Prologue, Book Three
The account of Lincoln’s visit to his army before Chancellorsville is drawn chiefly from Noah Brooks in Washington in Lincoln’s Time.
Chapters 22 and 23
There is hardly a reasonable doubt that Jackson was slain by his own men, and it is almost certain that the fatal shots were fired by men of the Eighteenth North Carolina.
A North Carolina story, scarcely more than a legend, is that two young riflemen of the Eighteenth North Carolina, Stuart Dixon and Robert Smith, fired the fatal shots. Kerr Scott, an ex-governor of the state, on whose farm Dixon’s home still stands, recalls stories from a hunting companion of the two men—stories which always ended: “I wonder which one of us really killed him.”
The sketch of the Federal panic at Chancellorsville, limited almost entirely to the Eleventh Corps, is based chiefly on Bigelow’s Campaign of Chancellorsville, General O. O. Howard’s autobiography, and Livermore’s Days & Events.
The narrative of Jackson’s wounding is a composite from myriad sources and is fuller than most because, with minor exceptions, all testimony is weighed and used in the light of companion sources. There are conflicts of long standing over the details, but these seem of little importance. The narrative of Jackson’s last hours does not halt to consider these controversies. A typical example: Captain R. E. Wilbourn and Captain James Power Smith each claimed to have slit Jackson’s sleeve and tended his wound.
The indispensable source is D. S. Freeman, in both Lee’s Lieutenants, Volume 2, and R. E. Lee, Volume 2; this synthesis, though it does not attempt to underline the drama of the situation, reliably sifts and clarifies earlier testimony.
The death mask of Jackson, now in the Valentine Museum, Richmond, was made by the sculptor, Frederick Volck, with the probable assistance of one Pietro Zamboggi. The museum has correspondence between Volck and Edward V. Valentine in which Volck writes of the mask: “It is the same I took at the Governor’s Mansion when the body of Jackson was brought thither.… The mask … is the only one in existence.” In Valentine’s papers, however, is a note: “Pietro Zamboggi, the man who made the cast of Jackson’s face.” Museum researchers have concluded that the two men worked together.
Volck’s brother, Adalbert, a caricaturist, may have made the drawing of Jackson after the battle of Fredericksburg, though Jackson’s aide, Captain J. P. Smith, identified the artist only as “Sculptor Volke”—which would seem to point to his brother Frederick.
Though no liberties have been taken with testimony on Jackson’s last hours, an effort has been made to reduce the air of pious unreality which marks the recollections of attending ministers and other friends. This was done for no other reason than that these ring falsely in modern ears, and the use of all the original conversation (or purported conversation) robs Jackson of some natural dignity and his death of its moving drama.
The Missing Anecdotes
No character on the Civil War stage seemed to attract as many anecdotes as did Jackson, and veteran hobbyists of the war will note many of the most familiar stories of Stonewall are not included in this narrative. Almost invariably, the decision to omit was based on probable fact—external evidence proved or hinted that the tale was untrue. In many instances, omission was a matter of taste or intuition.
Dr. Hunter McGuire, Jackson’s physician, left as many interesting stories of his commander as any officer; yet his tales and their versions seem to vary over the years and, like the recollections of most soldiers, are often demonstrably inaccurate. An example of his testimony which is not questioned seems in order:
“Listening to Jackson talk of Napoleon Bonaparte, as I often did, I was struck with the fact that he regarded him as the greatest general that ever lived. One day I asked him something about Waterloo. He had been over the field, inspected the ground, and spent several days in studying the plan of battle. I asked who had shown the greatest generalship there, Napoleon or Wellington.… He said, ‘Decidedly, Napoleon.’ I said, ‘Well, why was he whipped, then?’ He replied, ‘I can only explain it by telling you that I think God intended him to stop right there.’”
McGuire also left unique accounts of Jackson at the first battle of Bull Run, including one of the wounding of Jackson’s hand:
“On his way to the rear the wound pained him so much that he stopped at the first hospital he came to, and the surgeon there proposed to cut the finger off; but while the doctor looked for his instruments and for a moment turned his back, the general silently mounted his horse, rode off, and soon afterwards found me.”
Though these have the ring of truth, and come from a generally reliable witness, they are not so compelling as to lead the narrative from the safer ground of already full reports.
Select Critical Bibliography
Allan, Elizabeth Preston, The Life & Letters of Margaret J. Preston.
Allan, William, Jackson’s Valley Campaign.
Arnold, T. J., Early Life & Letters of General Thomas J. Jackson.
Avirett, J. B., Memoirs of General Turner Ashby & His Compeers.
Bigelow, John, Jr., The Campaign of Chancellorsville.
Brooks, Noah, Washington in Lincoln’s Time.
Casler, John O., Four Years In The Stonewall Brigade.
Chesnut, Mary Boykin, A Diary from Dixie.
Cooke, John E., Stonewall Jackson.
Dabney, R. L., Stonewall Jackson.
Freeman, D. S., R. E. Lee, four volumes.
Goss, Warren Lee, Recollections of A Private.
Hamlin, Percy G., Old Baldhead.
Hamlin, Percy G., The Making of A Soldier; The Letters of R. S. Ewell.
Henderson, G. F. R., Stonewall Jackson & The American Civil War.
Howard, McHenry, Recollections of A Maryland Soldier & Staff Officer.
Hunter, Alexander, Johnny Reb & Billy Yank.
Longstreet, James, From Manassas to Appomattox.
Lonn, Ella, Foreigners in the Confederacy.
Moore, Edward A., The Story of A Cannoneer Under Stonewall Jackson.
Owen, William M., In Camp & Battle with the Washington Artillery of New Orleans.
Polley, J. B., A Soldier’s Letters to Charming Nellie.
Russell, William Howard, My Diary North and South.
Sherman, William T., Memoirs.
Stiles, Robert, Four Years Under Marse Robert.
Taylor, Richard, Destruction & Reconstruction.
von Borcke, Heros, Memoirs of the Confederate War for Independence.
Welch, S. G., A Confederate Surgeon’s Letters to His Wife.
Wiley, Bell I., The Life of Johnny Reb.
In addition these major sources gave help beyond quotation of passages, and were invaluable as guides and interpreters of background:
Battles and Leaders of the Civil War.
Blackford, W. W., War Years with Jeb Stuart.
Douglas, Henry Kyd, I Rode With Stonewall.
Freeman, D. S., Lee’s Lieutenants.
Jackson, Mary Anna, Memoirs of Stonewall Jackson.
Southern Historical Society Papers.
Townsend, G. A., Rustics in Rebellion.
Image Gallery
THE MEN AROUND JACKSON
Military amateurs, most of them young, chosen for gifts in their fields, worked with Jackson through his Civil War career of 21 months. They ranged from the stern and unpopular chief of staff, The Rev. Dabney, to the gay young lawyer-biographer Kyd Douglas, and from the transplanted Yankee map-maker Hotchkiss to McGuire, who became a nationally famous physician. Some important photos are missing from this post-war composite, chief among them those of John Harman, whose wagons moved Jackson’s troops, and Stapleton Crutchfield, a fine young gunner.
Confederate Museum, Richmond, Va.
The West Point Graduate: The open, sensitive countenance of Jackson in his twenties became almost unrecognizable in the bearded portraits of 1861–63. Here is the Jackson newly graduated from West Point, probably in 1846, when he was 22.
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sp; Library of Congress
The Veteran Turned Teacher: Here, the face becoming firmer, is a photograph of 1851, when Jackson, a veteran of the Mexican War and long months of barracks life, reported to Virginia Military Life.
Library of Congress
Jackson’s second wife, Mary Anna Morrison, taken near the end of the war, when she was a young widow.
Valentine Museum, Richmond, Va.
Federal work parties clear the wreckage of Manassas Junction where, in August, 1862, Jackson’s slashing march to the rear of Pope’s army imperiled Union forces, destroyed $1,000,000 in supplies, and crippled Pope.
Courtesy of the New-York Historical Society, NYC
Helpless Union sick and wounded, abandoned in the swamps below Richmond on June 30, 1862. Jackson swept them up, capturing 2,500 on the edge of White Oak Swamp, incidentally contributing to the chief failure of his military career.
Library of Congress
JACKSON’S COMRADES IN BATTLE
A. P. Hill, proud, sensitive, able, squabbled with Jackson in the last ten months of Stonewall’s life; their quarrel cost the Confederacy dearly.
Valentine Museum, Richmond, Va.
John Imboden, artillerist, who was close to Jackson from the battle at Bull Run, witnessed his wounding there and advanced his experiments in battle.
Southern Historical Collection
Richard “Dick” Ewell began thinking Jackson insane, and ended his loyal and most able lieutenant.
Valentine Museum, Richmond, Va.
D. H. Hill, Jackson’s brother-in-law, ambitious, thin-skinned, but a capable fighter.
Confederate Museum, Richmond, Va.
BLOODIEST DAY OF THE YEAR
Fateful Antietam, or Sharpsburg, where loss of a general order cost the Confederates a chance to strike the heart of the North. A rare action scene, looking into the haze of Union guns raining upon Southern lines (far right), a quarter mile below the watchful Federal soldier.
Library of Congress
Next day’s scene at the Dunkard Church, where Jackson’s 19,000 held against a Federal corps, and where Old Jack calmly collected his remnants for counter-attack. An important engagement in Jackson’s development, Antietam cost 23,500 casualties in two armies.
Courtesy of the New-York Historical Society, NYC
Jackson’s death mask, made in Richmond by the sculptor, Frederick Volck, two days after the general succumbed to pneumonia.
Valentine Museum, Richmond, Va.
Part of the cost of the terrible engagement at Chancellorsville, whose greatest loss to the Confederate cause was Jackson, but where many hundreds of wounded men, on both sides, were burned in the blazing thickets at night in the wilderness.
Courtesy of the New-York Historical Society, NYC
Index
Allan, Col. Wm., C.S.A., 170, 243
Anderson, Gen. R. H., C.S.A., 319, 333, 405
Aquia Creek, 378
Ashby, Gen. Turner, C.S.A., 10, 24, 29–30, 37, 43–47, 49, 61, 64, 67–69, 72–74, 161, 167–169, 174–176
Ashland, Va., 216–217, 266, 449
Banks, Gen. N. P., U.S.A., 14, 19, 31, 37–38, 44–45, 47, 51, 53–54, 56, 66, 166, 168, 174
Barksdale, Gen. Wm., C.S.A., 354
Bath, W. Va., 161
Beauregard, Gen. P. G. T., C.S.A., 141, 146, 147
Beaver Dam Creek, 216, 221
Beaver Dam Station, 208, 210, 214
Bee, Gen. Barnard E., C.S.A., 141, 149
Benjamin, Judah P., 162–165
Black, Dr. Harvey, 430–32
Blackford, Col. W. W., C.S.A., 222, 252, 253, 274, 290, 294–295, 365–366, 417
Bloss, Sgt. J. M., U.S.A., 324
Booth, J. Wilkes, 6
Boswell, Capt. J. K., C.S.A., 70, 176, 289, 407–408, 424, 427
Boteler, Col. A. R., C.S.A., 62–64, 161, 165, 170, 197, 261–262, 362, 363, 394
Boyd, Belle, 32–33, 36
Branch, Gen. L. O’B., C.S.A., 25, 209, 211, 218, 281, 310, 315, 323, 336, 344–345
Brooks, Noah, 374–376, 378–380
Brown, John, 3–8, 131
Brown, Capt. Wm. F., C.S.A., 63
Burnside, Gen. A. E., U.S.A., 287, 337–338, 350, 353, 355, 361, 393
Butterfield, Gen. Daniel, U.S.A., 378
Casler, Pvt. John O., C.S.A., 236, 257, 280, 423
Casualties:
Cedar Mountain, 282; Chancellorsville, 446; Cross Keys, 80; Fredericksburg, 361–362, 365; Front Royal, 36; Gaines Mill, 227–228; Groveton, 295–296; Kernstown, 169; McDowell, 179; Malvern Hill, 253–254; Manassas, 150–152, 302, 309–310; Mechanicsville, 220; Seven Days, 258; Sharpsburg (Antietam), 335, 338–339; Valley Campaign, 56, 193; Year 1862, 388
Catherine Furnace, 406, 409
Catlett’s Station, 286
Cedar Mountain, 277–283
Cedarville, Va., 35, 43
Cerro Gordo, 98
Chamberlain, J. L., 361
Chamberlayne, Ham, 301
Chancellorsville, 401, 402–429
Chandler Farm, 438, 440, 448
Chantilly (Ox Hill), 310–311
Chapultepec, 103–104
Charlottesville, Va., 74
Chickahominy, 208, 212, 220, 230
Chilton, Col. R. H., C.S.A., 321, 324
Coleman, Dr. R. T., 431
Colston, Gen. R. E., C.S.A., 405, 411, 412
Conner, Col. Z. T., C.S.A., 63–64, 270
Conrad’s Store, W. Va., 20, 22
Corbin, Janie, 392, 394–395
Corbin, Richard, 367–368
Couch, Gen. D. M., U.S.A., 371, 382
Cross Keys, 70–80
Crutchfield, Col. S., C.S.A., 47, 68, 76, 77, 238, 249, 412, 429, 430
Culpeper, Va., 266, 273–274, 276–278
Dabney, Capt. C. W., C.S.A., 213
Dabney, Maj. R. L., C.S.A., 10, 14, 47, 76, 79, 85, 178, 201, 203, 204, 210, 216, 226–227, 231, 234, 236, 244, 263
Davis, Jefferson, 19, 71, 146, 150–151, 156, 187–188, 254, 262, 271, 450
Dawes, Maj. Rufus, U.S.A., 332
Dilger, Capt. Hubert, U.S.A., 414
Douglas, Maj. H. K., C.S.A., 33, 36–37, 45–46, 49, 51, 53, 57, 59, 65, 157, 176–177, 300, 301, 303, 307, 342, 348–349, 357–358, 437, 448, 449, 450
Dowdall’s Tavern, 421
Early, Gen. Jubal A., C.S.A., 247, 250, 277, 360, 363, 400, 401, 404, 406, 434
Elzey, Gen. A., C.S.A., 53, 61, 79, 149, 151, 154, 228
Ewell, Thomas, 101
Ewell, Gen. R. S., C.S.A., 18, 20, 22, 23–25, 32, 36, 43, 50, 51, 52, 55, 59, 65, 67, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, 86, 87, 101, 141, 146, 174, 190, 191, 192, 199, 201, 202, 214, 218, 224, 225, 251, 256, 268–269, 277–279, 281, 286, 295
Fairfax, Capt. J. W., C.S.A., 241
Falling Waters, 143–144
Faulkner, Col. C. J., C.S.A., 384
First Manassas, 144–153
Flournoy, Col. T. S., C.S.A., 43, 67
Fort Hamilton, 108
Fort Meade, 110
Frayser’s Farm, 242
Frederick, Md., 315, 318, 321, 323
Fredericksburg, Va., 352–362, 379, 404
Fremont, Gen. J. C., U.S.A., 19, 60, 66, 70–71, 75–81, 87, 178
Front Royal, 28, 29–39, 41, 63, 66, 67, 71
Fulkerson, Col. Sam, C.S.A., 50, 168, 228
Gaines Mill, 223–229
Garnett, Gen. R. S., C.S.A., 168–172, 270, 272–273, 313, 449
Garnett, Col. T. S., C.S.A., 280
Gibbon, Gen. John, U.S.A., 295
Gordon, Gen. John B., C.S.A., 250, 333
Gordon, Gen. G. H., U.S.A., 38
Gordonsville, Va., 204, 205, 266, 267, 273, 285
Goss, Warren L., 303
Gould, John M., 308
Graham, Rev. James, 55, 160, 167
Graham, Mrs. James, 347
Grapevine Bridge, 230, 231
Gregg, Gen. Maxcy, C.S.A., 223, 300–301, 314, 363–364
Grimes, Co
l. Bryan, C.S.A., 364
Groveton, 293–296
Guiney’s Station, Va., 356, 362, 397, 438, 448
Hagerstown, Md., 319, 320
Hampton, Gen. Wade, C.S.A., 241–242
Hancock, Md., 161
Harman, Maj. John, C.S.A., 42, 48, 175, 194–195, 204, 226, 276
Harpers Ferry, W. Va., 4, 8, 16, 60–61, 137–139, 319, 320, 323, 326, 327–328
Haskell, Capt. Alex, C.S.A., 406, 407
Hawks, Maj. W. J., C.S.A., 170, 391, 445
Henry, A. G., 374, 378
Henry, Judith, 148
Hill, Gen. Ambrose Powell, C.S.A., 206, 208, 218, 220, 221, 269–270, 277, 293, 298–301, 314–315, 317, 323, 328, 336, 337, 344, 345, 356, 367, 393, 406, 411, 421, 424, 426–428, 445
Hill, Gen. Daniel Harvey, C.S.A., 97, 110, 122, 129, 142, 205, 206, 208, 213–214, 220–221, 238, 240, 243, 246–247, 250–252, 258, 321, 325–327, 333, 351, 364, 389
Hoge, Rev. Moses D., 264, 442
Hoge, Mrs. Moses D., 442, 448
Hood, Gen. John B., C.S.A., 204, 329, 330, 331–332
Hooker, Gen. Joseph, U.S.A., 103, 330, 371–373, 377–382, 393, 402–405, 412–414, 418–419, 422, 446–447
Hotchkiss, Major Jedediah, C.S.A., 71, 72, 84, 173, 199, 200, 201, 209, 213, 405, 409, 410, 438
Howard, McHenry, 273–274, 280
Howard, Gen. O. O., U.S.A., 413, 418, 422
Huger, Gen. Benjamin, C.S.A., 240, 258
Hundley’s Corner, 214
Hunter, Alexander, 305
Indian Head, Md., 377
Imboden, Gen. J. B., 82–84, 138–139, 147
Jackson, Anna M., 122–124, 155–156, 160, 165–166, 397–399, 400, 403, 436, 442, 445
Jackson, Cummins, 90, 91
Jackson, Eleanor J., 118, 120
Jackson, “Jim,” 25, 26, 76, 302, 346, 401, 442, 444
Jackson, Jonathan, 88, 89
Jackson, Julia, 349–350, 395–399, 436, 451
Jackson, Julia Neale, 89, 90
Jackson, Gen. Thomas Jonathan, C.S.A.:
Aggressiveness, 77, 336–337, 357, 425
Ambition, 89, 203
They Called Him Stonewall Page 49
