The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1920-01-04

aidS. who stood beside the dying te3d-
or. had the forethought to mark the
spot where he sank down in the twi-
light of the Wilderness" and after the
war they put boulders there, and later
IA simple monument. It stands there
now, away from travel and beyond the
Chancellor house. The cross roads to
the Bloody Angle lies also TO the rear.
The spot. in very truth. says the Rich
mond News Leader IS the end of the
field on the far border of the cam
paign that will live longest to exen-
plify the military genius Of America
To this Richmond newspaper we are
/ indebted for the following fine appre-
citation of one of the greatest of
American generals and gentlemen:
! The instinct of a race-surer guide
than the conclusions of historians
| has placed jackson there. ensha dowed.
apart with a genius never fathomed
with powers never displayed in their
sulness He was the extended flank of
attack. His cannon Numbered beyond
the main army. beyond the enemy, in
the distance in the unknown. in the
future of military science.
The loving sketch of his widow. the
pioneer labors of Dabney. the faultiess
study of Col. William Allen, and the
matchiess military biography of Hen
mysterious than he seemed to his sol
oilers in 1862 His deathless foot
cavalry would see him lift his arm
as he rode in the darkness at the
head of his column. They would some
times hear him talking to himself.
They would see him on the field,
ablaze with the fire of battle, unrecog-
nizabIe as the diffident man of the
camp. They would follow him over
mountain trails or through the mid
night till they met the enemy and
then and battle won, they would read
that odd Jack" had achieved the inn
possible in war No wonder their adj
miration was mingled with awe. No
wonder the more ignorant of them be-
heved him possest--splumb crazy. in
the homely language of the bivouac
We know to-day, of course. that eS-
eept in the hour of planning or in the
moment of attack. Jack was simply an
intelligent, devout gentleman with
touch of Calvinism in his soul. but not
without some qualities as gentle as
those of Lee and almost as magnetic
as those of Stuart lie had dignity
/ without austerity, piety without can't.
mercy without pretense. In his inter-
icourse with friends. he was quietly hui.
man; in his relations with his family
he was affectionately faithful
: But if time and discerning biogra PHI
ers have destroyed tho myth that sur
rounded Jackson the man, time and the
development Of the strategy displayed
by himself and Lee have, in some
sense. made more pointed the cues
lions his followers used to DEBATE. IN
the winter of 1S62-63 around Moss
Neck. Along the Shenandoah he COM
nanded scarcely more men than some
H. T.
pean war-would he have been as great
at the head of the Army of Northern
Virginia as in command of the Army
of the yalley2 He won the Nay cam
paign-that textbook perfection of
trategy-unaided unadvised; but he
was for the rest of his life. except at
Cedar Mountain under Lee: Would he
have been a s successful without Lee
as with him? And If he had been at
Gettysburg that old question is
one that can not be answered, and need
not be asked.
The test OF any commanders genius
is the soundness of his strategy, the
practical wisdom of his tactics. the
control he has of the moral forces of
combat. and his spirit and inspiration
upon the field of battle. Beyond this.
it is impossible to say whether any
ceeded But applying this test. one
needed only read Henderson's miscro-
scopic study of every phase OF jack
sons strategy to see that the famous
commander mastered virtually every
one of the elements that make UP the
compound of strategy. Select any
essential of sound strategy ard YOU
VIII find it Illustrated perfectly in one
or another of JaclSson's campaigns.
Even those strategic niceties that one
would expect only in a soldier drilled
N the detail technique of war appear
to. perfection in Jackson's military
operations Tt is our conviction that
the extent to which he acquired all
this from a study of military history
| has been exa ggerated. 1t would have
been exaggerated 1t would have been
Uncomfortable that a man VINO had
taught military science" should not
have learned, as Foch did from hav-
ing to teach. But there are reasons
too lengthy and detailed to enumerate
that make US believe Jackson's STRAIT
egg was essentially the product of lis
own military sense" And military
sense is definite quality, however
much the psychologists may deny. In
his tactics. Jackson was sound as
in his stra tegy. and is less known al
a tactician primarily because he has
been eclipsed by his own strategy Even
Henderson. we are of opinion. failed
70 appreciate the excellence of Jack
sons tactics. especially in his DISPOSE
! ton of his artillery. AS for the mas
i terry Jackson had of his men. It is
useless to dwell upon that which has
become proverbial There merely re-
mains. in summing up the qualities of
leadership this remarkable man pos
sessed. to point out his bearing upon
the field of battle.
Only three times, in the opinion of
this writer. was there ever question
that the plan Jackson had matured.
the tactics he was employing, and the
oral hnld had r.r,cr, Lis n, or, .,-.