Battle of Chancellorsville • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments & Markers • Battle Facts • The Armies
The Confederate Catastrophe wayside marker is at the Visitor Center, Stop 1 on the Chancellorsville Battlefield Auto Tour.
Text from the marker:
Confederate Catastrophe
Near this spot around 9:15 p.m. on the night of May 2, 1863, the Confederate cause suffered disaster. As “Stonewall” Jackson and his party returned from their reconnaissance down the Mountain Road, Confederate musketry erupted south of the Plank Road (Route 3). The scattered fire rippled northward, directly across Jackson’s path.
A Confederate officer yelled, “Cease firing! You are firing into your own men!” Through the darkness, a voice shouted back: “Who gave that order? It’s a lie! Pour it into them, boys!” The flash from dozens of rifles illuminated the darkness. Two bullets crashed into Jackson’s left arm; a third pierced his right hand. Later that night his left arm would be amputated. On May 10, 1863, Jackson died in a farm office at Guinea Station.
From the caption to the map on the lower left:
This map shows the route of Jackson’s fatal reconnaissance. You are standing near the spot where the general was shot.
From the caption to the photo on the upper right:
The last portrait of Jackson, taken at a Spotsylvania County farm about ten days before his mortal wounding. Mrs. Jackson regretted that the image showed ‘a sternness to his countenance that was not natural.
From the caption to the large sketch on the bottom right:
After the shooting, Jackson’s horse bolted through the woods. Staff officers stopped the panicked animal and lowered Jackson to the ground near the site of the present monuments. After Jackson was shot, attendants carried him to a field hospital behind the lines. There surgeons removed his wounded left arm.
Location of the Marker
The wayside marker is along the trail that heads east from the front door of the Visitor Center. It is is near the “A Fatal Reconnaissance” wayside marker.
(go to the main Stop 1 page)
(go to the main Chancellorsville Battlefield Auto Tour page)