One of the Civil Wars greatest commanders was mortally wounded on the day of his greatest triumph. Stonewall Jackson was shot during the Battle of Chancellorsville. Earlier on May 2, 1863, Jackson’s corps has pulled off the greatest flanking attack of the war. He had marched his men all day long through the thick forest called the Wilderness. When he reached a position facing the exposed right flank of Gen. Thomas Hooker’s Army of the Potomac, Jackson launched an assault that took the Yankees completely by surprise. Nightfall ended the forward momentum. Jackson did not want to allow the enemy to dig in during the night. He wanted to renew the assault during the night. In order to do so, he decided to reconnoiter the Union position himself. He took his staff with him as they moved through the dark forest to see where the Yankee line was located. Earlier, a Union cavalry unit had launched an attack which was thrown back, but it put the Rebels on edge. When Jackson and his staff were riding back through no man’s land, they approached the 18th North Carolina Regiment. The soldiers, seeing dark forms riding toward them and thinking they were Yankee cavalry, opened fire. One of Jackson’s staff shouted “Cease firing! You are firing into your own men!” But Maj. John Barry proclaimed: “It’s a damned Yankee trick! Fire!” His men fired another volley. Jackson was in the odd habit of riding with his left arm in the air (to balance his body). He was hit near the shoulder. He also took a bullet in the right hand. The minie balls were .67 caliber. Four of his staff were killed and three were wounded. Jackson was placed on a stretcher. He was dropped when one of the stretcherbearers was wounded by shrapnel. It was a painful fall. That same night Dr. John McGuire amputated the arm near the shoulder. Jackson seemed to have survived the operation well. He was recovering with no sign of infection when he took a turn for the worse a few days later. He had pneumonia (probably due to the stretcher fall). His wife and his newborn baby were able to visit him before the end. On May 10, 1863, he passed away. His last words were: “Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees.” When Lee learned of the death of his best general he lamented: “He has lost his left arm, but I have lost my right.” Jackson was not at Gettysburg. If he had been, the South might have won the war. Ironically, some trigger happy North Carolinians may have saved the Union and doomed slavery.
https://warmoviebuff.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-red-ghost-nazi-hunter-2021.html
https://www.historynet.com/how-in-the-world-did-they-shoot-stonewall-jackson/
https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/the-battle-of-chancellorsville-and-the-death-of-stonewall-jackson/
0 Comments