Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-05-27
STONEWALL JACKsON,s WAY.
sAeeh at Council of Xvo~
Tor Night Attack.

"'G' L" in Chicago Times
Nould an accurate diary Of ayor,, =,
; Pol 'anC council of war held dnrinS l n,,,
ra1e misunderstanding have been ilaI+ oi =
Mou!d afford great deal Of ;ntaros 80, =
reaulhg. The grit, the backhone the
iioo9urces, and the mental fertility ~
~ teauers were shown quite as forcibIy IN
JIeSe councils as on the battlefield Who
uoes not know Of the council of Confad :
erate generals called on the night of the
nrsC manassas, and of Jackson's "Give
tle IV,OOO men and will go to Washing
Voh tomorrow" Jackson was always
unwilling to speak first in a council ri
war and when the council was called bv
Lee he was never called upon until tbe
oider men and old soldiers had exnreseaS
their opinions. "a pi0SSee
On the night of the battle of Freder-
lcksburg, when Burnside was trvino to
get ms army back to the Stafford side ~
III tIle river over the one pontoon bridga
mat was left, Lee called a council of war
Jackson had been holding position
! ABOUT three miles down the river from
Marve,s heights, where the fiercest fioht.
ing mad taken place, but had moved his
Go up closer late in the afternoon
Inc night was fearfully dark, and driz-
zIng ram had set in. Jackson came into
tne council, saluted the officers present
ana took seat off in a corner. General
Lee stated the purpose for which
the council had been called. and
asked one OF the senior officers for his
opinion; and then another, and another.
until all had spoken save Stonewall. Lee
then turned and asked his opinion. but
received no response. All turned to hear
what he would say, and there sat Jack
son bolt upright in his chair fast asleep.
Why, bless me" said Lee, ''the old fell
low is asleep" and going to him he
shook his arm and called his name, which
awakened him. General Jackson, will
you give US your opinion as to what
should be done?'
Gentlemen" he said, 'T am sorry
that have not heard all that has been
SAID, but my plan is, if the council will
agree to it, to go back to my corps and
march into Fredericksburg at once. The |
enemy has met with a severe reverse,
and it is in all probability demoralized. |
They have only one bridge over which to
escape. One corps is sufficient to do this
work, to destroy what remains of that |
army on this side of the river, and that |
being done the campaign will be over"
But, General" said Lee, Consider |
the fact that those men have only the one
bridge over which to escape; they will
fight desperately"
"What if they do? My corps is accus-
toned to desperate fighting. But the
very fact that they have only one avenue
OF escape, in their demoralized condition,
will cause them to make every effort to
use the bridge. They will not fight so
desperately as you think"
but consider the darkness of the
night. Your men will not be able to dis
tinguish their own comrades"
81 have thought of all that 1 will
make my men pull their shirt-tails out
and march in; they will know one
another then"
Gen. Lee walked back and forth for
some time, deeply engaged in thought.
can not agree to your proposition; the
slaughter would be horrible, and my con-
science can not approve of it."
''My conscience approves of it
thoroughly" said Jackson. "War is war;
the slaughter to-day has been horrible,
and would have been worse had the
enemy gained those heights. The enemy
is in trap and we should take advantage
of it. If the tables were turned they
would march in on u.s."
"And at this very time" said Union
officer to me last April, ''we were getting
out of that place as fast as men could be
got over one bridge We were looking
every minute for the Confederate troops
to rush in upon us and if they had done
so we would have been utterly ruined
Pope's army, when Jackson got behind
him, was at picnic compared to our sit
uation that night" And when | told
him of Jackson's plan for enabling his
troops to know their comrades, he said:
"Fabius Maximus is the only other man
who ever lived who would have thought
of such thing, and his soldiers didn't
have the materials"