Quality Inn Thornburg

Where Stoney "Bit the bullet"...

by zanzooni

"This is really Guinea Station..not Thornsburg"

All of these battlefields are part of the Spotsylvania and Fredricksburg National Military Park.

This is the out building where General Stonewall Jackson died..he insisted on being here as the main house was being used by the family and here it was quiet. This was part of Thomas C. Chandlers 740 acre plantation named "Fairfield". Thomas kept records in this building and one of his son's practiced medicine here. The other 3 sons were off fighting the war. This is the only structure left standing. Stonewall was shot by one of his own men, was brought here by ambulance..his arm was amputated (sawed off, as this was the common practice) and was buried somewhere, but I don't know where at this time. Thought it was here, hmmm...Ahhh, I found it...It's at Elwood, or so "they" think...but the records show that is where it's buried.

His wife, Mary Anna and daughter, Julia who was only a baby at the time, came to his side, and it was she that asked him, "If the Lord asks you to join him, would you go?" and he replied, " I am willing" and she said, "Then go"...and he died with a smile upon his face.

"This is from the Spotsi Battlefield"

Didn't have room on the Spotsi page..so I put it here...I would guestimate that this is about 10-15 miles from where Stoney's shrine is.

"Artistic Rendering"

I thought this was a very accurate rendition of how this plantation used to look. Here you can see the original house that belonged to the family. It burnt down sometime after the Civil War and the shell was finally dismantled sometime in the early 1900's. If you look in the far distance of this picture, you can see a train coming down the track. Those tracks are still being used to this day, in fact, the day I arrived, a train was coming.

The office underwent restoration in the 1920's and the 1960's, and still retains about 45% original fabric. Unfortunetly, the days that I am off from work, it is closed...but I did get to peak in the windows...I saw the bed that he died in and the rest of the downstairs house. Hopefully at some point in time, I will get to go in and get some pics.