Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1876-05-13
STONEWALL JACKSON.
His Letter of Resignation to the Gov
ernOr of Virginia.

STONEWALL JACKSON.
His Letter of Resignation to the Coy
ernOr of Virginia.
The military circles of the Confed-
eracy at Richmond, in January, 1862,
thought Stonewall Jackson crazy, and
the Secretary of War, without consult
ing him, ordered his subordinate Off
Ger, one-armed Loring, from Romney,
in Hampshire county, to Winchester.
Va, to supersede him, and jackson at
once determined to rebuke such inter-
meddling, and forthwith forwarded his
resignation. His celebrated letter,
now deposited in the Virginia State
Library at Richmond, reads as fol-
lows:
WINCHESTER, VA, Jan. 21, 1862.
Governor This morning received
an order from the Secretary of War to
order Gen. Loring and his command
to fall back from Romney to this place
Immediately The order was promptly
complied with; but as the order was
given without consulting me, and is
abandoning to the enemy what has cost
much preparation, expense and expo
sure to secure, and is in direct conflict
with ny military plans, and implies a
want OF confidence in my capacity to
judge when Gen. Loring's troops
should fall back, and is an attempt to
control military operations in detail
from the Secretary's desk at a distance,
have for the reason set forth in the
accompanying paper requested to beor
dered back to the Institute, and ifthis
is denied me, then to have my res
ignation accepted. | ask as special
favor that you will have me ordered
back to the Institute. As a simple or
der like that of the Secretary's may
destroy the entire fruits of a cam
paign, l cannot reasonably expect, if /
my operations are thus to be interfer-
ed with, to be of much service in the |
field. A sense of duty brought me
into the field, and has thus far kept !
me. 1t now appears to be my duty to |
return to the Institute. and / hope |
that you will leave no stone unturned |
to get me there If | have ever ac-
quired, through the blessing of Provi-
dence, any influence over troops, this
undoing my work by the Secretary may |
greatly diminish that influence. | re-
gard the recent expedition as a great |
success. Before our troops left here |
on the 1st inst, there was not, so far |
as l have been able to ascertain. a |
single loyal man in Morgan county |
who could remain at home In safety. |
In four days that county was entirely |
evacuated by the enemy. Romney and |
the most valuable portion of Hamp- |
shire county was recovered without |
firing a gun, and before we had even
entered the county. [ desire to say |
nothing against the Secretary of War. |
[ take it for granted that he has done |
what he believes to be best, but | re-
gard such policy as ruinous.
Very truly your friend,
''T. j. JACKSON.
His Excellency j ohm Letcher, Gov
ernor Of Virginia" +"
The night after his resignation was
forwarded, one on familiar terms with |
him entered into conversation with |
him on the subject of his action in.the |
premises, and thus chronicles, in an
editorial in the Richmond Wing, the
result of the interview:
jackson, too, possessed this same |
modest estimate of himself, and felt |
the same anxious solicitude for the
welfare of our suffering people. New |
er can We forget an interview held with |
him the night that he forwarded his |
resignation. When urged to withhold |
it, upon the ground that the country |
could not spare his services, that his |
name was alike terror to our enc |
mics and tower of strength to our |
cause, inspiring confidence and arous-
ing enthusiasm, even amongst the |
doubtful and wavering, No, no., he |
said, you greatly overestImate my ca
pacity for usefulness. A better man |
will soon be sent to fill my place. The |
Goyernmenment has no confidence in |
my capacity, or they would not thus
countermand my orders and throw |
away the fruits Of victory that have |
been secured at such sacrifice of the |
comfort of my noble troops in their |
hurried march through the storm of |
snow and sleet. No, sir; must re-
sign, and give place to some one in
whom they have more confidence
When urged that perhaps the Govern
ment had been misinformed as to the |
facts, he responded; Certainly they |
have; but they must be taught not to |
act thus hastily without a full knowl- |
edge of the facts. / can teach them
this lesson now, by my resignation /;
and the country will be no loser by it.
If | fail to do so, an irreparable loss
may hereafter be sustained. when the
lesson might have to be taught by a
Lee or Johnston This was nearly
his exact language, as we well remem-
Der it. But little he knew that when
his services were lost to the cause, or
as Gen. Lee afterward expressed it,
that he had lost his right arm, the
whole army would be paralyzed and
the cause itself lost. But our far-see
ing and sagacious Governor knew the
worth of our Stonewall, and it was
through his prompt and energetic ac-
ton that the fearless hero was pre-
served to his command, and left to
carve his name upon the very summit
IF tho ninn acla of "a mo -