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    The Mortal Wounding of Stonewall Jackson: A UNC Press Civil War Short, Excerpted from Chancellorsville: The Battle and Its Aftermath, edited by Gary W. Gallagher
    The Mortal Wounding of Stonewall Jackson: A UNC Press Civil War Short, Excerpted from Chancellorsville: The Battle and Its Aftermath, edited by Gary W. Gallagher
    The Mortal Wounding of Stonewall Jackson: A UNC Press Civil War Short, Excerpted from Chancellorsville: The Battle and Its Aftermath, edited by Gary W. Gallagher
    Ebook64 pages56 minutes

    The Mortal Wounding of Stonewall Jackson: A UNC Press Civil War Short, Excerpted from Chancellorsville: The Battle and Its Aftermath, edited by Gary W. Gallagher

    By Robert K. Krick

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    About this ebook

    The stunning Confederate victory at Chancellorsville came at an enormous cost: an estimated 13,000 Confederate casualties. The most prominent, of course, was Stonewall Jackson, who was wounded by friendly fire and died several days later, on 10 May 1863. This Civil War Short presents Robert K. Krick's authoritative investigation into the incident that resulted in Jackson's death. This work was originally published as "The Smoothbore Volley That Doomed the Confederacy" in Chancellorsville: The Battle and Its Aftermath, edited by Gary Gallagher, which places the Chancellorsville campaign in a broad context and demonstrates how its significance reverberated beyond the battlefield.

    UNC Press Civil War Shorts excerpt rousing narratives from distinguished books published by the University of North Carolina Press on the military, political, social, and cultural history of the Civil War era. Produced exclusively in ebook format, they focus on pivotal moments and figures and are intended to provide a concise introduction, stir the imagination, and encourage further exploration of the topic. For in-depth analysis, contextualization, and perspective, we invite readers to consider the original publications from which these works are drawn.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherThe University of North Carolina Press
    Release dateJan 1, 2012
    ISBN9780807837108
    The Mortal Wounding of Stonewall Jackson: A UNC Press Civil War Short, Excerpted from Chancellorsville: The Battle and Its Aftermath, edited by Gary W. Gallagher
    Author

    Robert K. Krick

    Robert K. Krick is author of Conquering the Valley and Stonewall Jackson at Cedar Mountain, among other books. He lives in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

    Read more from Robert K. Krick

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      Book preview

      The Mortal Wounding of Stonewall Jackson - Robert K. Krick

      The Smoothbore Volley That Doomed the Confederacy

      Robert K. Krick

      NINETEEN MEN in two distinct groups rode forward from the coalescing Confederate lines west of Chancellorsville at about 9:00 P.M. on May 2, 1863. Only seven of the nineteen came back untouched, man or horse. Although one of those nearest the offending musket muzzles, Maj. Gen. A. P. Hill escaped among the unscathed handful. Lt. Gen. Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson, among those farthest from the flash point, was one of the five men killed or mortally wounded. The capricious paths of a few dozen one-ounce lead balls caroming off the dense shrubbery of Spotsylvania’s Wilderness that night had much to do with the course of the Civil War.

      From every imaginable perspective, the afternoon of May 2 had been a stunning Confederate success of unprecedented magnitude. Lee and Jackson had crafted between them a dazzling tactical initiative that sent Stonewall covertly all the way across the front of a Federal army that outnumbered the

      Last meeting of Generals Lee and Jackson, morning of May 2, 1863. This early engraving correctly shows the two generals mounted during theirfinal brief meeting. Sarah Nicholas Randolph, The Life of Gen. Thomas J. Jackson (Stonewall Jackson) (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1876), 304

      southerners by more than 2 to 1. The redoubtable corps commander managed the remarkable march without serious interruption, arrayed his first two divisions in a wide line, and descended upon the Federals like a thunderbolt. Those northerners who rallied bravely against the tide faced an inexorable outflanking by the outriders of Jackson’s line, who stretched far beyond the center of the attack in both directions. In this fashion Jackson routed one Union corps, trapped another out of the line, and left the others shaky, uncertain, and vulnerable to be stampeded.

      Southern soldiers enjoying the chance to steamroller their enemy observed their legendary leader throughout his victorious advance. Darkness and confusion would lead to disastrous results, causing some southerners to fire mistakenly at Jackson, but during the early evening, everyone knew where he was. The adjutant of a Georgia regiment in the attack’s front rank recalled that after the fighting had died down, the ground appeared to tremble as if shaken by an earthquake, the cheering is so tremendous, caused by Gen. Jackson riding along the line. Members of the 18th North Carolina of James H. Lane’s brigade, which within an hour would inadvertently fire on Jackson, saw their hero pass about twilight. The Tar Heels cheered him and were gratified when Stonewall took off his hat in recognition of their salutation.¹

      The divisions of Robert E. Rodes and Raleigh E. Colston had carried Jackson’s attack forward. Most of A. P. Hill’s division, last in the long column during the flanking march, had not maneuvered out of column and into line of battle. As darkness closed in on the victorious but exhausted Confederates, the need to advance fresh and better-organized troops to the front rank became obvious. Lane’s five regiments drew the assignment. A. P. Hill ordered Lane to push them forward and then spread them to the right and the left, perpendicular to the Orange Plank Road, in preparation for a novel night attack. The North Carolinians hesitated in the road, uncertain how to form line because on each side the shrubbery was so dense as to render it impossible to march.²

      Jackson’s plan to attack despite the steadily thickening darkness foundered first on a whimsical exchange of artillery fire. Southern guns in a small roadside clearing near a country schoolhouse and shop to the west of Lane’s regiments opened a ranging fire into the woods toward Chancellorsville. The dreadful idea to begin this firing probably originated with an artillery captain eager to make noise. Northern guns responded in far greater numbers, wreaking havoc on the unfortunate North Carolina infantrymen standing in the road in ranks, having arranged themselves as a conveniently enfiladed target. The shot and shell came as thick as hail. Maj. W. G. Morris of the 37th North Carolina swore that he had never experienced such a shelling. General Lane shouted to his men to lie down in the road; most had probably tumbled into the thickets before their general could summon the yell. A lieutenant in the 37th recalled that the troops buried our faces as close to the ground as possible and I expect some of us rubbed the skin off our noses trying to get under it.³

      A. P. Hill and Stonewall Jackson ignored the intense fire as they conversed with each other on horseback, so "deeply

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