The next morning, an aide read a note from General Robert E. Lee. “I have just received your note, informing me that you were wounded,” Lee wrote. “Could I have directed events, I should have chosen, for the good of the country, to have been disabled in your stead. I congratulate you upon the victory, which is due to your skill and energy.” The pious Jackson responded modestly, “General Lee should give the praise to God.”

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The following day, Lee ordered McGuire to move Jackson to Guiney’s Station, fearing that nearby Federal troops might capture him. Jackson was not worried, however. “If the enemy does come,” he told McGuire, “I am not afraid of them; I have always been kind to their wounded, and I am sure they will be kind to me.” The patient tolerated the transfer well. Later in the day, however, he became nauseated and asked that a wet towel be placed on his abdomen. Upon arriving at the house where he would convalesce, he felt well enough to take bread and tea.

The house already held other wounded Confederates, including several soldiers who were suffering from erysipelas, a highly contagious skin disease. McGuire would not allow Jackson to be exposed to the infected men and instead moved his patient to a small separate building on the grounds that had been used as an office. The general slept well the night of his arrival and, awakening early the next morning, “ate heartily and was cheerful.”

McGuire dressed Jackson’s wounds and found them to be healing well, without any signs of infection. Jackson seemed satisfied with his progress and inquired about how long it would be before he could return to the field. Around 1 o’clock the next morning, Jackson again became nauseated and asked a servant to apply a wet compress. He refused to allow the exhausted McGuire (who had not slept for nearly three days) to be disturbed.

When the doctor did awaken, he discovered to his dismay that Jackson was suffering from pleuropneumonia on the right side. McGuire attributed it to the fall Jackson had taken from the litter while he was being carried from the battlefield. “Contusion of the lung, with extravasation of blood in his chest, was probably produced by the fall referred to, and shock and loss of blood prevented any ill effects until reaction had been established, and then inflammation ensued,” McGuire reported.

That night Jackson rallied somewhat. His wife had arrived earlier in the day. “She was a devoted wife and earnest Christian, and endeared us all to her by her great kindness and gentleness,” wrote McGuire. “The General’s joy at the presence of his wife and child was very great, and for him unusually demonstrative. Noticing the sadness of his wife, he said to her tenderly: ‘I know you would gladly give your life for me, but I am perfectly resigned. Do not be sad. I hope I may yet recover. Pray for me, but always remember in your prayers to use the petition, Thy will be done.’”

The next day, McGuire dressed Jackson’s wounds again, noting that they were continuing to heal. The pain in Jackson’s side had diminished, but he was now breathing with difficulty and complaining of exhaustion. McGuire consulted with several other doctors, “and all that human skill could devise was done to stay the hand of death.” However, Jackson was growing weaker by the hour.

“When his child was brought to him [the next day] he played with it for some time, frequently caressing it and calling it his ‘little comforter,’” McGuire observed. “At one time he raised his wounded hand above his head and closing his eyes, was for some moments silently engaged in prayer. He said to me: ‘I see from the number of physicians that you think my condition dangerous, but I thank God, if it is His will, that I am ready to go.’”

At about daybreak on Sunday, May 10, Mrs. Jackson told her husband that his recovery was very doubtful and that he should prepare for the worst. Jackson was silent for a moment, then said, “It will be infinite gain to be translated to Heaven.” He advised his wife to return to her father’s home, adding, “You have a kind and good father, but there is no one so kind and good as your Heavenly Father.” He requested to be buried at Lexington, Va.

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