The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1888-11-28
LEE AND syoNEwALL JACKSON.
An English Soldiers Estimate of their
Soldierly Qualities.

Gen. j. E. Johnston, was so badly
wounded at the battle of Fair OAKS that
he was obliged to resign his command
of the Southern armies. Two days after
Gen. Robert Lee was appointed to com
mand the Army of Northern Virginia,
upon whose fighting power the whole
Southern Confederacy then depended.
Gen. McClellan's army OF over ninety
two thousand men was on the Chlcka-
hominy River within few miles OF
Richmond, the seat of the Confederate
Government. Gen. McDowell's corps
of about forty thousand men, retained
at Fredericksburg by President Lincoln
for the protection Of Washington, against
all the principles Of military science,
was st last ordered to join McClellan's
army. To prevent tins junction, by
again alarming Mr.. Lincoln and his
civilian military advisers for the safety
of the Union Capital, was Lees tlrst
object. This be could only do by the
action of the force beyond the Blue
Mountains, under the command OF that
most brilliant OF leaders and OF tsctlclans,
Gen. Stonewan Jackson. That hard
fighting, clear-headed soldier OF the
Puritan stamp was then IN the Shenan.
doah valley, near the village OF Port
Republic. Lees army round Richmond
was much inferior in strength to that OF
the army Of the Potomac, directly under
Mcclellan, without counting McDowel's
corps as part of it. The Confederate
commander had thus the difficult task
before him of making Mr.. Lincoln be-
ieye that Stonewal Jackson was about
to move on Washington, while at the
same time he drew that general with all
possible rapidity and secrecy to JOIN HIM
near Richmond. It was designed that
while making flourish o. trumpets IL
the Shenandoah valley, and threatening
move toward Washington, along the
Orange and Alexandria Railroad, the
Confederate army, covered by screen
cavalry on it's left flank, should make q
most rapid march behind it, and fail
upon McClellan's right flank and rear,
near Mechaniesyille, en- the Chlcka-
hominy River.
The splended execution Of this bold
and we'll planned movement does un-
dying credit to Ssonewall Jackson. His
division was invincible because the
leader, while thoroughly understanding
the science of his profession, was further
endowed with the power OF carrying out
the most difficult plans, the most far
reaching strasegicsl conceptions o. his
great commander. Stonewall J&ckson's
troops were unconquerable because they
had unbounde6 confidence in their God
fearing leader, who in his turn trusted
them most fully, and believed they could
aecompish any thing. Never was there
In any arny, or portion of an army,
more complete union of spirit and OF
mutual confidence than existed between
Stonewsu Jackson and all under his
command. As Hooked into his curiously
blue eyes, and watched the movements
OF kiscalm. frank and, charming face as
the sentences came slowly out of the
firmly set and determined mouth, 1 felt
and understood the influence he exer-
cissd over mis- soldiers.
I shall not attempt in this short article
to describe how this splendjdly conceived
project was as spendidly executed. How
McClellan's right was rolled up, and
how the Southern troops cut his line of
communication and supply with the
White House on the Pamunky River; how
the army of the Potomac, driven from po-
sifion to position, hadto retreat, and after
great losses in men, guns, materials OF
ali sorts, and, above all things, In repu-
tstion, had to seek refuge at Harlson's
Landing, on the Lower James River
these things are known to all men.
Richmonds the Confederate Capital, was
saved, and the Northern army, recalled
from its vicinity, had soon to fight on
Upper Potomac for the safety Of Wash
ington.
Lees strategy IN this year, when he
fought in defence of the Southern Capt.
tai, and threatened and struck at that of
the United States, marks him as one of
the greatest, captains of this or of any
otherSage.S Norman has ever fought al
uphill and losing game with greater
irmness, or ever displayed higher
order of true military genius than he
: did when In command Of the Confeder-
ate army.
The knowledge of his profession dis
played b. Gen. Mcclellan was consider
able, and his strategic conceptions were
admirable, but he lacked one attribute
of general, without which no man can
ever succeed u. gsr-he was never able
to estimate with any accuracy the num-
bors oppesedste hlm., Before he en-
barked onsthiss disastrous campaign be
believed the Confederate army at Cen
treville, $4,000 stroug,) which then
thresteneo Washington, was about equal
to his own of 150, 900 men. It WIS the
same with him al the way through his
military career. He thoroughly enjoyed,
and even in reverse never lost, the con-
6dence OF his soldiers. The civilian
strategists at Washington dismissed him
from his command after his disastrous
campaign in the Peninsula, to the results
OF which their ignorance and folly had
largely contributed. But when, some
months afterward, everything looked
yery,black indeed at Washington, and
the Northern armies had been driven
back there helter skeiter, it was to him
they had TO turn to save them. No
other general in the Northern army
could, think, have got it together in
the short time he did to fight st Antietam
in defence OF Washington. That battle
alone saved the Northern Capital; if lost,
Lee could have dated his dispatch from
thence to announce the triumph of the