Stapleton Crutchfield

(1835 - 1865)
Home State: Virginia
Command Billet: Corps Chief of Artillery
Branch of Service: Artillery
Unit: Jackson's Corps Reserve Artillery

see his Battle Report

Before the Antietam Campaign:
Of the class of 1855, he taught Mathematics at VMI from his graduation to the outbreak of War in 1861. He had been made full professor in 1858, and, in May 1861 he was Acting Superintendent of the Institute, with the rank of Major. In June he was Major of the 9th Virginia Infantry Regiment, volunteering with two other VMI professors: Its Col Francis. H. Smith and LCol John. T. L. Preston.

The remainder of the War:
He was wounded at Chancellorsville (May 3,1863), and was in the ambulance with General 'Stonewall' Jackson, who had been shot ...

"...Colonel Crutchfield, his chief of artillery, was also in the ambulance wagon. He had been wounded very seriously in the leg, and was suffering intensely."
"The General expressed, very feelingly, his sympathy for Crutchfield, and once, when the latter groaned aloud, he directed the ambulance to stop, and requested me to see if something could not be done for his relief. Torches had been provided, and every means taken to carry them to the hospital as safely and easily as possible. I sat in the front part of the ambulance, with my finger resting upon the artery above the wound, to arrest bleeding if it should occur. When I was recognized by acquaintances and asked who was wounded, the General would tell me to say, 'A Confederate officer.' At one time he put his right hand upon my head, and pulling me down to him, asked if Crutchfield was dangerously injured. When answered 'No, only painfully hurt,' he replied, 'I am glad it is no worse.' In a few moments after Crutchfield did the same thing, and when he was told that the General was very seriously wounded, he groaned and cried out, 'Oh, my God!' It was for this that the General directed the ambulance to be halted, and requested that something should be done for Crutchfield's relief ...
(from Dr. Hunter McGuire, Southern Historical Society Papers, Vol. XIV. Richmond, Va., January-December. 1886.)

Col Crutchfield was killed leading a "hodgepodge" unit in a counterattack on Federal troops at Sailor's Creek, VA, April 6, 1865.

References, Sources, and other notes:
Biographical details from Walker.1

More on the Web:
See an oil (painting) portrait of him from VMI.

Birth Date: 06/21/1835    Place of Birth: Spottsylvania County, VA
College: Virginia Military Institute (VMI)    Graduating Year: 1855
Death Date: 4/6/1865    Death Place: Sailor's Creek, VA

Notes

1 Walker, Charles D., Biographical Sketches of the Graduates and Eleves of the Virginia Military Institute Who Fell During the War Between the States, Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Company, 1875, pp. 145-151 [AotW citation 1134]

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