Stonewall Jackson. VA. Track last days. Chancellorsville to Guinea Station. The man, the arm.

 The Three Losses of Stonewall Jackson
Chancellorsville to Guinea Station, Virginia. VA. The wounded, then the dying man.

Confederate Major Stonewall Jackson stands for opposites of victory and loss, and for irony. He had brought victories to the Confederacy in the early years of the Civil War. Then came the losses, in threes as the sages warn. His arm, his life, and his birthplace as Confederate.

• On May 2, 1863, Stonewall Jackson was shot, by mistake, and his left arm was amputated on May 3.
•  On May 10, he died. 
• Then, on June 20, after his death, he lost part of his legacy: the character of the State of his birth.  Parts of Virginia, including the town of his birth, Clarksburg, seceded to become West Virginia, and not Confederate. A loyal Confederate Virginian: Would he ever accept West Virginian? See http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/west-virginia-created-secession-southern-confederate-state/.  

Each of these losses was also was a loss for the Confederacy, even a tragedy as events then turned, and especially for General Robert E. Lee who considered Major Jackson to be his right arm. 

Here, follow the trail of Stonewall Jackson from Chancellorsville, where he was shot and his arm amputated, to where he was taken for a hoped-for recovery at Guinea Station. The route of the ambulance-wagon is well mapped.  Drive it. Leave for another day visits to West Virginia.

1.  Chancellorsville.  The battle; Confederates prevailed.

 Stonewall Jackson was an orphan of poor background who rose to graduate from West Point, He was serving under General Robert E. Lee in 1863, when, returning from a reconnoitre patrol, he was shot in the arm by his own men, a case of darkness misidentificaton.  He was first laid here, where this simple stone marker replaces one first set by Stonewall's staff.  It is located a little indecorously behind the -- yes -- tourist center. See http://www.nps.gov/frsp/index.htm

 Stone marker, the wounded Stonewall Jackson, Chancellorsville VA

His left arm was amputated at a nearby tavern also at Chancellorsville, and to be tossed on the heap. Someone thought this would not be appropriate, and retrieved the arm, and buried it at a nearby farm, Ellwood Manor, with connections to Stonewall Jackson. But is it really still buried here, was it ever, if not here, where is the arm? Nearby?  Never?  Stories conflict, see http://www.npr.org/2012/06/28/155804965/the-curious-fate-of-stonewall-jacksons-arm

Ellwood Manor, small plantation where arm of Stonewall Jackson is buried, Wilderness Battlefield, near Chancellorsburg VA

The building is open for tours, but don't miss the fine lowest step at the main entrance.

Ellwood Manor, ornate lower step, main entrance; farm where arm of Stonewall Jackson is buried, Wilderness Battlefield, near Chancellorsburg VA

 The ambulance route.  There is no major VA road heading diagonally south.  Straggle around the crossroads. Avoid major interstates unless you have to give up, as we did.  GPS has to be updated.  Ours was not. Ergo, the Big Interstate.

2.  Guinea Station, a railway stop.

The Jacksons had family ties in Guinea Station, and I understand that he and his wife and baby daughter stayed there for a brief few weeks together away from the battles, not long before.  He was brought here by ambulance wagon after the amputation of his arm.  He died there on May 10, 1863.  See http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/thomas-j-stonewall-jackson-dies.

Farms had formal names, in addition to its identity as the Chandler plantation, it had the name Fairfield, at Guinea Station. The only structure remaining -- now a kind of shrine -- is the home-office of the overseer where Stonewall Jackson was brought for treatment, away from the battlefields, and he died a few days after.  His wife stayed in the main house, now gone.

Where Stonewall Jackson died, Fairfield, Chandler plantation, Guinea Station VA

The structure is more administrative offices for the overseer, but he also lived here.

Overseer's home and offices, Chandler plantation, Fairfield, Guinea Station VA

The guides tell us that the bed is the original, and some of the bedding, where Stonewall Jackson died. 

Bed where Stonewall Jackson died, Guinea Station VA

Overseer's office, where doctors and friends and family consulted. Death of Stonewall Jackson, Guinea Statio VA

Sitting area, bedroom where Stonewall Jackson died, Guinea Station VA

Rest area, bedroom of Stonewall Jackson, Guinea Station VA

Story goes:  That a train was set to arrive with special doctors to treat Stonewall Jackson, but the Union held it up so it could not pass. True?  That would not be an unusual tactic.  Jackson himself, when told of the bravery of the Union soldiers, is said to have said -- more tales -- to kill them all anyway.  He did not want them brave. He wanted them dead. Such is war.  Am checking the source.

Stonewall Jackson's death: Chandler's Farm, view from overseer's office-house where Stonewall Jackson died, Guinea station VA

Stonewall Jackson's last words are said to be: "Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees."    Here, view down the road at Guinea Station, from Chandler's plantation.  The Matta River is nearby, see http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/northanna/north-anna-history-articles/guinea-station-1.html; http://www.civilwarconnect.com/2013/05/from-a-place-of-fear.html

Upstairs, the overseer slept, and while Stonewall was below, also friends and visitors.  These narrow beds were are told are fainting couches, handy for extra guests, but usually in the big house where the lady could catch a few winks without disturbing her dress; or recover from shortness of breath from the spanx of the day.

Upstairs bedroom, overseer's home and office, Guinea Station, VA.  Stonewall Jackson was in a bed on the first floor.

History. Its angles, spin, fabrications, motives of the victor who records, and spins and fabricates.  We haz baggage.  No story can ever be told to the satisfaction of both victor and defeated.  Is that why anger festers.

Trunk, overseer's house, Guinea Station, VA

3.  Virginia and Son of Virginia.  Favorite Son.

Thomas Jonathan Jackson.  He remains, of course, a Virginia favorite son.  And secession. A zero sum game. A tool of warfare, putting force of politics and power ahead of force of armed warriors. See http://www.civilwarconnect.com/2013/05/from-a-place-of-fear.html/  

West Virginia was admitted as a State in 1863, during the Civil War itself.   Boundaries of the original colonies were set largely by original grants, patents and charters from England, but some were modified as custom and acceptance, or lack of acceptance, determined.  With time, some boundaries in outlying areas of the colonies themselves were jockeyed about and divvied, or new, previously unsettled (read, no whites) territories sought statehood.  West Virginia was one of a very few states formed by secession from a colony.  Dozens of Virginia counties were absorbed into the new West Virginia in 1863, and since the Civil War was in process, some votes had to be postponed or results later ratified.  That's that, quoth the government, promoting the union of the nation.   See http://www.wvculture.org/history/government/wvboundaries.html