Life and campaigns of Lieut.-Gen. Thomas J. Jackson, (Stonewall Jackson)

Front matter

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LIFE

AND CAMPAIGNS m. Thomas J.

Preface

PREFACE.

The cause for which. General Jackson fought and died, has been overtlirown. But it is believed that this fact has not diminished the affectionate reverence for his memory, and interest in his exploits, felt by those Avho labored with him in that cause. On the contrary, they regard the events which have occurred since his lamented death, as farther evidences of his genius and prowess. Although he who undertakes to write the history of an acknowledged failure usually has a hopeless and discouraging topic, yet the lustre of Jackson's exploits and character is too bright to be dinuned, even by disaster : and his is universally admitted, by his friends and foes, to be a name so spotless that it shines independent of the cause with v/hich he was connected.

]V% chief motive for supplying this customary exordium to my book, is the wish to answer the natural question in the reader's mind, what right I suppose myself to have, to claim qualification for the task I have assumed. My answer is, that it has been entrusted to me by the widow and family of General Jackson, supported by the urgency of his successor in command, Lieutenant-General Ewell, of his venerable pastor, and of many other friends, in, and out of the army. One advantage for my work, I may claim, which brings far more of responsibility than of credit to me, in the possession of the fullest collection of materials. The correspondence of General Jackson with his family, his pastor, and his most prominent friends in public life, has been in my hands, together with copies of all the important official papers on file in the War Department of the late Confederate Government. I have had the advantage of the fullest illustrations of the battle-fields and the

VI PREFACE.

tteatre of war where General Jackson acted, fi-om the topographical department of the same government, and from careful personal inspection. It was also my privilege to enjoy his friendship, although not under his orders, during the campaign of Manassa's, in 1861 ; and to serve next his person, as chief of his Staff, during the memorable campaigns of the Valley and the Chickahominy, in 1862. So that I had personal knowledge of the events on which the structure of his military fame was first reared.

My prime object has been to portray and vindicate his Christian character, that his countrymen may possess it as a precious example, and may honor that God in it, whom he so delighted to honor. It is for this purpose that the attempt was made so carefully to explain and defend his action, as citizen and soldier, in recent events. Next, it was desired to unfold his military genius, as displayed in his campaigns. The prominent characteristic of General Jackson was his scrupulous truthfulness. This Life has been ■written under the profound impression, that no quality could be so appropriate as this, in the narrative which seeks to commemorate his noble character. Hence, the most laborious pains have been taken to verify every fact, and to give the story in its sober accuracy, and with impartial justice to all. I am well aware that perfection is not the privilege of man, in any of his works ; and hence I must be prepared to be convinced, by the criticisms of others, that I have not been whoUy successful in this aim. But I trust I have been so far successful, as to receive credit for right intentions. And especially would I declare, that in relating the share borne by General Jackson's comrades and subordinates in his campaigns, I have been actuated by a cordial and friendly desire to do justice to all. If I shall seem to any to have done less than this, it will be my misfortune, and not my intention.

If my story presents the hero without any of those bizarre traits, which the popular fancy loves to find in its especial favorites, it is hoped that the pictm-e will be, for this reason, more symmetrical, and if not so startling, more pleasing to every cultivated mind. The reader may at least have the satisfaction of linowing that it is the correct picture, save that no pencil can do justice to his

PREFACE. Vli

devoted patriotism, Ms diligence, his courage, and the sanctity of his morals.

The reader will note a certain polemic tone in the discussions which attend the narrative ; and while strict truthfulness has been studied, candid expression has been given to the feelings natural to a participant in the recent struggle. The explanation is, in part, this : that the whole work was written before the termination of the contest ; the first portion, containing all the controversial matter, was published in Great Britain more than a year ago, and has been cu'culated in that country and this ; and the remainder of the biography v/as in process of publication when the Confederate armies surrendered. The animus of my book will not appear strange to any one who remembers, that when it was published, my fellow-citizens were universally engaged in a strenuous war against the United States, and I was myself in the military commission of the Confederate States. The question may be asked, Does not the termination of that contest by the complete submission of the South, point out the propriety of modifying the tone of the work ? After a careful consideration of this question, I have been constrained to believe, that it was best to leave my original work substantially untouched. As has been stated, the first eight chapters, containing all that is most controversial, had been irrevocably given to the public, many months before the end of the war. To attempt to recall and suppress it now, Avould appear rather a foolish scrupulosity than sound wisdom. Nor would this com-se be consistent with the interests of literature. It has been often said, that cotemporaries cannot write impartial histories of their OAvn times, because of their too lively sympathy with the passions which agitate the actors. It is more certainly true, that if cotemporaries do not \^Trite, Avith such partiality or impartiality as they may, it wiU. be impossible for any other historian in posterity, to vnite a truthful narrative. None bvit eye-witnesses and actors can contribute the facts, which are to be the materials of future history. And then* facts are esteemed by the philosophic and judicial compiler of the subsequent age, as scarcely more important than then- animus. He wishes to know, not only what men did, but how they felt, — how the events transpiring

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affected them, — from what impulses and views they acted. While he does not blindly adopt the passions of either party, it is these which enable him to reproduce the very complexion and color of the times he describes. Hence, it is for the interests of historic truth that those who describe cotemporary events, should give candid expression to the emotions of their times.

It may also be asked : Does not the duty of promoting mutual forbearance, and the restoration of good feeling between the sections lately at war, require the suppression of controverted opinions, and of accusations, which, however true, can now be urged with no good result ? In answering this objection, I shall candidly acknowledge myself utterly sceptical, both by temperament and conviction, of that deceitful and glozing philosophy, by which it is dictated. There is no true and solid basis for public well-being, but rectitude. The truth, manfully spoken, can never be unwholesome. If the complaints of the conquered section are just, then they ought to be stated and discussed, until a stable foundation for peace, good government, good feeling, and prosperity, is laid in just and magnanimous treatment. If those complaints are unjust, stiU it is best that they be candidly stated, respectfully listened to, and caln-ily discussed, as long as they are sincerely entertained in the hearts of the sufferers : for only in this way can they be eradicated. It is to me simply incredible, that a people so shrewd and practical as those of the United States, should expect us to have discarded, through the logic of the sword merely, the convictions of a lifetime ; or that they could be deceived by us, should we be base enough to assert it of ourselves. They Icnow that the people of the South were conquered, and not convinced ; and that the authority of the United States was accepted by us from necessity, and not from preference. Should they hear the Southern people now disclahning and reprobating the principles which are unfolded in my book as the animating principles of General Jackson, they must inevitably remember, that this Southern people, three years ago, was unanimously applauding and inciting him in actmg them out : so that it would be self-evident to our conquerors, that we were either traitorously false to our darling hero, then; or are equally false (o them,

PEEFACE. LX

now. The people of the United States have too much shrewdness ever to suppose, that the sons of the Revolutionary sires who, as their comrades, assisted in winning liberty from the British Lion, and who have recently given new proofs of their undegenerate manhood, are spaniels, to be made affectionate by stripes. The people of the South went to war, because they sincerely believed (what their political fathers had taught them, with one. voice, for two generations) that the doctrine of State-sovereignty for which they fought, was absolutely essential as the bulwark of the liberties of the people. They have been convinced by main force, that they are unable to save that doctrine. The only "way to make them truly loyal again to the government of the United States, is to convince them by just treatment, that they went to war under a misapprehension, and that then- liberties may still be securely and fully enjoyed under a consolidated government. It would be only a useless and degrading concealment, for the people of the South to profess a suppression of the honest convictions upon which they have lately acted, either at the dictate of deceit on their part, or of persecution on the part of their conquerors. For these reasons, it has appeared to me every way most manly and beneficial, to leave this explication and defence of General Jackson's resistance to the Federal Government, as it was written during the progress of the conflict. Its suppression would conceal nothing, and deceive nobody : its publication will give to subsequent generations a lively picture of the temper of the times.

But I am ready to add, with equal candor, that when I thus declare boldly the principles upon which the Virginians of 1861 acted, I do not intend to be understood as retracting that acquiescence in the result of the arbitrament of the sword, and that submission promised by me in common with almost the whole South. I have voluntarily sworn to obey the government of the' United States, as at present established and expounded to us by force of arms. That oath it is my purpose to keep. The Federal agent who administered it to me taught me expressly that its obligation was of this extent, and no more : that it did not bind me to think or say the principles on which

X PREFACE.

I had acted were erroneous ; but to abstain, in future, from tKe asset tion of them by force of arms.

It only remains to add a few words in explanation of the illustrations which accompany the text. It is earnestly recommended to the attentive reader, that he shall connect his perusal of the descriptive parts of the narrative with a careful study of the map of Vhginia. This' is so accessible to all Americans, that* it was thought superfluous to burden this work with the expense of its insertion. A simple diagram is inserted, to facilitate the comprehension of each of the more important battles. These plates have been carefully prepared, from actual inspections and surveys, made by Confederate engineers ; but they are simplified by leaving out all except the most essential lines and features. The intelligent reader, even though not a military man, wiU readily apprehend, that the representation of the positions of brigades and divisions of troops in action, by lines upon a diagram, can only be approximately correct. The lines of ink are, of course, stationary; the lines of troops in action are never long so. The relative position assigned to two divisions on the diagram may be a correct representation of their relation on the field of actual strife, for a fleeting moment only ; a minute more may have changed it. The diagram must, perforce, either contain both of two divisions at once, which in fact only occupied the field successively ; or it must suggest a still graver error, by the total omission of one of them. But if these obvious considerations are borne in mind, and the illustrations, are studied in connection with the narrative, they AviU convey no mistake, and wUl be found to represent, mth general correctness, the positions and movements of the Confederate troops.

ROBERT L. DABNEY.

Union Theological Seminakt, Va., April 1, 1866.

Chapter I. Parentage, And Early Tears

The family from which General Jackson came, was founded in Western Virginia by John Jackson, an emigrant from London. His stock was Scotch-Irish ; and it is most probable that John Jackson himself was removed by his parents from the north of Ireland to London, in his second year. Nearly fifty years after he left England, his son, Colonel G-eorge Jackson, while a member of the Congress of the United States, formed a friendship with the celebrated Andrew Jackson of Tennessee, afterwards the victor of New Orleans, and President; and the two traced their ancestry up to the same parish near Londonderry. Although no more intimate relationship could be established between the families, such a tie is rendered probable by their marked resemblance in energy and courage, as illustrated not only in the career of the two great commanders who have made the name immortal, but of other members of their houses. John Jackson was brought up in London, and became a reputable and prosperous tradesman. He determined to transfer his a LIFE OF LIEUT.- GENERAL JACKSON.

rising fortunes to the British colonies in America, and crossed the seas in 1 748, landing first in the plantations of Lord Baltimore. In Calvert County, Maryland, he married Elizabeth Cunmiins, a young woman also from London, of excellent character and respectable education. The young couple, after the common fashion of American emigrants, proceeded at once to seek for new and cheaper lands on which to establish their household gods, and made their first home on the south branch of the Potomac Eiver, at the place now known as Moorefields, the county seat of Hardy County. But after residing for a time in this lovely valley, John Jackson, with his young family, crossed the main Alleghany ridge into Northwestern Virginia, where lands yet wider allured his enterprising spirit. He fixed his home on the Buchanan River, in what was first Eandolph, but is now Upshur County, at a place long known as Jackson's Fort, now occupied by the little village of Buchanan. Here he . spent his active life, and reared his family.

He is said to have been a spare, diminutive man, of plain mind, quiet but determined character, sound judgment, and excellent morals. His wife was a woman of masculine stature ; and her understanding and energies corresponded to the vigor of her bodily frame. When the young couple emigrated to the Northwest, the Indians were still contesting the occupancy of its teeming valleys with the white men. The colonists were compelled to provide for their security by building stockadeforts, into which they retreated with their families and cattle at every alarm of a savage incursion. It is the tradition that, in more than one of these sieges, Elizabeth Cummins proved herself, though a woman, to have "the stomach and mettle of a man," and rendered valuable service by aiding and inspiriting the resistance of the defenders. In her industry and enterprise was realized King Lemuel's description of the ways of the vii*-

ANCES'l-RT. 6

tuous woman : " She consideretli a field, and buyetli it ; witli tlie fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.'' Several patents are still in existence, conveying to her, in her own name, lands which were afterwards the valuable possessions of her posterity. They have usually claimed that the characteristics of their race were largely inherited from her ; that it was her sterling integrity, vigorous intellect, and directness of purpose which gave them their type.

The picturesque country, which now became the home ol tne Jacksons, descends gradually from the watershed of the Appalachian range to the Ohio river, but is filled with ridges parallel to the main crest, of which the nearest are also lofty mountains, while the more western subside into bold and fertile hills. The grander heights were covered with magnificent forests of spruce and fir, intermingled with tangled thickets of laurel : but as the traveller approached the Ohio, and the mountains sank into swelling highlands, he found the ridges fertile, almost beyond belief; the slopes, clothed to their tops with giant groves of oak and chestnut, poplar, linden, beech, and sugar-maple ; the hills, separated by placid streams flowing through smooth valleys and meadows, and their sides everywhere filled with beds of the richest coal. The waters which refresh this goodly land flow northward, and compose the Monongahela, which contributes its streams at Pittsburg, in Pennsylvania, to form the Ohio in union with those of the Alleghany. The mingled currents then turn southward, and form the western border of Northern Virginia, separating it from the territory -of Ohio. As all highlands usually decline in elevation with the enlargement of their watercourses, the northern part of this district, embraced within the boundaries of Pennsylvania, is less rugged than the southern. Settlements, therefore, naturally proceeded from the smoother regions of Western Pennsylvania, into the hills of Northwestern Virginia ; and thus it came to pass that, in the latter district, the northern counties were at first the more cultivated, and the southern bore to them the relation of frontiers. The emigrants found that they had not descended very far from the loftier ranges of the Alleghany and Cheat mountains before they left behind them the rigors of tlieir Alpine climate. Wherever the valleys were cleared of their woods, they clothed themselves with the richest sward, and teemed with corn, wheat, the vine, the peach, and all the products of Eastern Yirginia. But this fertile region could only be reached from the east by a few rude highways, almost impracticable for carriages, which wound their way among and over the ridges of a wide labyrinth of mountains.

Hither the patriarch of the Jacksons removed before the war of the American Revolution. In that struggle, he and his elder sons bore their part as soldiers ; and at its close, they returned to their rural pursuits. "With the practical sagacity for which the Scotch-Irish emigrant is always noted, he and his wife bent their energies to founding fortunes for their children, by acquiring the most valuable lands of the country, while they were unoccupied and cheap. In this aim they were successful, and' their numerous children were all endowed with farms, which now make their holders wealthy. After a long and active life, they removed to the house of Colonel George Jackson, their eldest son, at Clarksburg, the county seat of Harrison County, now a village of note on the southern branch of the great Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and about forty miles from the Pennsylvanian border. The death of the old man, in this quiet retreat, is thus recorded by one of the most distinguished of his descendants, John G-. Jackson, of Clarksburg, Judge of the Court of the United States for the Western District of Virginia. He writes to Mrs. Madison, whose sister he had married, in

DEATH OP JOHN JACKSON. 5

1801 : — "Death, on the 25th of September, p^t a period to the existence of my aged grandfather, John Jackson, in the eightysixth year of his age. The long life of this good man was spent in those noble and virtuous pursuits, which endear men to their acquaintance, and make their decease sincerely regretted by all the good and virtuous. He was a native of England, and migrate^ hither in the year 1748. He took an active part in the revolutionary war in favor of Independence, and, upon the establishment of it, returned to his farming, which he laboriously pursued until the marriage of his younger son, when he was prevailed upon by my father to come and reside near him ; there he lived for several years with his wife, enjoying all his mental faculties, and great corporeal strength, until a few days before his death. I saw him breathe his last in the arms of my aged grandmother, and can truly add, that to live and die as he did would be the excess of happiness.

" He left a valuable real-estate at the entire disposal of the widow, with the concurrence of all the natural heirs, as his liberality had been amply experienced by them all in his lifetime."

Elizabeth, his wife, survived him until 1825, beloved and respected by all who knew her, and reached the extreme age of one hundred and Jive years. Hers were stamina, both of the physical and moral constitution, fitting her to rgar a race that were men indeed. The reader will be detained a moment, to note the names and characters of her children, in order that the springs of General Jackson's nature may be the better illustrated, and also that his widely scattered kindred may be enabled to ascertain their relationship to this world-famous hero. The eldest son was George Jackson, who lived at Clarksburg, the seat of justice for Harrison County, and was a prominent and influential man in the settlement of Northwestern Virginia. Having taken part with his father in the Revolution-

6 LIFE OF LIEUT.- GJENERaL JACKSON.

ary "War, lie became a colonel in tlie forces wliich, at the close of the great struggle, expelled the Indians finally from his district. He "was one of the first delegates from Harrison County in the General Assembly of Virginia, was a member for that county in the State Convention by which Virginia accepted the Federal Constitution, and was first delegate from his district to the first Congress of the United States which sat under it. After his father's death, he removed to Zanesville, Ohio, where his life was ended. The second son was Edward, the grandfather of General Jackson, who, after several removals, fixed his home on the west fork of the Monongahela, four miles north of Weston, the present chief town of Lewis County. He was a man of a spare and athletic frame, energetic character, and good understanding, beloved and respected by his acquaintances. Filling for a long time the place of surveyor for the great county of Randolph, he acquired much valuable land, and left to each one of his fifteen children a respectable patrimony. He, with his father and elder brother, was actively engaged in the Revolutionary and Indian wars.

The third son was Samuel Jackson, who emigrated to Indiana, and left a numerous family near the town of Terre Haute. The fourth and fifth sons, John and Henry, lived near the place of their birth on Buchanan river ; but of their many children, several found their way to the extreme West. Each of these five sons of John Jackson was twice married, and left a numerous progeny. There were also three daughters, who married residents of the country, and left descendants bearing the name of Davis, Brake, and Regar.

Talent and capacity were not limited to this second generation. The sons of George Jackson deserve especially to be noted among the men of the third generation. Of these, the eldest was John G. Jackson, a lawyer of great distinction at

JOHN Jackson's posterity. 1

Clarksburg. He succeeded his father iu Congress, married iii'st Miss Payne, the sister of the accomplished lady who married Mr. Madison, President of the United States; and then, the only daughter of Mr. Meigs, Governor of Ohio, afterwards Postmaster-General ; who was appointed first Federal Judge for the district of West Yirginia. This office he filled with distinction until his death about the year 1825. He was a learned lawyer, a man of great energy and enterprise, and sought to develop the resources of his country by the building of iron furnaces and forges, mills, woollen factories, and salt-works. These endeavors absorbed large sums of money, and at his death left his princely estate heavily embarrassed. The other sons of this family were Edward, a respectable physician; William L., a lawyer, and father of a relative and cotemporary of General Jackson; Colonel William L. Jackson, late Lieutenant- Go vernoi of the State, and then Judge of the Superior Court ; and George Washington, long a citizen of Ohio, and now an honorable exile, by reason of political persecution, for his fidelity to his native land. It was his son. Colonel Alfred Jackson, who, after serving on the stafi" of the General, received a mortal wound in the battle of Cedar Run, and now lies near him, in the graveyard of Lexington.

The character which the founders impressed upon their house will now be understood. From their forethought and virtues, it became the most noted, wealthy, and influential in their country. They usually possessed the best lands and most numerous slaves, occupied, the posts of influence and power which were in the gift of their fellow-citizens, and sent some member of their family to the General Assembly of their State, or the Congress at Washington. They were marked by strong and characteristic physiognomies, close family attachments, determination and industry in their undertakings, and a restless love of adven

8 LIFE OF LIEUT. -GENERAL JACKSOK

tiire. Their race is now scattered from Virginia to Oregon. More than one of them have been led by their love of roving, to the most secluded recesses of the Rocky Mountains, as explorers and hunters. All of them were energetic and skilful to acquire wealth, but not all of them were able to retain it. Many of the second and third generations were noted for a passion for litigation — prompted not so much by avarice as by the love of intellectual excitement, and by a temper intolerant of supposed injustice ; and almost the whole race were utterly incapable of resisting the fascination of machinery. Every Jackson owned a mill or factory of some sort — many of them more than one, — where they delighted to exercise the ingenuity and resources of the self-taught mechanic. In a country like theirs, of sparse population, and more devoted to cattle than the growing of grain, it may easily be conceived that these toys ministered more to their possessors' pleasure than to their wealth. Colonel Edward Jackson, the grandfather of General Jackson, was, as has been said, the second son of his parents. His second marriage brought him nine sons and daughters. His first wife, by birth a Hadden, bore three sons, George, David and Jonathan, and three daughters, of whom one married a gentleman named White, and two, respectable farmers of German extraction, named Brake.

Jonathan Jackson, the father of the subject of this work, adopted the profession of law, having pursued his preparatory studies in the family, and under the guidance of his distinguished cousin. Judge Jackson of Clarksburg. His patronage induced him to go to that place — the last seat of his forefather's residence— to prosecute his calling. About the same time he married Julia Neale, the daughter of an intelligent merchant in the village of Parkersburg, in Wood County, on the Ohio river. The fruits of this marriage were four children, of whom

FATHER OF GENERAL JACKSON. 9

the eldest was named "Warren, the second Elizabeth, the third Thomas Jonathan, and the fourth Laura. Thomas was born in Clarksburg, January 21, 1824. The early death of his parents and dispersion of the little family, obliterated the record of the exact date, so that General Jackson himself was unable to fis it with certainty. Of these children none now live save the youngest, who survives as a worthy matron in Randolph County.

Jonathan Jackson, the General's father, is said to have been, what was unusual in his race, a man of short stature ; his face was ruddy, pleasing, and intelligent; his temper genial and affectionate, and susceptible of the warmest and most generous attachments. He was a man of strong, distinct understanding, and held a respectable rank as a lawyer. While he displayed little of the popular eloquence of the advocate, his knowledge and judgment made him a valued counsellor, and his chief distinction was as a Chancery lawyer. His patrimony was adequate to all reasonable wants; the lands which he inherited from his father are now so valuable as to confer independence on their present owners. But a temper too social and facile betrayed him into some of the prevalent dissipations of the country; incautious engagements embarrassed him with the debts of his friends ; and high play assisted to swallow up his estate. He at length became dependent wholly upon his professional labors, which yielded his family only a moderate support, while he owned no real estate but the house in which he lived. Not very long after the birth of his fourth child, and when Thomas was three years old, his daughter Elizabeth was seized with a malignant fever. He watched her sick-bed until her death, with a tender assiduity which, combined with his grief at the bereavement, and perhaps with his business troubles, prostrated his strength ; and within a fortnight after his daughter