Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1876-06-03
PROF. DABNEY'S LECTURE on
STONEWALL JACKSON.

second only to Lee among the cham
pions Of the Confederacy, and many
claim for him equality even with him;
but this admiration is already assum-
ing hazy, ideal character among the
who think of him with en-
thusiasm and gratitude without any
clear conception of his character in
detail, without any specific acquain-
lance with his exploits, and it il very
much to be desired that occasionally
our people shall be presented with
thoroughly realistic accounts both Of
his deeds and character. This demand
was we'll supplied by Prof. Dabney ON
Monday night. Himself more init
mately associated with General Jack
son than any other man in the army,
and gifted with genius and tempera-
ment qualifying him to thoroughly
sympathise with his chief. no man liv-
ing is better qualified to present to us
Stonewall jackson just as he was in
strongly marked individuality than the
lecturer Of the night. His method Of
dealing with the subject was admirably
adapted to the purpose. He did not
attempt to give connected narrative
of Jackson's life or even of his career
as general in the Confederate army;
such course would have been too much
occupied with multiplicity of details
TO have allowed of any striking mani
festation of the man; so he selected
an epoch in the war when most was
dependent upon Jackson's genius.
when the obstacles seemed most over
whelming and when his genius shone
forth most splendidly in overcoming
them. This period was the time of
Jackson's great exploit in the valley,
of holding in check and then fercely
repulsing the advance of the Federal
armies up the Shenandoah, the culmi-
nation of which took place at Port
Republic. He gave us first a concise
and graphic description of the theatre
on which this splendid episode of the
great war was enacted; but here the
audience was placed at two great dis
advantages: first, the topography is so
complicated that no description, how
ever clear, could be rendered intelligi-
bic to a general audience without maps
and diagrams which were necessarily
absent, and next the irremediable acou.
site defects of franklin Hall rendered
him frequently inaudible, so that the
description at important points was
frequently lost altogether.
With all these disadvantages, how
ever, a vivid picture of the great event
was attainable. Fremont, Shields and
Banks with three great armies, col
lectively numbering over four thous-
and, advancing on different lines,
intent to crush the Confederate army
with the mere weight of their united
onset-Jackson with his IL, 900 watch
ing their convergent approach with a
vigilance as of the spider conscious of
the transactions on every converging
fibre of her web. Then the fatal blum
der of Banks and Fremont placing
their corps on opposite sides of the
river, then the rapid attacks by Jack
son successfully on Banks and Ere
mont on the same day, disloeating the
whole plan of the Federal advance
and condemning the splendid array of
the three armies to helpless inactivity
for the rest of the campaign. And,
throughout all this narrative, the
portrait of Jackson himself constantly
comes out in strongly marked lines
and with vivid coloring, vigilant, self
contained, reticent, impetuous when
the moment for action arrived, but
never losing his clear conceptions and
sharp precision of purpose and execu-
tion-the hero himself seemed present
before us.
We will not follow the lecturer in
his estimate of the causes which led
to the ultimate failure of the Confed-
crate cause. They were presented in
a mournful, not to say bitter spirit
The present and the future are press
ing upon us questions so imperative
and momentous, that we have no time
to dwell upon the past in the spirit of
regret, still less of recrimination. We
will only add that those of the Clarks-
vile people who were not there had
strong reasons for regret at having lost
a most able and interesting presenta-
ton of the eventful past.