Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1869-12-31
StOncSyaD jackson n-SEho Killed Him !:
A Rem ntscence OF the War
MoRRIsTowN, n. j., Dec. 1G, 1869.
10 The ELlit0f. of fLa Ho..nII

stonesVaI jackson Who Killed Him -
| A Sem Intscenee OF the War
MoRRIsTowS, n. j., Dec 1G, 1869
| To the Editor Of the Hermd:
Having observed your remarks on the
subject of the death of the rebel General
| Thomas Jonathan jackson, I take the
liberty Of asking you TO add my testimony
| to that Of others 50 that there can remain
| no reasonable doubt but that he was
killed by his Gwn troops, and will make
my narrative as short as possible for your
! columns.
| At the battle of Chancellorsville l com
manded the Second brigade Of the Second
division Of the Third Army corps, and our
division vas held in reserve near the
| Characteristic House until about 5
o'clock on Saturday afternoon, the I'd Of
May. 1868, which was the time of the
| furious attack made On the right of our
| line by Jackson, which broke the Eleventh
corps, hurting it back in disorder. We
| were almost immediately ordered to the
| front to check the attack of the enemy,
and deployed il line Of battle to the right
CT the Orange Courthouse plank road, not
| far from our first position, the enemy stop
ping any further advance at that time. AS
soon IS my line was formed and pickets
thrown out in front Of it, [ rode to the
front to inspect the picket line, as it was
positions if Necessary. It was now twi-
light, and ID little later the moons light
| aided the vision to pierce the darkness of
the dense forest, in which was our po-
sitloD. While engaged in changing
the posts Of some of the sentlnels
covering The left front of my line, in
comparatively clear place near the
plank-road, heard the sound of an ap-
preaching cavalCade from the side of the
enemy, which soon appeared, and the
foremost horse nau detaching himself from
Il came on alone, SO near that the soldier
nearest IL loveled his rifle fer shot at
him; but stopped him from firing, not
Wishing to reveal Our position, and judg-
lDg him al officer making a reconuois-
sance, III which case it wonll have been
useless thing to kill him-even if he could
! have hit him in the uncertain light. After
few moments spent in trying to pierce
| the gloom, this person slowly turned his
horse, and the whole party turned towards
the Confederates in gallop. The clatter
OF tue hoofs became fainter in the distance,
when suddenly the darkness in that direc
ton was lighted up by flash, succeeded
| by theswell-kuoWn rattle Of volley of mus
kerry from ut least battalion on the right
of the road, and after the interval of
about twenty seconds came another volley
from its left. Being apprehensive that
some of the troops might possibly be in
that direction, determined to ride for
ward alone and satisfy myself, as if called
into action there might be danger of firing
| upon our own troops. l did so, leaving
my orderly within my picket line Emerg
ing from the thick underground upon the
road q riderless horse dashed past me to-
wards our lines, and [ reiued up near
| group Of three persons, two OF whom were
supporting the, third, who was stretched on
the ground, apparently grievously hurt.
| A horse, or perhaps more than one, were
near by, as saw indistinctly, but whether
they were tied to trees or held by other per-
sons l could not make out. l saw at once
that these were Confederates, probably Off
Gers, and visions of the Libby began to fit
through my mind at finding myself so
near them; but refiectiny that [ was
| well armed and mounted, moreover, that [
wore private's grey OveroOut and slouch-
ed hat, which were common to both par
| ties, [ sat still, regarding the group in
silence, but prepared to fly it necessary
at the first warming. The silence was
broken by one of the persons, who seemed
| to regard mo with surprise, and, speaking
as one having authority, lie directed me to
s'ride up there and see what troops those
were" indicating the direction of his
army; to which I gave sign of assent,
and, too happy to escape, l rode IN that
direction until out of sight of the group,
when, making circuit, l returned within
my own lines. just as reached Our picket
line the Federal section of artillery posted
on the plank-road commenced firing, and
[ could plainly hear the grape crashing
through the limbs of the trees near the
point had left. I found my brigade en-
gagged in strengenthing their position by a
rude line Of abltus in preparation for the
battle. That night Two intrepid officers
of my brigade--Lieutenant Colonel Holt
and Captain Hugo, of the Seventieth New
York-crawled on all fours within the
eremY's lines, and captured several pris-
oners, from whom [ extracted the infor-
nation that Rhodes's division of Jackson's
corps lay in our front; and one of them,
an officer, gave me, upon sort OF cross
examination, some Interesting details At
early daylight the next morning Sunday
May 3D. the enemy commenced vigorous
attack upon our lire, which being unsup
ported, although thousands of fresh
troops lay within half musket shot, wa
forced, after gallant defence and heavy
losses, to retire and yield the ground t(
them.
About a fortnight afterwards, OF th'
camp of Falmouth, saw the Richmond
Enquirer, giving a detailed account of The
death Of Stonewall Jackson, and the Cir
cumstances Of his receiving 0is wound
which made it clear to me- at least that th
: man [ saw lying on the ground was him
, self, and that he was killed by his owl
men. Other Confederate accounts men
ton "some one WAS sitting on his horse b,
the side of the wood, coolly looking ol
motioness and silent" "The unknown
individual was clad in q dark dress strong
ly resembling the Federal uniform, but
seemed impossible that he could have pen
etrated to that spot without being discov
. cred, and what followed seemed to prov
that he belonged to the Confederates. y
Captain Wiibourne directed him 60 to rid
: up there and see what troops those were.
y upon which the stranger slow y rode in tn
:. direction pointed out, but never returne
o with any answer. "Who this silent pei
: sonage was is left to posterity," etc. AS
= we'll knew Stonewall Jackson from the tim
q of the Mexican war, could not have fai
=. ed to recognize him had [ Interviewed
E him on this occasion, which would, how
q ever, resulted most disagreeably to 6
: least one OF the .rties-a finale for whic