Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1891-12-08
Stonewall jackson.
a Northerner's Estimate ofAts Char
acter and Career.

Gctef and Career.
The midsummer of this year Wit
messed a scene in the mountains of
] Virginia that recalled the events of u
past generation. The 2lst of July
was the thirtieth anniversary of Bull
Run, where North and South met in
the first real battle of the war, forthe
engagements of West Virginia, near
the Ohio, hardly rose to the dignity
of battles. But Bull Run was a con-
| flict of armies in which both sides
took their first lessons in 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 took
courage as they saw his mistaken
column standing " like stone wal, -
from which he received the name of
Stonewall" jackson. This was the
hero to whom a monument was now
to be unveiled in Lexington, where
he is buried. OF those who stood
beside him on that bloody day thirty
years ago almost all had followed him
to the grave; but the survivors, the
shattered wrecks of war, came from
far and near to do honor to him who
once led them in battle, and wept with
overpowering emotion at the grave of
their beloved commander.
The demonstration furnishes an oc-
casion for Sortherner to give his
opinion of this extraordinary man.
The years that have passed have re-
moved us so far from the great tray
edy of war, and from the passions
that it aroused, that we can do JUS
tice even to those who were in arms
against us; and no one can read the
history of Stonewall jackson without
recognizing in him all the qualities
that go to make q popular hero. As
soldier, some competent critics rank
him as the first that the war produced
on either side. Not that he Was at
the head of the largest army, or un-
dertook the most extensive military
operations, but that with the means
that lie had had accomplished more
than any other commander. He had
made q study of the campaigns of Ma
| poleon, and saw that success lay not
merely in having ''the strongest bat
talions, - but in secrecy of design and
rapidity of execution. In the latter he
outdid even Napoleon himself, train
ing his men to such a pitch of eDdur-
ance that he could ''rush' them TWEEN
lty-fve miles day over q broken coun-
try, across rivers and over mountains,
and fight battle as the sun was GO
ing down. Nothing in the war gave
more decisive proof of military genius
than the campaign in the Shenandoah
Valley in the spring of i862-the
only one which he conducted abso-
lutely alone with no interference from
those above him where he was pitted
not against one army, but four, Gun
der Banks, Fremont, Shields and
Milroy), advancing upon him from
different quarters, and outmaneuvred
them all, attacking and defeating
each in turn, till he drove them, one
after another, out of the valley, when
he gave them all the slip, and cross
ing the Blue Ridge in one of his rapid
marches, suddenly appeared on the
flank of McClellan's army before
Richmond. That decided the PENN
sula campaign, when he turned north
and by bold movement threw him
self between Pope and Washington,
and the second Bull Run proved far
more bloody than the first. All this
is matter of history which it is not
necessary to recall, nor to follow the
tireless soldier to Harper's Ferry, to
Antietam, to Fredericksburg and
Charlottesville, where lie 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
} Rappahannock, which it had crossed
: only few days before in all the con-
. fidence of victory. This record OF
continued success of which it is hard
to find another example in our his
tory, or. indeed, in any other. From
".StoneaUdU jackson, :" by Rsv. Henri
r NJ. Field. d. d., in Harper's Maga.
- T.. ].