Battle of Chancellorsville 150th Anniversary Manicure: Stonewall Jackson

I decided to do this manicure as part of the Polish Days "The Number 5" Challenge.

This weekend marked the 150th anniversary of what many consider the greatest Confederate victory in the Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville. My husband and I went to the re-enactment (our first time at one) and I must say that it really puts the whole thing in perspective to see so many people acting it out. What a way to remember what happened, "that the future may learn from the past."

The reason I chose this for the challenge is because on May 5, 1863 the Union army retreated back across the Rappahannock river, thus giving Robert E. Lee his greatest victory in the Civil War. Unfortunately, it also gave him huge casualties. Among the casualties are the famed Stonewall Jackson. That is who the photo on my thumb is. The public domain photo was taken just 7 days before he died. At the battle, he was shot in the arm which later had to be amputated. He died shortly thereafter on May 10, 1863.

Many scholars state that this victory made Lee more confident in his forces than he should have been. It gave him a huge ego? Because of this, many say he ended up with such a great defeat at Gettysburg; which is the definite turning point in the Civil War. Here is a battle summary if you want to learn more about this particular battle.


Here's the manicure:

I started with a base of Revlon Emerald. I then stamped an image from BM-224 that looked like the stone walls that gave Jackson fame. I used Funky Fingers Black Knight to do the stamping.

I then created two paper decals with the words and the photograph. I used top coat to adhere them to my nails. I used white polish to put behind the words so they showed up better. I left the photo as it is to give it that old dusty look. This was my first attempt at adding a "decal" to my nails.

Here's a closeup of the thumb:

What do you think for my first attempt at printing something out and putting it on my nails?

Since this is a group challenge, there are many others participating. Check out their manicures too: