Thomas Jonathan 'Stonewall' Jackson was
buried in a Lexington, Virginia, cemetery that now bears his name,
but he was so famous at the time of his death that his amputated
left arm was taken away to its own separate grave.
Just after dark on May 2, 1863, Jackson launched a devastating
attack against Union forces at Chancellorsville. Returning to his
own lines with several staff officers, Jackson decided to conduct
more reconnaissance in the area. As he and his staff rode through
the woods near Confederate lines, a North Carolina regiment opened
fire. Jackson was struck by three bullets, two of them shattering
his left arm. He was evacuated from the area and given medical
treatment, but his arm could not be saved and was amputated.
Pneumonia set in, and on May 10, 1863, he died. Jackson's body was
sent to Lexington without the arm.
Thinking that the limb of so great a soldier was too precious to
simply throw on the regular body part pile, Jackson's unofficial
company chaplain wrapped the arm in a blanket and took it his family
cemetery. The reverend gave the limb a standard Christian burial and
placed a marker above the site.
Supposedly Stonewall Jackson's arm was dug up and reburied numerous
times in the ensuing years and there is no evidence that it still
resides in its original burial space. The simple gravestone remains
to remember one of the oddest instances of hero worship in the
history of battle.