campaign, and then the loss at Chattanooga in November, which set the stage for Sherman's Atlanta campaign. 

All these many years later I just shake my head and say, "if only"!