Smith Marker, Stonewall Jackson Died

A former member of Jackson's staff placed this marker here after the Civil War.

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Location:

This marker sits near the parking lot at the Jackson Death Site (12019 Stonewall Jackson Road, Woodford, VA 22580).

Significance:

Marker placed by James Power Smith, formerly of Jackson's staff, indicating that Jackson died on the premises.

Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson died on May 10, 1863 in the Fairfield Plantation farm office, today the only building left standing amongst what was once a much more developed landscape.

Eight days earlier, at the Battle of Chancellorsville, Jackson led a flank attack that successfully routed the Army of the Potomac's 11th Corps. Looking to capitalize on that momentum, Jackson conducted a night reconnaissance in front of his line with a small group of staff officers. In the darkness, Confederate troops from the 18th North Carolina mistook this group of Confederates for Federal cavalry and opened fire. The Carolinians hit Jackson three times.

The survivors worked quickly to carry Jackson into friendly territory, eventually reaching the field hospital near Wilderness Tavern. Two days later an ambulance carried Jackson a distance of 27 miles, from the field hospital to Guinea Station. Doctors hoped that Jackson would gain strength at Guinea and then proceed to Richmond by rail. However, Jackson developed symptoms of pneumonia and ultimately died on May 10, 1863.

The Marker

This marker is one of 10 similar small rectangular stone monuments commonly referred to as the Smith Markers, because of the role that one of Jackson's former staff officers, James Power Smith, played in their placement. The markers identify important sites related to Robert E. Lee, his generals, and their actions from 1862-1864.

The effort to place these stones began in 1902 when Samuel B. Woods, of Charlottesville, Virginia, suggested the formation of a committee to mark important places on the battlefield. James Power Smith later described the effort, saying, "The purpose was not to mark battlefields, or lines of battle, but certain points or localities that would be of lasting historic interest."¹ The placement of the markers came at a high point in efforts to memorialize the Confederacy before veterans of the war died off. The sites that the committee selected all mark events and stories that, by 1902, had become important parts of the Lost Cause interpretation of the Civil War. 

Smith directed the placement of the markers, including this one next to the farm office where Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson died. Placement was completed in 1903. Originally this marker was west of the house, near the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac rail line. Smith placed it there so that it could be readily seen by train passengers. The National Park Service moved it to its current location in the 1960s.

Description

The stone marker is are one and one half feet square and has a rough point at the top. The blocks reputedly weigh one ton a piece and are chiseled from clear blue Fredericksburg granite taken from the Fall Hill or Taylor quarries. The stone reads:

STONEWALL JACKSON
DIED
MAY 10, 1863
BURIED
LEXINGTON, VA.

The National Park Service added the last two lines of the inscription to prevent the misconception that the monument marked Jackson’s grave. Unlike other Smith Markers, the first line of the monument has a crescent shape. There is a large crack in the stone that has required occasional repair.

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1. Smith, James P. “Spotsylvania Battle Field Markers,” Southern Historical Society Papers, 41:145-46.

For more information see, Donald C. Pfanz, History Through Eyes of Stone, A Survey of Civil War Monuments Near Fredericksburg, Virginia, February 1983, Revised October 2020.