May 16, 1863, The Charleston Mercury
PARTICULARS OF HIS DEATH – HOW HE RECEIVED HIS WOUNDS – HIS LAST HOURS – THE FUNERAL CORTEGE IN RICHMOND – HIS BURIAL PLACE.
We copy from Richmond papers of Tuesday morning some interesting details of the last hours and obsequies of the illustrious Stonewall JACKSON:
General Jackson, having gone some distance in front of the line of skirmishers, on Saturday evening, was returning about 8 o’clock, attended by his staff and part of his couriers; the cavalcade was, in the darkness of the night, mistaken for a body of the enemy’s cavalry, and fired upon by a regiment of his own corps. He was struck by three balls – one through left arm two inches below shoulder joint, shattering the bone and severing the chief artery; another ball passed through the same arm, between elbow and wrist, making an exit through palm of the hand; a third ball entered palm of right hand about its middle, passing through broke two of the bones. He was wounded on the plank road, about fifty yards in advance of the enemy. He fell from his horse and was caught by Captain Wormley, to whom he remarked: ‘All my wounds are by my own men.’ He had given orders to fire at anything coming up the road before he left the lines. The enemy’s skirmishers appeared ahead of him and he turned to ride back. Just then some one cried out! ‘Fire!’ and immediately the regiment fired. The whole party broke forward to ride through our line to escape the fire. Captain Boswell was killed, and carried through the line by his horse, and fell amid our own men. Col. Crutchfield, Chief of Staff, was wounded by his side. Two couriers were killed. Major Pendleton, Lieutenants Morrison and Smith, Aids, escaped uninjured.
General Jackson was immediately placed on a litter and started for the rear. The firing attracted the attention of the enemy, and was resumed by both lines. One of the litter bearers was shot down, and the General fell from the shoulders of the men, receiving a severe contusion, adding to the injury of the arm, and injuring the side severely. The enemy’s fire of artillery on the point was terrible. Gen. Jackson was left for five minutes until the fire slackened, then placed in an ambulance and carried to the field hospital at Wilderness Run. He lost a large amount of blood, and at one time told Dr. McGuire he thought he was dying, and would have bled to death, but a tourniquet was immediately applied. For two hours he was near pulseless from the shock. As he was being carried from the field, frequent inquiries were made by the soldiers, ‘Who have you there?’ He told the Doctor, ‘Do not tell the troops I am wounded.’ After reaction, a consultation was held between Drs. Black, Coleman, Walls and McGuire, and amputation was decided upon. He was asked, ‘If we find amputation necessary, shall it be done at once?’ He replied, ‘Yes, certainly, Dr. McGuire, do for me whatever you think right.’ The operation was performed while under the influence of chloroform, and was borne well. He slept Sunday morning, was cheerful, and in every way doing well. He sent for Mrs. Jackson, and asked minutely about the battle, spoke cheerfully of the result, and said: ‘If I had not been wounded, or had had an hour more of daylight, I would have cut off the enemy from the road to the United States Ford, and they would have been obliged to surrender, or cut their way out; they had no other alternative. My troops sometimes may fail in driving the enemy from a position, but the enemy always fail to drive my men from a position.’ This was said smilingly. He complained this day of the fall from the litter, although no contusion or abrasion was perceptible as the result of the fall; he did not complain of his wounds – never spoke of them unless asked. Sunday evening he slept well. Monday he was carried to Chancellors’ House, near Guinea’s Depot; he was cheerful, talked about the battle, of the gallant bearing of Gen. Rhodes, and said that his Major General’s commission ought to date from Saturday; of the grand charge of his old Stonewall Brigade, of which he had heard; asked after all his officers; during the day talked more than usual, and said: ‘The men who live through this war will be proud to say, I was one of the Stonewall Brigade to their children’ he insisted that the term ‘Stonewall’ belonged to them, and not to him. During the ride to Guineahe complained greatly of heat, and besides wet applications to the wound, begged that a wet cloth be applied to his stomach, which was done, greatly to his relief, as he expressed it. He slept well Monday night; and ate with relish on next morning.
Tuesday. His wounds were doing very well. He asked, ‘Can you tell me, from the appearance of my wounds, how long I will be kept from the field.’ He was greatly satisfied when told they were doing remarkably well. Did not complain of any pain in his side, and wanted to see the members of his staff, but was advised not.
Wednesday. Wounds looked remarkably well. He expected to go to Richmond this day, but was prevented by the rain. This night, whilst his surgeon, who had slept none for three nights, was asleep, he complained of nausea, and ordered his boy, Jim, to place a wet towel over his stomach. This was done. About daylight the surgeon was awakened by the boy saying, the General is suffering great pain. The pain was in the right side, and due to incipient pneumonia and some nervousness, which he, himself, attributed to the fall from the litter.
Thursday. Mrs. Jackson arrived, greatly to his joy and satisfaction, and she faithfully nursed him to the end. By Thursday evening all pain had ceased; he suffered greatly from prostration.
Friday. He suffered no pain, but prostration increased. Sunday morning, when it was apparent that he was rapidly sinking, Mrs. Jackson was informed of his condition. She then had free and full converse with him, and told him he was going to die. He said, […..] good, very good, it is all right.’ He had previously said, ‘I consider these wounds a blessing; they were given me for some good and wise purpose, and I would not part with them if I could.’ He asked of Maj. Pendleton, ‘Who is preaching at headquarters today?’ He sent messages to all the Generals. He expressed a wish to be buried in ‘Lexington, in the Valley of Virginia.’
During the delirium his mind reverted to the field of battle, and he sent orders to Gen. A. P. Hill to prepare for action, and to Major Hawkes, his commissary, and to the surgeons.
He frequently expressed to his aids his wish that Major General Ewell should be ordered to the command of the corps; his confidence in General Ewell was very great, and the manner in which he spoke of him showed that he had duly considered the matter.
THE FUNERAL IN RICHMOND.
The funeral procession of General Jackson took place in Richmond on Monday. Artillery, cavalry, infantry and bands of music were in the procession, but the arms of the soldiers were reversed, their banners were draped in mourning. The drums were muffled and the notes of trumpet and horns were funereal. The toiling bell and the cannon booming at long intervals, told a mournful story. The war worn veterans of Pickett’s division – their mild eyed, guileless faces contrasting strongly with the brutal features of the previous procession – were there. Ewell, brave, modest and maimed, rode close to the hearse of his great commander. The President of the Confederate States, pale and sorrowful, was there. The good Governor of Virginia, stricken with grief for the loss of his noble townsman, was there. The Heads of Department, the State and Metropolitan Authorities, and many citizens, walked humbly and sadly behind the coffin, decked with spring flowers and enveloped in the folds of a flag which the nations of earth have never beheld. A great multitude of all ages, classes and conditions, stood by to see this procession pass. And they were silent as before. All was hushed while the mortal remains of the best and beloved chieftain in all the land passed onward to the Capitol of the State and the Confederacy, which he had so heroically defended and died to save from pollution. The body of Stonewall Jackson was in the hearse, and this great procession was in his honor.
The day was cloudless, brilliant, beautiful exceedingly. The hearse was surmounted by black plumes, and drawn by white horses. The coffin was enveloped in a Confederate flag. Gen. Jackson’s favorite horse, caparisoned as if for service, was led by a groom in rear of the hearse.
It is appropriate to add that the first use made of the new Confederate flag was to enwrap the remains of the departed chieftain. This fact alone is sufficient to consecrate the newly adopted banner of the Confederacy in the hearts of our brave soldiers and patriotic people.
BURIAL PLACE OF GENERAL JACKSON.
It is to be regretted that the remains of General Jackson could not be interred near those of Monroe, in Hollywood, that beautiful spot, so near the theatre of his glory, where every breeze waits his renown, and the murmuring waters, as they roll solemnly by seem to attune themselves to sweet yet mournful melodies of the grave. But, in accordance with a desire said to have been expressed in his will, the body of the fallen hero will be removed to Lexington. This was his place of residence before the war; and there, for years a subordinate professor in the Military Institute he lived and labored, unknown to the world, and perhaps even to himself, till called forth by Providence to play a part in the affairs of mankind which has borne his name to the remotest corners of the earth, and to achieve a fame that will be grand and enduring as the eternal mountains at whose feet he was cradled, whose long shadows, like those of some majestic cathedral, will consecrate his grave, and whose loftiest pinnacles will derive new sublimity from their association with the name of Jackson.