Lee paid a terrible price for his victory, suffering more casualties than in any previous fight

One of the most interesting facts about the Battle of Chancellorsville is that Lee paid a terrible price for his victory, suffering more casualties than in any previous fight. Despite being outnumbered by more than two to one, Lee achieved possibly his finest victory of the war, dubbed the "perfect battle." However, he paid a terrible price for it, suffering more casualties than in any previous fight, including the Confederate defeat at Antietam. With only 60,000 men engaged, he lost 13,303 fatalities (1,665 killed, 9,081 wounded, and 2,018 missing), losing over 22% of his force in the campaign, men that the Confederacy could not replace with its meager numbers. He also lost his most aggressive field commander, Stonewall Jackson. The other Confederate general slain in the battle was Brig. Gen. Elisha F. Paxton. After rejoining the main army, Longstreet slammed Lee's approach, claiming that engagements like Chancellorsville cost the Confederacy more soldiers than it could afford to lose.

Of the 133,000 Union men engaged, 17,197 were casualties (1,606 killed, 9,672 wounded, 5,919 missing), a far smaller percentage than Lee's, especially when 4,000 men from the XI Corps were taken on May 2. There were essentially no differences between the Confederate and Federal losses at Chancellorsville when comparing simply the killed and wounded. During the campaign, the Union lost three generals: Maj. Gens. Hiram G. Berry and Amiel W. Whipple, as well as Brig. Gen. Edmund Kirby.