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163 years ago today, Stonewall Jackson died at 3:15 PM on a Sunday afternoon in a small farm office in Guinea Station, Virginia.
He had told his wife that morning, “It is the Lord’s Day. I have always desired to die on a Sunday.”
He got his wish.
Eight days earlier at Chancellorsville, Jackson had pulled off what military historians still consider one of the most audacious flanking maneuvers in American history.
At dusk on May 2nd, Jackson’s men came screaming out of the woods and rolled up the entire Union XI Corps. It was the high-water mark of the Confederacy.
Then, in the darkness, he rode forward to scout for a night attack.
The 18th North Carolina Infantry saw riders approaching through the trees and opened fire. Three bullets hit Jackson, one shattering his left arm. His own men.
The bullet they later recovered was .67 caliber. Confederate issue. Union troops in the area used .58.
His arm was amputated the next morning. When Lee got the news, he wrote: “Could I have directed events, I would have chosen for the good of the country to be disabled in your stead.”
Days later, when told Jackson had lost his arm, Lee said: “He has lost his left arm, but I have lost my right.”
On the morning of May 10th, his wife Anna told him he would not live through the day. Jackson asked his doctor to confirm it. When McGuire said there was nothing more they could do, Jackson paused and said:
“Very good, very good. It is all right.”
He drifted in and out.
A smile spread across his face, and he said quietly:
“Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees.”
Those were the last words of the most feared tactician in the Confederate army.
Lee never found a replacement. Two months later, at a small Pennsylvania town called Gettysburg, the absence of Jackson on the second day, when Ewell hesitated to take Cemetery Hill, would haunt the Confederacy for the rest of the war.
Chancellorsville was Lee’s masterpiece. It was also the last decisive victory the Army of Northern Virginia would ever win.
Jackson was 39 years old.
He had told his wife that morning, “It is the Lord’s Day. I have always desired to die on a Sunday.”
He got his wish.
Eight days earlier at Chancellorsville, Jackson had pulled off what military historians still consider one of the most audacious flanking maneuvers in American history.
At dusk on May 2nd, Jackson’s men came screaming out of the woods and rolled up the entire Union XI Corps. It was the high-water mark of the Confederacy.
Then, in the darkness, he rode forward to scout for a night attack.
The 18th North Carolina Infantry saw riders approaching through the trees and opened fire. Three bullets hit Jackson, one shattering his left arm. His own men.
The bullet they later recovered was .67 caliber. Confederate issue. Union troops in the area used .58.
His arm was amputated the next morning. When Lee got the news, he wrote: “Could I have directed events, I would have chosen for the good of the country to be disabled in your stead.”
Days later, when told Jackson had lost his arm, Lee said: “He has lost his left arm, but I have lost my right.”
On the morning of May 10th, his wife Anna told him he would not live through the day. Jackson asked his doctor to confirm it. When McGuire said there was nothing more they could do, Jackson paused and said:
“Very good, very good. It is all right.”
He drifted in and out.
A smile spread across his face, and he said quietly:
“Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees.”
Those were the last words of the most feared tactician in the Confederate army.
Lee never found a replacement. Two months later, at a small Pennsylvania town called Gettysburg, the absence of Jackson on the second day, when Ewell hesitated to take Cemetery Hill, would haunt the Confederacy for the rest of the war.
Chancellorsville was Lee’s masterpiece. It was also the last decisive victory the Army of Northern Virginia would ever win.
Jackson was 39 years old.
