Sunday, May 3rd, 1863 - Burial of Jackson's Arm

Ellwood Jackson's Arm Burial
Reconnoitering the ground after dark on May 2nd, Lt. General Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson, mistaken for an advancing Federal officer, was accidentally wounded by Confederate pickets as he returned to friendly lines. Of the three bullets with which he was hit, one shattered his upper left arm.  At approximately 2am that morning, Dr. Hunter McGuire amputated Jackson's left arm at a field hospital near the Wilderness Tavern west of Chancellorsville. Reverend Beverly Tucker Lacy, Jackson's Chaplain and friend, buried the arm in the Lacy family cemetery at Ellwood, the estate owned by the Reverend's brother. As per the orders of General Lee, the wounded General was taken behind Confederate lines to Guinea Station in order to recover sufficiently to be transported to Richmond.

Upon learning of his condition, General Lee responded, "Give him my affectionate regards, and tell him to make haste and get well and come back to me as soon as he can. He has lost his left arm; but I have lost my right." [D]