Sculpted by Gary Casteel
 
1863 Signed and Numbered Limited Edition Monument Replicas
 
This is one of ten monuments erected by James Power Smith in 1903.  Captain Smith joined General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson's staff as his aide-de-camp in September 1862.  He was with Jackson through the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville.
 
On the night of May 1, 1863, at the intersection of Old Plank Road and McLaws Drive, Gen. Robert E. Lee and Gen. Stonewall Jackson met to discuss strategy against the Union army who vastly outnumbered their troops at Chancellorsville, Virginia.
 
As Smith reported the scene: “Sometime after midnight I was awakened by the chill of the early morning hours, and turning over, caught a glimpse of a little flame on the slope above me, and sitting up to see what it meant, I saw, bending over a scant fire of twigs, two men seated on old cracker boxes and warming their hands over a little fire. I had to rub my eyes and collect my wits to recognize the figures of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.  Who can tell the story of that quiet council of war between two sleeping armies.”
 
As a result of Smith’s report of this scene, the event was immortalized.  It would be the last bivouac between Lee and Jackson.
 
By dawn on May 2, Jackson got an unusually late start, and it was past 7 a.m. before his troops left their camps on the Orange Plank Road.  Jackson rode near the head of the marching column.  As one wayside marker at Chancellorsville Battlefield relates the events regarding Jackson on this May morning: “His face appeared flushed, and his eyes flashed in anticipation of the coming conflict. When he reached the intersection, he dismounted and spoke with Generals Lee, A.P. Hill, and J.E.B. Stuart.  The informal council lasted but a few minutes.  Jackson then pointed toward the head of his moving column and galloped off.  It was the last time that he and Lee would ever meet.”
 
This monument was dedicated in 1903 and is located on Furnace Road just west of Old Plank Road.