Looks to me like the place that Stonewall Jackson died. That would have been near Chancellorsville, where he was a victim of friendly fire, although I gather the house was in Guinea Station, Va.
Bob–you're very good. You are exactly right. I took this earlier in the summer when there was an accident on I-95 and I was pushed off I-95 onto route 1. That was one slow trip. So I thought I'd take a little detour and let the traffic calm down.
Long time readers of the faculty lounge may recall that I've posted some pictures of the Lexington Cemetery, where Jackson is buried.
When I was a kid, the sign to that house on 95 was for the "Stonewall Jackson Shrine." Every summer I wondered what this "shrine" would be and finally one year my mom and I made the unilateral decision to pull off and see what it was while my dad napped. It wasn't what I expected (no candles or other weird shrine-y things), but it's a beautiful site.
Shrine is a weird name for the place, isn't it, Kate? But that conveys something about how people thought about Jackson. I've been meaning to talk about how far we are from the early and middle part of the 20th century when such terms were thrown around with such nostalgia for the old south and the war.
One further sign that the Civil War is finally over is this: last December when the SCV held a ball in Charleston to commemorate the 150th anniversary of SC's secession, one of the SCV's representatives was quoted as saying (in effect), sure the war was about slavery but it was about other things, too. I took that as the final sign that we'd largely moved on from the most laughable of mistatements about our history. When the SCV admits that slavery had something to do with the war, I think we've made a lot of progress. And perhaps — I hope — we're really putting a lot of that history behind us and moving on. That's my sense anyway. And my hope.
I used to live on the Chancellorsville battlefield, a short distance from where Jackson fell, and know all the battlefields and markers in the area well. Col. (later Gen) Nelson Miles won his medal of honor for events that happened during the Chancellorsville battle on the edge of our property or immediately proximate. So this thrilled me – it's one of the few photos you've posted, Al, that I identified right away. (I remember my 14 year old daughter lying in a hammock one day reading "Red Badge of Courage" when she realized they were describing our property – that'll bring history home to a kid).
Very cool story about your daughter, Brad! I love that. Sounds like there's the making's of a short story in it for her. How haunting to be in such a lovely and peaceful setting and to realize that it was once a scene of such horror. I had that same sense when I visited the Bloody Angle a few years back.
I'll put up another trivia question soon that I'd been thinking would be quite, quite difficult — I think you'll be the ideal person to answer it….
Which Civil War General died in this house at right? Where is the house?
6
Al,
Looks to me like the place that Stonewall Jackson died. That would have been near Chancellorsville, where he was a victim of friendly fire, although I gather the house was in Guinea Station, Va.
Bob Strassfeld
Bob–you're very good. You are exactly right. I took this earlier in the summer when there was an accident on I-95 and I was pushed off I-95 onto route 1. That was one slow trip. So I thought I'd take a little detour and let the traffic calm down.
Long time readers of the faculty lounge may recall that I've posted some pictures of the Lexington Cemetery, where Jackson is buried.
http://www.thefacultylounge.org/2011/07/thomas-jackson-cemetery.html
When I was a kid, the sign to that house on 95 was for the "Stonewall Jackson Shrine." Every summer I wondered what this "shrine" would be and finally one year my mom and I made the unilateral decision to pull off and see what it was while my dad napped. It wasn't what I expected (no candles or other weird shrine-y things), but it's a beautiful site.
Shrine is a weird name for the place, isn't it, Kate? But that conveys something about how people thought about Jackson. I've been meaning to talk about how far we are from the early and middle part of the 20th century when such terms were thrown around with such nostalgia for the old south and the war.
One further sign that the Civil War is finally over is this: last December when the SCV held a ball in Charleston to commemorate the 150th anniversary of SC's secession, one of the SCV's representatives was quoted as saying (in effect), sure the war was about slavery but it was about other things, too. I took that as the final sign that we'd largely moved on from the most laughable of mistatements about our history. When the SCV admits that slavery had something to do with the war, I think we've made a lot of progress. And perhaps — I hope — we're really putting a lot of that history behind us and moving on. That's my sense anyway. And my hope.
I used to live on the Chancellorsville battlefield, a short distance from where Jackson fell, and know all the battlefields and markers in the area well. Col. (later Gen) Nelson Miles won his medal of honor for events that happened during the Chancellorsville battle on the edge of our property or immediately proximate. So this thrilled me – it's one of the few photos you've posted, Al, that I identified right away. (I remember my 14 year old daughter lying in a hammock one day reading "Red Badge of Courage" when she realized they were describing our property – that'll bring history home to a kid).
Very cool story about your daughter, Brad! I love that. Sounds like there's the making's of a short story in it for her. How haunting to be in such a lovely and peaceful setting and to realize that it was once a scene of such horror. I had that same sense when I visited the Bloody Angle a few years back.
I'll put up another trivia question soon that I'd been thinking would be quite, quite difficult — I think you'll be the ideal person to answer it….