A Final Journey

After Lieutenant 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 him moved south to the railroad at Guinea Station. Major Jedediah Hotchkiss led the procession from the Wilderness by way of Brock Road, while crowded supply trains slowed the ambulance until teamsters learned Jackson was inside and stepped aside in tears. At Spotsylvania Courthouse, men and women came to the ambulance with food and prayers for his recovery. Also riding in the ambulance was Spotsylvania-born Lieutenant Colonel Stapleton Crutchfield Jr., whose right leg had been amputated after he too was wounded on May 2nd. At the Courthouse, his uncle removed him 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 had served as Jackson's Chief of Artillery through numerous early battles of the war. He recovered and returned to duty, but was later shot through the head and killed during an assault on Union forces at Sayler's Creek on April 6th, 1865, during the Army's movement to Appomattox, and his body was buried somewhere on the battlefield. After leaving Spotsylvania Courthouse, Jackson's ambulance turned south on Massaponax Road, passed Massaponax Church, and continued to Guinea Station. Jackson bore the journey well and remained cheerful throughout the day, but died at Thomas Chandler's farm on May 10th.

Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia · United States