A Glorious Army by Jeffry D. Wert

Author:Jeffry D. Wert
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Chapter Eight

“I Think We Will Clear the Yankees Out This Summer”

THE AMBULANCE CARRYING the wounded Stonewall Jackson arrived at Fairfield, the residence of Thomas Chandler, at Guiney Station, Virginia, on the night of May 4, 1863. Litter bearers took the general into a small, whitewashed cottage in the yard of the Chandler home. Placed in a bed on the first floor, Jackson requested some bread and tea before sleeping. Dr. Hunter McGuire, two staff officers, Reverend B. Tucker Lacy, and Jim Lewis, the general’s black servant, attended to him. 1

Jackson’s condition improved during the next two days. McGuire tended to the stump of the left arm, and Lacy conducted a brief prayer service with the general. Early on the morning of May 7 Jackson awakened with a fever and nausea. McGuire diagnosed the symptoms as pneumonia. The general’s wife, Anna Jackson, and their six-month-old daughter, Julia, arrived at noon. When Anna entered the bedroom, she kissed her husband, who smiled and said, “I am very glad to see you looking so bright.” At McGuire’s request, four physicians joined him for advice and assistance. 2

The Confederate hero rallied briefly the next day, but during the night of May 8–9 the painful breathing worsened, with periods of delirium. In the morning the doctors told Anna that her husband would not recover. Robert E. Lee had been kept informed of his subordinate’s condition. When told by Lacy that he would not live, Lee said with deep emotion: “Surely General Jackson must recover. God will not take him from us now that we need him so much. Surely he will be spared to us in answer to the many prayers which are offered for him.” 3

Sunday, May 10, was a warm Virginia spring day. At Guiney Station Jackson labored against the pneumonia in his lungs. With each passing hour death neared. As she had during the past few days, Anna went to his side. Outside of the cottage soldiers and civilians gathered. Shortly after noon he slipped into a coma. But delirium wracked his mind, and at times he issued orders aloud as if on a battlefield. Finally he said, “Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees.” At 3:15 P.M., Thomas Jonathan Jackson died. 4

“I regret to inform you that the great & good Jackson is no more,” wrote Lee to Jeb Stuart the next day. He was, said Lee, “calm serene & happy. May his spirit pervade our whole army. Our country will then be secure.” When Lee spoke of Jackson’s death to William Pendleton, chief of artillery, the Confederate commander wept. To his son Custis, Lee said, “It is a terrible loss. I do not know how to replace him. Any victory would be dear at such a cost. But God’s will be done.” 5

Lee directed that Jackson’s body be taken to Richmond, where a funeral was held on May 12 and the fallen general lay in state in the Capitol. From Richmond a railroad train conveyed the remains to Lynchburg for the journey to Lexington in a canal boat.

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