The Washington herald., 1910-07-08
sToNEwALL JACKSON NO POET.
Another Confederate General of
Same Name Confused with Him.

Another Confederate General of
Same Name Confused with Him.
From the Now Orleans Piesyune.
stonewaii Jackson as poet is the sub
ieet Of an editorial article in the Rich
mond VA Times-Dispatch. This singu-
lar snpposition or proposition was sug-
gested to the learned and distinguished
Richmond editor by a poem entitled TO
My Departed Father" which had been
brought 70 his notice with the statement
that its author was that wonderful i'm
PRESERVATION OF Mars, Stonewall Jackson.
The editor. after quoting several stanzas
from the poem in question with approval,
reasons that although Jackson is known
TO have written at least one poem" he
could scarcely have composed the one
quoted. because having been left an
orphan at an early age. he could have
retained no such sentimental and pathetic
recollections OF bis parent
It is much to be doubted II the great
Southern soldier was capable of giving
expression to any tender and pathetic
thought. He was an iron man, with lit
tie gentieness in his nature. but capable
of being wrought up TO a most intense
pitch of feeling. but holding himself
under such self-restraint that the raging
volcano within gave forth very little evil
dence of its activity. Poet he was In the
sense that in battle he was the persona
fication OF all that was fierce, dramatic,
and terrible in action, but he gave ex-
preston only in deeds and never In
studied and artistic phrases.
But however that may be. there Is no
I rNss~s4r Oh h. 1r.4N relsf
poem mentioned. It is by Gen Henry
Rootes Jackson, OF Georgia, born in that
State IN 1870, educated at the university
Of Georgia. at Princeton, n. j.. and at
Yale. He engaged In the practice of the
law but on the breaking out of the war
with Mexico raised a company for that
service and became It's captain and sub
sequently colonel OF the regiment to
which is was attached. He held several
| important public posts. among which was
| that of United States minister 10 Austria
at Vienna On the breaking out of the
war OF secession he served with Georgia
troops and finally under Hood in his ad-
vance upon Nashville, when he command
! ed brigade. IN the battle Of Nashville
4 he was taken prisoner and held to the
close of the war. The general was
quite a poet. and In 1880 he published
1 fOtuiNt Eutittcd IdliuiGl ana OLDer
| Poems" In that collection are the lines
to his father, mentioned above But the
| poem by him best known and oftenest
quoted Is MY Wife and Child" It has
also been ignorantly attributed to Stone
wall Jackson. Here are two stanzas from
/ It:
The tatto bats the lights are gone;
The camp around in siumber hes;
The night with solemn pace moves on;
The shadows thicker DER the skies;
But sleep my weary eges hath f0xn
And ssd. uneasy thoughts arise.
think Of thee, oh. dearest onei
Whose love my early life hath blest;
/ OF thee and him-alr baby son
Who slumbers on tbs gentle breast;
God Of the tender. frail. and lone
Oh. guard that little sleepers rest
/ Jurist. statesman. soldier, and dlplo-
matIst, Gen. Henry r. Jackson died at
/ Savannah in 1888 In his later life he
| thought but little IL his lines. but some
Of them are not without merit, and they
are quoted in newspapers after their
| author is dead and forgotten. As for
! Stonewan Jackson, who appears TO have
/ been capable Of expressing tender senti-
ments Ia musical numbers, he needs moth
| ing Of that sort to make him remembered.
| His deeds in war speak for him and
/ testify that he was one Of the greatest
| soldiers who ever lived.