The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1926-02-04
OAKLAND HISTORICAL IN
THE FAMOUS WAR POEM
"StOnewall Jackson's Way"Hav-
ing Been Written At The Old
Glades Hotel Here
By VANCE w. MARSHALL,
Williamsport, West Va.

WllliamSport, West Va.
For many years after the Civil War
there had been considerable dispute
as to the authorship of that famous
war-poem "Stonewall Jackson's Way
which was not definitely settled until
later. 1t may be a surprise there
fore, that it was from the pen of a
Baltimore, Maryland clergyman, who
had penned this stirring war time
song famous throughout the Southern
states. This poem was undoubtedly
written by DR.. John Williamson
Palmer, who was born in Baltimore
Nd, in 1925, and was educated there
and studied medicine under DR.. Dun
bar of that city. 1t is stated that Dr.
Palmer was for several years ply
sician and surgeon in the British East
Indian service and was in California
during the gold fever. During the
Civil War he was war correspondent
for the Richmond Dispatch and other
southern papers. After the war he
went to Baltimore, where he resided
for a short time, then he went to
New York City, devoting his entire
time to literatary work, writing a
number of poems and contributing to
the numerous magazines of that city,
but later returned to Baltimore where
he died in 1906
In the New York Sun of some years
ago it gave the account of how he
came to write "Stonewall Jackson's
Way" which will prove interesting
to readers of Allegany and Garrett
counties, Maryland, as well as the
general public:
"In September, 1862, I found my
self at the Glades Hotel, Oakland,
Md. This mountain hostelry had long
enjoyed a peculiar celebrity, dating
from a time before the war, when its
register was rich in names of tour
lists more or less distinguished, who
came thither led by love of wild seem
cry or wilder sport. The house was
as famous for a cosmopolitan COM
pany of guests as for versatility of
experience and accomplishment and
various charms of entertainment had
not their like in any caravansary be-
tween the two oceans. Early on the
18th, was roar of guns in the air
and we knew that great battle was
on, yet carriages and saddle horses
were waiting to take US all to an
Arcadian picnic in the woods above
the Cheat river. The hearts of others
were beating, but they went. l alone
made excuse and remained in the de-
serted house, while the guns roared
on, and my heart was full of the mys-
terry of apprehension and longing. l
knew that Stonewall was in it, what
ever it might be; it was his way
'Stonewall Jackson's Way 1 had
twice put that phrase in my war let
tiers and other correspondents, finding
it handy, and quoted it in theirs. 1
paced the piazza and whistled a song
of Oregon lumbermen and loggers
that. l had learned from a Califor-
MAN adventurer in Honolulu. The two
thoughts were coupled and welded in
to one to make a song and as the
words gathered to the call of the time
I wrote, "Stonewall Jackson's Way"
with the roar of those guns in my
ears. On the morrow l added the last
stanza and the completed lines were
first read by that winsome rebel, Miss
Mary Daley.
"On the 18th, the wires brought US
from Cumberland, Md, Lee had join
ed battle with Mcclellan at Antietam
creek. Stonewall Jackson had cap
tured Harpers Ferry on the 18th,
with it's garrison of 10000. Then he
had started by one of those swag
gering forced marches, which were
his way to join Lee at Sharpsburg,
where he came up in time to take
command of the left wing for the
bloody doings of the 18th.
"On one of the first days of Octo-
Der six gentlemen, including myself,
and two ladies took leave of Oakland,
went by train to point opposite
Hancock, crossed the Potomac river
there in small boats, took a carriage
at Hancock, drove through Fairview
to Hagerstown and thence south to
Antietam creek and Sharpsburg. On
the battlefield we traversed the
Bloody Lane and the ground that
death had plowed when Mcclellan
had hurled upon Stonewall Jackson's
thin lines the legions of Hooker, Sum-
ner and Mansfield. Then we took to
the carriage again, to make our way
to the Railroad. GAS we labored over
the stony road, torn in desperate ruts
by the artillery and the baggage
trains, the men in our party climbed
out and in again and again to relieve