Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-05-07
A "REBEL" SONG.
The story of ssa ballad that VIII
Live as Long rs the War Il Re-
nembered.v

Live as Long rs the War Is Re.
membered.o
By LADY OF BALTIMORE.
''Stonewall Jackson's Wayn was written
at Oakland, Allegheny county, Maryland,
| almost within hearing of the guns of
Antietam. About ten uays after that
battle it first appeared In print, in the
columns of the Baltimore Republican
(by the author, headed: ''Found on the
body of a Sergeant of the Old Stonewall
Brigade, killed at Winchester" The
original copy had dropped from his pocket
in the heart of the Federal eEcampment
at Antietam, he being the special CORES
pondent of a Northern journal.
Taken from the Republican, the song
was at once set to music, and published
simultaneously by two music-dealers in
Baltimore, but with different airs. The
one to which it was popularity sung
throughout Virginia, and especially in the
Confederate army in the Valley, was COM
posed by young Frederick Benteen, re-
markable musical genius, whose early
death was not only private but public
loss. The "sympathisers" of Baltimore
caught the tune as eagerly as they had
that of ''My Maryland" but their en-
thusiasm met with a rude check at the
hands of the reigning prOvost-marshal,
who seized and burned the sheets, de-
strOyed the plates, and cauterized the
wound inflicted upon loyal hearts by ap-
plying red-hot oath of allegiance to
several of the music-sellers of the city.
But the song had already gone through
''the lines" 1t was reprinted in Rich
mOnd, and gaily sung by every woman
and child in the Valley of Virginia espe-
cially by the admirers of Gen. Jeb.
Stewart, with whom it was a fayorite
ditty. Once the author, in passing alone
and by night from Gen. Breckinridge's
army (then lying near WoOdstOck) TO
Richmond, was arrested at Gordonsville
as Federal spy, and while guarded by
two sentries in the public room of an inn,
was recognized by stranger as "the
man who wrote 'Stonewall JaCksOn's
Way"
In every printed collection of the
poems and songs of the war, this one has
been awarded prominent place, and al
most every compiler has sought for InfOr-
nation concerning its origin and author
ship. At one lime the title of the song
was used as handy newspaper phrase, to
describe the characteristic exploits of its
hero and 'StOnewall JacksOn's Way"
appeared at the head of reports and edi-
torials in the Southern press.
AS an example of the interest it
aroused, we may mention that DIR. Oliver
Wendell Holmes, in his lively lecture on
the "Songs of the War;, spoke of ''StOne-
wall Jackson's Way" as by far the best
song that had come from the rebel side.
Another writer cites it as a fine example
of the true and stirring ballad, comparing
it with Whittier's well-known Barbara
Freitchie." A leading New York journal
once characterized it as ga ballad that will
live as long as the war is remembered"
and PutIadn's Monthly has twice point
ed to it as genuine inspiration. Nor
has its fame been confined to this cOun-
try. A literary lObleman of England
wrote TO an American poet, requesting
him to procure, if possible, an autograph
copy of the song.
In every place it has appeared anony-
mOusly, except in Miss Mason's cOmpila-
ton, published in Baltimore; by her it is
ascribed to one ''De Riviere."
OF course, its text, by frequent reprint
ing, has suffered much damage at the
hands of printers proof readers, with the
exception of the original draft in the old
Republican, and copy furnished long
afterwards by the New York Round
Table, the one here given, is the only
correct copy ever printed.
In Virginia the authorship has com
monty been attributed to very uncertain
'lady." The legitimate parent of the
song is well-knOwn journalist and maya
zine writer, formerly ofBaltimore, whose
name is familiar to the readers of the
atlantic Monthly; and many ladies and
gentlemen of that city are oognizant of
the facts here first made in public, setting
forth the true historyof "Stonewall Jack
sons Way"