The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1891-11-26
STONEWAlL JACKSON.


The following is an extract from an
article written for Harper's Magazine
for November. The article is entitled
"StoneWall" Jackson and was written
by DR.. III. III. Field:
The midsummer of this year wit
messed scene in the mountains of Vir-
ginla that recalled the events of past
generation. The 2lst Of July was the
thlrtleth anniversary of Bull Run,
where N orth and South met in the first
real battle of war, for the engagements
IN West Virginia, near the Ohio, hard
" rose to the dignity of battles. But
Duil lcun was a conflict of armies, in
winch both sides took their first lessons
III war, and out Of which came at least
one great soldier, who stood so firmly
while the battle ragged around him that
Others who were broken and dismayed
LOOK courage as they saw his unshaken
column standing like a stonewall,"
from which he received the name
Stonewall" Jackson. This was the
nero TO whom monument Is now to be
uhVelied In Lexington, where he is
buried. or those who stood beside him
on that bloody day thirty years ago, al
most all had followed him to the grave,
but the survivors, the shattered wrecks
Oh war, came from far and near to do
nohor TO him who once led them to bat
Tie, and Wept with overpoWering emo
ton at the grave Of their beloved COM
mandcr
The demonstration furnishes an oc-
caslon for northerner to give his opin-
Ion OF this extraordinary man. The
years that haYe passed have removed
us so far from the great tragedy, Of the
war, and from the passion 1T aroused,
that we can do justice even to those
who were in arms against us; and no
one can read the history of StoneWali
jackson without recognizing in him
all the qualities that 60 to make a pop
ular hero. AS a soldier some COM
petcnt critics rank him as the first the
war produced on either side. Not that
he was at the head of the largest army,
or undertook the most extensive mill
ltary operations, but that with the
means that he haG, he accomplished
| more than any other commander. lie
had made a study of the campaigns of
Napoleon, and saw that success lay not
merely IN having "the strongest battal-
IONS bat III secrecy of designs and ra-
pldity of execution.
In the latter he outdid even Napo-
leon himself, training his men to such
a pitch OF endurance that he could
rush" them twenty-five miles day
over broken country, across rivers
and over mountains, and fight a battle
as the sun was going down. Nothing
III the war gave more decisive proof Of
military genius than the campaign in
the Shenandoah Valley in the spring Of
lSG2-the only one which he conducted
absolutely alone, with iiU interference
from those above him-where he was
plttod not against one army, but four,
under Banks, Fremont, Shields and
Milroy, advancing upon him from dill
terent quarters, anu outmanUuYered
Them all, attacking and defeating each
III turn till he drove them, one after
another, out Of the valley, when he gave
all the Slip and. crossing the Blue Ridge
III one OF his rapid marches, suddenly
appeared on the flank of McCiellan's
army before Richmond. That decided
the Ienlnsular campaign, when he
turned north, and by bold movement
threw himself between Pope and Wash
lngton, and the second Bull Run proved
tar more bloody than the first.
All this is matter of history, which it
is not necessary to recall, nor to folio "
the tireless soldier to IIarper's Ferry, to
Antietam, to Fredericksburg and Chan
ccllorSyille, where he fell at the very
moment that the great flank movement
| which he had conceived and conducted
had struck the Union army with a
shock from which it reeled and could
not recover, but sought safety on the
other side OF the Rappahaun0ck, which
1t had crossed only few days before in
all the confidence of victory THIS is a
record of continued success which it is
hard to find another example in our
own history, or, Indeed, in any other