The National tribune., 1907-01-03
STONEWALL JACKSON.
Was the Confederate General Shot by
His Own Menu

Editor National Tribune: Various
accounts of the death of StoHewall
Jackson have been published since May
10, 1868, when he past over the river
to his eternal rest under the shade of
the trees"
The following statement made by
John Mangan, Chaplain of B. F. But
Ter Post, AZ, G. A. R., residing at ia
Pleasant street, will not be doubted by
any one who knows Chaplain Mangan,
who sacrificed his left leg in the civil
war. He served first in the 18th Mass.
and afterwards in the 1st U. S. Art,
and participated in nearly all the bat
ties of the Army of the Potomac.
'At the battle of Charlottesville I
was a member of Battery H, 1st U. S.
Art, which had formed part of Maj.
and which, at charlottesville. was
commanded by First Lieut.. Justin
Demick. The section of the battery to
which I was attached was placed In
position on the plank road, in line with
the First Brigade, Second Division,
Third Corps, of which corps Gen.
Sickles then had command. The battle
began May 2, 1863. 1 was number one
at the right of our section at about
o'clock on the morning of May 81.
when a Confederate officer of Stone
wall Jackson's staff and an Orderly,
both mounted, ran into our section of
the battery, which they in the dark
ness mistook for Confederate bat
terry The Confederate officer eXclaim-
ed to us, For Gods sake, men, who
put you here, and what were you put
here for, to slaughter down our men
so?" We had been firing double
charged canister shot to both the right
and left of the plank road. The officer
rode a gray mare which had saber
cut on her flank, and the Orderly rode
a chestnut-cOlored horse. l seized the
bride of the OrdeTly's horse and or
dered him to dismount. He dismount-
ed, saying, Gentlemen, / am wounded,
and for Gods sake use me WELL l
took from him a silver-mounted dirk
knife ard a full suit of rubber clothes.
The knife / afterwards sold to a COM
rade for So; the rubber clothes were
placed upon a caisSOn and were de-
stroyed with the caissOn the next morn
ing Meantime Serg't Timothy Sulli-
van, of Boston, captured the Confed-
crate officer and took from him his
pistol, sword and belt. The Confeder-
ate officer and Lieut.. Dimick had been
classmates together at West Point, and
they recognized and embraced each
other affectionately on the plank road.
Both the officer and his Orderly were
sent to Gen. Hooker's headquarters as
prisoners of war. The horse we an
nexed' to our battery.
Lieut.. Dimick was shot twice on
that morning, once in the breast and
again in the foot. 1 was one OF the
four men who, by order of Serg't
Johnson, carried him to the Third
Corps field hospital--John Coleman,
William Eaglen, George Miller and my
self. He was carried to the Acquia
Creek Hospital, where he died.
'If Stonewall Jackson was killed by
canister shot, that shot may have
been fired by my section of the bat
terry. If he was killed by musket
bali, that ball may have been fired by
those mountaineers Of the Blue Ridge
to whom Charles w. Barnes, in The
National Tribune of the goth of Sep
tember, ascribes his death"
Comrade Mangan's narrative is very
interesting. But it is pretty certain
that Stonewall Jackson was shot by
three muskst balls, and not by canister
shot. The spot where he fell in the
shades of the Wilderness has been
marked by large quartz rock placed
there by his Chaplain and his Chap
lain's brother. The Rev. James Power
Smith, who was Captain in the Con-
federate army and an Aid to Stone
wall Jackson, gives us, in the third
volume of Battles and Leaders of the
civil war, an account OIL tne clrcuHu-
stances of the death of his chief. 1t is
true that Jackson, followed by Capt.
Smith and others of his staff, had
(probably without knowing it, gone
within the Union lines, when, as Capt.
Smith relates, "he came upon line of
the Federal infantry lying upon their
arms" and he was fired at by one or
two muskets. This was probably the
origin of the report that he was shot
by Union men. But Capt. Smith goes
on to say that Jackson then turned
and came back toward his own line.
AS he rode near to the Confederate
troops, which had just been placed in
position and ordered to fire without
challenging upon anything that ap-
preached on that road, Smith says the