Civil War Anecdote. Stonewall Jackson’s Bad News.

During the Civil War, night attacks were uncommon. But after Stonewall Jackson had started the Battle of Chancellorsville so late in the day the sun had set through the thick woods before he could finish the job. The evening after the first day’s battle, Jackson and his aides were reconnoitering a place to stage a night attack. He turned back to his lines and a couple of nervous pickets fired at him, felling two of his aides and shattering Jackson’s left arm.

The next morning, his left arm was amputated. When General Robert E. Lee received the news, he later wrote, “He has lost his left arm, and I have lost my right arm.”

A few days later, May 10th 1863 General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson died of pneumonia.