Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1896-01-22
From the Bait. Sun, January loth.l
STONEWALL JACKSON.
Graphic Outline of the Character Of the
Great General.

Graphic Outline of the Character of the
Great General.
HIS UNIQUE PERSONALITY.
And Appearance When Mounted on the
Old Sorrell Horse.
An Interesting Lecture Delivered at Music
Hall by Mr.. George ID, Wendling-War
Scenes Recalled in Series of Vivid Word
Pictures.
Mr.. George B. Vending, of Wash
ington, delivered last night, at the
Music Hall, lecture on "Stonewall
Jackson. A large audience greeted him
and listened with rapt attention to his
eloquent eulogy of the great soldier.
! The topic from beginning to end was
handled in a mastery manner, and the
audience was frequently wrought up
to high enthusiasm. His descriptions
of various battles were pal ticularly in
spring. his auditors being brought face
to face with the roar of the artillery
and almost made to imagine that they
could see the smoke and carnage OF the
field of couf1ict.
"a FORCE so TREMENDOUS"
"Great men, he said, in beginning,
"are never the result of accident. Great
men-what are they but swift and un.
erring shuttles in the band of God, sent
hither and thither in the loom of time,
i weaving the destines of nations! A
personality SO unique, a force 80 ire
mendous as Stonewall Jackson is not
projected into human affairs by chance.
/ There must be for us deep lesson for
| veal or woe as nation somewhere IN
the history of a man whose career bore
| with ilnmeasurable weight upon our
national existence. To see that lasson
and at the same time to offer you a
sketch of one who gave immortal lnstre
to the fame of American soil is my pur-
pose in the task upon which l now ven
ture.
| ''SWAYING IN MAD EXCITEMENT.
son the 18th day of April, 1861, Abra-
ham Lincoln, as President of the Uni
ted States, called for $4,000 troops to
aid, as he said, in suppressing com.
| bination too powerful to be suppressed
| by the ordinary course of judicial pro
| ceeding.' Two days thereafter, eight
sister States having preceded her, Vir
GINA passed an ordinance of secession.
Millions of men in the North and in the
South were swaying in mad excitement
like tempest-swept forest. Two days
later Harper's Ferry was, by order OF
federal authority, evacuated.
| "a PIOUS, QUIET, MODEST MAN"
about 10 o'clock in the evening of
the next day, Saturday." continued the
lecturer, "a pious, quiet. modest man,
just beyond his thirty seventh birth
day, and holding the chair of natural
philosophy and artillery tactics in the
State military institute, at Lexington,
and known to limited circle by the
name of Thomas Jonathan Jackson,
remarked as he retired for the night
that he hoped for a quiet Sabbath to
partake Of the mysterious sacrament
of the Lords supper. At daybreah. on
Sunday he was aroused by an order
from Governor Letcher to march his
cadets to Richmond.
HE hastens to the college building,
gives necessary directions, and prepare
tions are begun at once. At II o'clock
he returns to his home, withdraws with
his wife to a chamber and reads that
sublime chapter of Corinthians begin
ming, For we know that if our earthly
house of this Tabernacle were dissolved
we have building of God, not made
by hands, eternal in the heavens
Then he kneels in fervent prayer.
bids his wife farewell, joins his cadets
at noon, unites with them in religious
services led by the pastor of the church,
chances at the dial of the college clock
and, when the hour of one is struck,
gives the order, Forward, march =
1.-THE greatest war of modern times
is at hand and Jackson's career as a
soldier in that war is begun.
However strenuously it may be in
sisted that this man is committing a
gross political error in yielding para
mount allegiance to his State, he. be
yond all doubt, with high solemnity,
believes himself to be absolutely right.
Therefore, as a great man, conscien-
tiously performing great deeds in the
line of his duty as he sees it, he will re
main in American history a figure of
intense and perennial interest,"
CONCENTRATION OF TROOPS
Mr.. Vending described the uprising
in the North and the South, the con
centration of troops at Harper's Ferry
and the subsequent evacuation of that
| place by Gen. Joe" Johnston and the
concentration of troops at Winchester
and Manassas, with brief account of
the engagement of Falling Waters,
where small force under Jackson
checked the advance of Patterson's
army. Proceeding, he gave a personal
description of Jackson which brought
forth long-continued applause.
WORD PICTURE OF 1.-THE PROFESSOR. %
But let us pause for moment" he
said, land look at this college profess
sor. He is about feet 10 inches in
height, with an angular figure and
broad shoulders, and so far from being
graceful that one would first say he is
a clumsy man; but if he will uncover
his head. we shall see broad, white
forehead, betokening in its lines the
firm intellect and the powerful will
His eyes are blush gray and very.mild
in expression when undisturbed, but
full of volcanic sparks when aroused
they say the piercing eye of an eagle
His clothes are common, with just
enough simple braid to show his rank
All through life his external seeming.
taken together with the heart. the soul
and the brain of him, form a paradox.
He mounts his old sorrel horse and we
laugh at him. Stirrups too short.
knees projecting upward, heels project
ing outward and chin hugging his
breast-in sober truth, an awkward
man in his saddle. He wears cadet
cap and looks from side to side beneath
its low rim. He is reticent man. His
air is thoughtful and distracted. His
bearing is stiff; he loves to be alone; he
consults no one. His lips move often
in prayer and he has way of looking
long and steadily into the sky.
What sort of a man is this? Shall
we set him down for a hypochondriac
driven by fate into short-lived promi-
nence? Is he anything more than a
mere routine professor ill balanced
when out of his groove? Is it safe to
put thousands of men into his hands :?
We shall see presently; meanwhile it
looks doubtful"
TWO CIVILIZATIONS THEN
The lecturer then described the bat
tie of Manassas, in which jackson gain
ed the immortal name of Stonewall;n
Il L