Wilderness Tavern remains only in this outbuilding ruin. Located on the Plank Road west of Chancellorsville, the tavern grounds served as a hospital following both Chancellorsville and the Wilderness, and Stonewall Jackson’s left arm was amputated near this site.

On May 4–5, 1864, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant led the Army of the Potomac across the Rapidan River here, at Germanna Ford, and would continue to push southward for the next year, eventually encircling Richmond and Petersburg. Severe battles remained, but this was the beginning of the end of the war.

Tony Hallas’s new image of the Elephant’s Trunk Nebula, the prominent dust feature in the huge emission nebula IC 1396 in Cepheus, is a killer. Just look at that high-resolution detail! Wow!

Such terribly sad news that one of the greatest and most upstanding guys I’ve ever known, Jim Lovell, died yesterday. There will be no one coming along like him. He was a national treasure. Here’s to ya, Jim.

Thank you so much to the many friends who posted birthday greetings to me yesterday. What a wonderful thing it is to have so many great friends. All best to you. Cheers, Dave

At Chancellorsville, following Stonewall Jackson’s wounding, Maj. Gen. Jeb Stuart took command of his corps. Confederate cannon placed here at Hazel Grove fired heavily on the Yankees on May 3, striking a column at Chancellor Tavern that Joseph Hooker was leaning against, knocking him senseless.

Constructed in 1837 on what became the Chancellorsville battlefield, Catharine Furnace was an iron production site for a decade and then revived during the Civil War. Only ruins of the stack remain.

On June 22 John Chumack captured this amazingly crisp view of our star’s disk. Enjoy!

After 23 years as Editor-in-Chief of Astronomy Magazine, and 43 years on the magazine’s staff, I have left Firecrown and now am looking forward to new and exciting opportunities in journalism. Have a great day!

Matthew Fontaine Maury, the “Pathfinder of the Seas,” was born in 1806 in a house here, in what is now woods on the Chancellorsville battlefield. Maury was Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Observatory and, when Civil War began, he became a Confederate naval flag officer.

On the evening of May 1, 1863, at Chancellorsville, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson met here to plan Jackson’s celebrated flank march of the next day. The so-called Lee-Jackson Bivouac Site marks the position of their last-ever meeting.

Richard Whitehead has captured the Heart Nebula in Cassiopeia in spectacular detail — enjoy the cosmos!

The name of the community and the battle came from Chancellor Tavern, the ruins of which are shown here. George Chancellor built the tavern in 1816, and Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker had his headquarters here during the battle of Chancellorsville. The tavern burned during the battle.

This little sign and path mark the area where Stonewall Jackson was accidentally shot by Confederate troops on May 2, 1863, during the battle of Chancellorsville. He was struck three times, his left arm amputated, and he died eight days later en route to Richmond.

Near this monument adjacent to the Chancellorsville Visitor Center, Stonewall Jackson was fired on by accident by his own troops and mortally wounded. His left arm was amputated and he died eight days later, the Confederacy losing one of its greatest commanders.

Just west of Fredericksburg, the Old Salem Church was built in 1844. During the Fredericksburg campaign it sheltered civilian refugees from the city; during the Chancellorsville campaign it was loaded with Confederate snipers and afterward a hospital.

Tony Hallas has produced a more conventional version of the Lagoon and Trifid nebulae area in Sagittarius — what a window toward the galactic center!

Last week Chris Cook captured a deep Milky Way above the Owens Valley Radio Observatory in California. What a beautiful image of the cosmos!

On the Fredericksburg battlefield, the Meade Pyramid was constructed in 1897 along the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad. In this area Maj. Gen. George Meade’s Union troops pushed through a gap and encountered Stonewall Jackson’s Confederate line of battle.

The oldest portion of the James Monroe Law Office building in Fredericksburg was built in 1758, and Monroe used it as office space from 1786–1789. The structure now holds a substantial museum of Monroe artifacts.

What’s the thinnest Moon you’ve ever seen? On July 25 Chris Schur captured the Moon when it was just 1% illuminated, just 11° away from the Sun in the sky.

All manner of interesting things exist in the garden of Chatham Manor, established in 1771 near Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Built in 1771 on the banks of the Rappahannock River, opposite Fredericksburg, Chatham Manor was used as headquarters by Union officers and overlooked the battle of Fredericksburg in 1862. At times it was visited by Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and Abraham Lincoln, among others.

Tony Hallas has done it again, this time recording a rarely imaged object, WR 134. This is the nebulous remnant produced by a Wolf-Rayet star in Cygnus, lying about 6,000 light-years away. The shell of gas here was swept up from the interstellar medium and stretches 100 light-years across.

On Marye’s Heights in Fredericksburg, the Willis Hill Cemetery was established in the mid-18th Century. The entrance gate shows considerable artillery and small arms fire damage from the battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862.

Now surrounded by a dense neighborhood, in 1862 the Allen Stratton House in Fredericksburg was isolated and used for cover by Union troops, who faced a withering fire from Confederates on the hillside ahead of them.

One of my favorite areas in the entire sky is that surrounding the Lagoon and Trifid nebulae — check out this new image, extraordinarily deep in its coverage, by the great Tony Hallas. A killer!

The interior of the Innis House, along the Sunken Road in Fredericksburg, shows extensive small arms fire damage from the battle that took place in late 1862.

OK, back to Virginia. The John Innis House along Fredericksburg’s Sunken Road, finished in 1861, was in the forefront of the battle here, and was scarred by repeated gunshots.

The grave of the “Fighting McCooks” at Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati. The family contributed 13 members who fought during the Civil War, including Maj. Gen. Alexander McCook and Brig. Gens. Anson G. McCook, Daniel McCook, Jr., Edward M. McCook, Edwin S. McCook, and Robert L. McCook.