A Final Journey

A Final Journey. Spotsylvania Court House National Historic District. , After Lt. General Thomas Johnson "Stonewall" Jackson was wounded at Chancellorsville on May 2nd, 1863, he was taken to an Army hospital near Wilderness Church where his left arm was amputated. Fearing his capture, Lee ordered his move south to the railroad at Guinea Station. Major Jedediah Hotchkiss led the procession from the Wilderness south via Brock Road.,

"The road packed with supply trains, the rough teamsters sometimes refused to move their loaded wagons out of the way for an ambulance until told that it contained Jackson, and then, with all possible speed, they gave the way and stood with hats off and weeping as he went by. At Spotsylvania Courthouse, and along the whole route men and women rushed to the ambulance, bringing all the poor delicates they had, and with tearful eyes they blessed him and prayed for his recovery."

, The ambulance contained another passenger, Spotsylvania born Lt. Colonel Stapleton Crutchfield Jr., his right leg amputated following his wounding on May 2nd. At Spotsylvania Courthouse, the ambulance stopped and Stapleton Crutchfield's uncle removed Stapleton and took him to 'Snow Hill" on the road to Snell to recuperate. Crutchfield, the son of Major Oscar Minor Crutchfield and Susan Elizabeth Gatewood, was born at Spring Forest, in Spotsylvania County, on June 21, 1835. A graduate of Virginia Military Institute, he served as Jackson's Chief of Artillery through numerous battles early in the war. Crutchfield would recover and return to duty only to die, shot through the head, during an assault on Union forces at Sayler's Creek on April 6th, 1865 during the Army's movement to Appomattox. His body was buried somewhere on the battlefield., After leaving the Courthouse, the ambulance turned south on Massaponax Road and passed by Massaponax Church to Guinea Station. Jackson bore the journey well, and was cheerful throughout the day only to die at Thomas Chandler's farm on May 10th., [Captions:] The last photo of Jackson taken only two weeks before his fatal wounding., Major Hunter McGuire accompanied Jackson on his journey and was the Doctor in attendance until his death. He wrote of the journey (right) after the war., Stapleton Crutchfield Jr. , Circa 1864., Hotchkiss, with a party of engineers, was sent in front to clear the road of wood, stone, etc.