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18th Corps - Battery 5 - Dimmock Line - June 15, 1864
We hope for the widest participation possible
Your COMMENTS, please !!
– Contributions [subject matter] WELCOME –
Announcements will be posted here
18th Corps - Battery 5 - Dimmock Line - June 15, 1864
theolinton
I’m going the South Carolina to for a week. I enjoy civil war history and plan on visiting Ft. Sumpter. Would you recommend any other specific sites/places to see? Especially, interested in places that are very unique and perhaps lesser known. I was referred to this site by Tara & Pat Linton.
National Park Service has plenty to see in the area. Widely distributed, so not a real quick go around. There will be many local tours featuring architecture, etc. You need to relax, too. Ask them about a Virginia fire-eater named Ruffin. Fired the first shot? For some really interesting stuff from late 1862, read up on the siege of Battery Wagner on Morris Island. Fort’s gone – washed away but a lot of cool warfare not done anywhere else during the war.
Thanks for checking this out. Someday, we hope to have something worthwhile put together.
Is it true Gen. Stonewall Jackson was shot by his own men?
Absolutely. Chancellorsville – May 2, 1863. After one of the most famous military maneuvers of all times – splitting his force, sending a wing under Jackson on a long march around the Federal right wing, the Confederate attack caught the Union right flank unaware, rolled it back in confusion.
Started late in the day, the attack became disorganized. Trying to locate the Union front after dark, Jackson and staff unknowingly got in front of the Confederate lines. Returning, they were mistaken for the enemy and fired on by Confederate troops.
“The trace of the Old Mountain Road, the road on which Jackson was riding when he was injured. Accompanied by aides and couriers, Jackson scouted in front of his main line, hoping to determine the new Union position. Private David Kyle served as Jackson’s guide through the tangled woods. He described the path taken by their party:
“We went down that old Mountain road some four hundred yards when we came in hearing of the Federals….We stayed there I should judge from two to four minutes when the Gen Jackson Turned his horse around and started back up the road we had come down….When we were about halfway back…he turned his horse head toward the south and facing the front of our own line of Battle he started to leave the old Mountain road and just as his horses front feet had cleared the edge of the road while his hind feet was still on the edge of the bank there was a single shot fired…in an instant it was taken up and…a volley as if from a regiment was fired.”
Spurred by the belief that the returning Confederates were Union cavalrymen charging their line, Lane’s men had fired into the darkness. One bullet lodged in Jackson’s right palm and two struck his left arm.”
[http://www.nps.gov/frsp/jacktr.htm]
“As he approached Hill’s newly formed line of battle, some one called out, “A Yankee cavalry charge,” for such was suggested by the sudden appearance of Jackson and the score or more that accompanied him, coming through the darkness of the forest; when, without orders, the Eighteenth North Carolina fired a volley, of ounce musket balls, which desperately wounded Jackson, killed Captain Boswell, his chief engineer, and one of his escort. Jackson’s condition required that he be taken at once from the field to the hospital near the Old Wilderness tavern.”
[http://www.civilwarhome.com/CMHchancellorsville.htm]
“As Jackson and his staff were returning to camp on May 2, they were mistaken for a Union cavalry force by the 18th North Carolina Infantry regiment who shouted, “Halt, who goes there?”, but fired before evaluating the reply. Frantic shouts by Jackson’s staff identifying the party were replied to by Major John D. Barry with the retort, “It’s a damned Yankee trick! Fire!” A second volley was fired in response; in all, Jackson was hit by three bullets, two in the left arm and one in the right hand.”
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_Jackson]
“Jackson’s chaplain, B. Tucker Lacy, had a brother who owned a house near the hospital, and took “Stonewall’s” severed limb to his brother’s family cemetery for burial. Lacy comforted the pious Jackson, holding devotions with him for the first two days spent at Guinea Station, but the chaplain soon returned to army headquarters. He requested that General Lee send another doctor to relieve the weary McGuire, who tried to provide round-the-clock care. In their conversation about Jackson’s condition, Lee told Lacy, “He has lost his left arm, but I have lost my right arm.”"
This anecdote is apocryphal, reflecting the veneration heaped upon Jackson after the war. It is found in several variants, such as:
“As Jackson lay dying, Lee sent a message through Chaplain Lacy, saying “Give General Jackson my affectionate regards, and say to him: he has lost his left arm but I my right.” The night Lee learned of Jackson’s death, he told his cook, “William, I have lost my right arm” and “I’m bleeding at the heart.”
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_Jackson]
“Confederate army commander Robert E. Lee decided that his indispensable and most capable subordinate should recuperate in a safe place well behind friendly lines. He selected this area, Guinea Station, as the best location for Jackson because of its proximity to the railroad to Richmond and its familiarity to the wounded general. The “Stonewall” Jackson Shrine is the plantation office building where General Jackson died. The office was one of several outbuildings on Thomas C. Chandler’s 740-acre plantation named “Fairfield.”
“On Sunday, May 10, 1863, the doctors lost all hope of Jackson’s recovery, and the General was notified of his condition. But as Jackson grew physically weaker, he remained spiritually strong. “It is the Lord’s Day; my wish is fulfilled,” said Jackson. “I have always desired to die on Sunday.” Jackson realized that desire at 3:15 p.m. with Dr. McGuire carefully noting Jackson’s last words: “A few moments before he died he cried out in his delirium, ‘Order A.P. Hill to prepare for action! Pass the infantry to the front rapidly! Tell Major Hawks’ — then stopped, leaving the sentence unfinished. Presently a smile of ineffable sweetness spread itself over his pale face, and he said quietly, and with an expression, as if of relief, ‘Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees.’”"
[http://www.nps.gov/frsp/js.htm]
Jackson is buried in the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery in Lexington, Va.
[http://www.lexingtonvirginia.com/attractionsb.asp?id=14]
The spot where he was shot is well-marked, a few steps from the parking lot of the National Park Service visitor center for Chancellorsville.
The plantation office where he died is preserved and a tour stop of the same NPS unit [which covers Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness, and Spotsylvania.]
[http://www.nps.gov/frsp/js.htm]
Jackson’s arm was supposed to have been buried at the Tavern by an aide, then moved to a family cemetery at the Lacy house. Maybe it was afterwards moved, maybe not.
The blog site “Mysteries and Conundrums”, hosted by NPS staff, ran a series of posts on the arm. Check them out for full details.
[http://npsfrsp.wordpress.com/2010/08/20/the-trail-and-tale-of-stonewall-jacksons-arm-part-1-burying-and-re-burying/]
The Lacy home [and cemetery] is an NPS tour stop [Lacy home was Warren's 5th Corps headquarters during the Wilderness May 1864 - it is maintained and staffed in a joint effort between the NPS and a local preservation group].
[http://www.nps.gov/frsp/ellwood.htm]
At some point, someone put up a gravestone to his arm. So, a short hike from the home site, you can visit the spot where Jackson’s arm isn’t.