M&C Live: Eric Mink on Building a Park

 

Some of the most popular posts on M&C are those that speak to the development and evolution of the park. Eric has been the leader on this, turning up dozens of little tidbits and curiosities over the last many years (here is an example).

Tomorrow night, Monday, November 19, at 7 p.m., Eric will explore the evolution of the park in live form, presenting the third in our M&C Live series at the Rappahannock Regional Library HQ Branch on Caroline Street. Word is he has a number of new discoveries he’s planning to roll out. Hope to see you there.

A Little Mystery Solved–the Jackson Rock, and a Little Commercial Crassness

From John Hennessy:

Note:  Donald Pfanz’s new book is out: The Letters of Richard Ewell.

Note 2:  see the bottom of this post for a nifty little update.

Photo by Donald Pfanz

The last few weeks have been busy ones, leaving little time for mysteries or conundrums in the wash of preps for the Fredericksburg 150th.  But it’s also been uncommonly productive of new things coming in or being learned, including several new images we’ll share soon.

One of the enduring little mysteries that has lingered for decades revolves around what’s known as the “Jackson Rock” at Chancellorsville. Is it the oldest “monument” in the park? When was it placed? Don Pfanz’s extensive and invaluable work on the park’s monuments, never published, could not answer those questions. (Here is his entry on the Jackson Rock, written before the date of the rock could be confirmed.)

Last month I came across a short article in the September 29, 1879 issue of the Daily Inter Ocean (Chicago) that at least answered one of those questions. The piece, with a dateline of “Fredericksburg, Va. Sept. 23” noted:

Yesterday a large boulder of white quartz rock, from near the Wilderness, was placed to mark the spot where Stonewall Jackson received his death wound. A simple inscription will be put on the stone. The Rev B.F. Lacy, of Missouri, Jackson’s chaplain, originated the project.

Date solved: September 22, 1879. The promised inscription never materialized. Instead, an association of Confederate veterans formed to erect a more elaborate, suitable memorial to Jackson’s wounding. It’s easy to speculate that the ex-Confederates were spurred in their commemorative initiative by the impending placement (by Yankees) of a monument marking the death of Union  general John Sedgwick at Spotsylvania.

In the face of that, Jackson surely needed something more dignified than an unhewn,  blank rock. And so in June 1888, more than 5,000 spectators gathered to dedicate a new memorial, and the Jackson Rock became a footnote, its memorial-esque origins rarely understood and its presence often overlooked. So it remains, though the stone sits just a few dozen yards south of the Chancellorsville Visitor Center.

In the nearly nine years of the rock’s heyday as the sole marker at (or near) the site of Jackson’s wounding, the stone apparently gained some fame.

Big Things Coming Quick–Ural, Rable, O’Reilly and the 150th

We depart from our normal historiographical flow to let you know of two things related to the Fredericksburg 150th.

On November 17, from 1-5 at the Fredericksburg Baptist Church at 1019 Princess Anne Street, Years of Anguish: Struggle at Fredericksburg will feature three of the premier speakers on Fredericksburg anywhere. For one of the few times in modern history, George Rable and Frank O’Reilly–the two greatest authorities on the Battle of Fredericksburg, each the author of a distinctive book–will share the stage.  And, Susannah Ural will present her vivid work on the role of the Irish Brigade at Fredericksburg.  The event is free, and we hope you will join us.

Also, the full schedule for the Fredericksburg 150th is now available. You can download the program by clicking here or on the cover, below.  The pdf is about 5mb.  Follow updates to the 150th schedule on the park’s Facebook page.