Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-01-13

MIN szosishmsnx, xki<hz D d only siysn q
the highest genius 10 produce The blows
he struck at the enemy were as terrible and
decisive as those Of Bonsparte himself"
There can be no doubt in history OF the
military genius Of jackson. There Is q GER
tain ignorant idea of genius as thoughSlesi
and careless disposition. of mind which gets
its inspirations without trouble, and never
desoends TO actual labor Such was not the
genius Of jackson; and such is not true
genius. He was an intense, laborious thinker;
he wrestled with great thoughts; be had his
silent calculations; but having once appTe-
hended the true thought and got 10 point
in bis meditafions, he acted with rapidity,
decision, and a confidence that scorned
hesitation, refused longer 10 think, and
took the appearance Of impetuous inspira-
ton.
Danger, in a certain sense, intoxicated
him. But IL did not produce that intoxica-
ton which confuses the mind, or makes it
giddy with q crowd Of images. II was that
sort Of intoxication which strings the nerve,
stimulates the brain, confentrates the facui-
ties and gives a conscioumess of power that
is for the moment irresistible. In battle he
was not much in motion; but his eyes glow
ed; his face was blazoned with the FIRE of
the conflict; his massive jaw stifFened; his
voice rang ont sharp and clear; every order
and remark was as quick and pertinent as if
il had been studied for hour. One could
scarcely recognize in this figure Of intense
activity, all alive, with every faculty at play,
the man who used to occupy himself with
rambling soliloquies in the rear Of his tent I;
who presented the appearances of an inani-
mate fgure-head in his pew in the Presby-
terian church in Lexington; and who often
got up out of his camp bed at night to spend
hours in silent prayer and meditation.
II may be readily imagined that the won
derful career Of jackson and his personal
eccentricities drew upon him a crowd of
aposryphal anecdotes in the newspapers.
Some Of these were very absurd. His per-
son was rs variously represented IN pewspa-
per paragraphs as If instead Of being IA
miliar TO thousands, he inhabited the dim
outlines Of another century. One journal
described him as an absurdly ugly man, with
red hair; another gave has portrait as that
of an immense brain, and features ON which
nature had stamped It's patent of nobility.
One newspaper correspondent declared that
he always wore the brim of his cap ON the
middle Of his nose. Another declared that
he was an execrable rider, and looked like
a loose jumping jack on horseback.
There is a popular disposition to discover
something curious and grotesque in great
men. But there was really but little Of this
sort to be discovered in Jackson, and scarce
ly anything that could be pointed out as
objects of vulgar curiosity. 1t is true, his
figure was queer and clumsy but the fea-
lures of his face were moulded in forms Of
simple grandeur; and its expression was ss
unaffected as that of Lee himself. He was
not an ugly man. The vulgar might call
him such; and the newspaper passion for
caricature did 30 represent him. Nor did
he have in face or figure those marks which
the silly admiration Of women expects to
find in military heroes. He did not wear
long greasy hair falling over his shoulders !;
he did not stand in dramatic attitudes; he
did not keep his eyes unnaturally stretched I;
he did not thrust out his chest as il deter
mined 10 impose himself upon public atten-
ton. His features were singularly simple
and noble A broad forehead, rising prom
inently over his eyes, and retreating at that
easy angle which gives a certain majesty to
the face covered massive brain: his nos
trils were unusually large; his jaw heavy
anu well sci anu ditnOukh HE tcatufcS Wc-t
coarse, they were combined in that express
sion Of dignity and power, which 10 the in
telligent and appreciative, even among wo-
men, is the greatest charm OF the masculine
face.
The death Of jackson cast a shadow on
the fortunes of the Confederacy that reached
to the catastrophe of the war. 1t was not
only loss TO his country; IL was a calamity
to the world a subtraction from the living
generation of genius; the extinction Of a
great lighi in the temples of Christianity.
The proposition was eagerly made in the
South to erect to his memory stately mon
ument. The State of Virginia sent an artist
TO Europe TO execute his statue. Thousands
followed him to the grave and consecrated
il with the tributes Of affection and the tes-
timonies Of devotion. Who, then, regarding
this fervor of admiration and gratitude,
could have supposed that the Southern mind
could ever become SO chilled in any change
of events, or in any mutation Of fortune as
to forget, alike, its debt of gratitude and its
object of pride in the glorious past; and that
the time could ever come when the house
hold effects Of Stonewall jackson would be
sold under the hammer Of an auctieneer,
and the family of this man committed TO
the trials and chances Of poverty.