wrong, his conscience would not permit him to rest a moment until he had sought the student's room and set himself right.

Jackson was above all things a religious man. At all times and places, in every act of his life, religion was his first thought. A friend was once conversing with him about the difficulty of the Scripture injunction, "Pray without ceasing," and Jackson insisted that we could so accustom ourselves to it that it could be easily obeyed. "When we take our meals, there is grace. When I take a drink of water I always pause, as my palate receives the refreshment, to lift up my heart in thanks to God for the water of life. Whenever I drop a letter in the box at the post-office, I send a petition along with it for God's blessing upon its mission and upon the person to whom it is sent. When I break the seal of a letter just received, I stop to pray to God that he may prepare me for its contents and make it a messenger of good. When I go to my class-room and await the arrangement of the cadets in their places, that is my time to intercede with God for them. And so with every other familiar act of the day."

66

But," said his friend, "do you not often forget these seasons, coming so frequently?"

"No," said he; "I have made the practice habitual, and I can no more forget it than forget to drink when I am thirsty."

Upon the secession of Virginia Jackson was among the first to answer the call to arms, and wrote to Governor Letcher, offering to serve in any position to which he might be assigned. The Governor immediately commissioned him a colonel of Virginia volunteers. He was placed in command of the troops at Harper's Ferry, and upon the formation of the Army of the Shenandoah he was placed in charge of the famous "Stonewall Brigade," with which his name was thenceforth identified. That singular appellation of a body of troops origin

ated in this wise:

In the early part of the battle of Bull Run the Confederates had decidedly the worst of it. Bartow's and Bee's brigades were terribly cut up and driven from the field for a time, and all seemed lost, when Jackson suddenly appeared upon the scene with his splendid brigade. With magical rapidity he took in the situation, and formed his lines to resist the advance of the enemy. Bee and Bartow had succeeded in rallying fragments of their brigades. To re-assure his soldiers, Bee addressed them briefly, and, pointing to Jackson's men as a worthy example of courage and coolness, he exclaimed, "Look at those Virginians! They stand like a stone wall." The next day Bee's compliment was repeated all over the camp, and the name stuck to the brigade and its commander ever after.

One of Jackson's peculiarities was a passion for exact justice. He would not permit his rank to give him the smallest advantage over the common sol

WAITING FOR "HIS TURN."

371

diers of his command. When at Bull Run he made the celebrated charge which turned the fortunes of the day, he raised his left hand above his head to encourage the troops, and while in this position a ball struck a finger, broke it, and carried off a piece of the bone. He remained upon the field, wounded as he was, till the fight was over, and then wanted to take part in the pursuit, but was peremptorily ordered back to the hospital by the general commanding. The chief surgeon was busily engaged with the wounded, but left them and asked Jackson if he was seriously hurt. "No," he answered, "not half as badly

as many here, and I will wait." And he forthwith sat down on the bank of a little stream near by, and positively declined any assistance until "his turn came."

In October, 1861, Jackson was commissioned a major-general, and sent to take command in the Shenandoah Valley. In the course of the winter he drove the Federal troops from the district, and early in the following March was there when Banks was sent against him. He fell back before Banks some forty miles, then suddenly turned, and with only thirty-five hundred men attacked him so fiercely that he retreated with all his troops. His campaign in April, 1862,

HIS DEATH AT CHANCELLORSVILLE.

373 when he whipped Milroy, Banks, Shields, and Fremont, one after another, and then suddenly descended upon McClellan at Gaines's Mill, when the Union generals thought he was still in the Valley, constitutes one of the most brilliant chapters in modern warfare. He took part in the operations against McClellan, and in July he was again detached and sent to Gordonsville to look after his old nemies in the Valley, who were gathering under Pope. On August 9th he crossed the Rapidan and struck Banks another crushing blow at Cedar Run. On August 25th he passed around Pope's right flank and forced him to let go his hold upon the Rappahannock. By stubborn fighting he kept him on the ground until Longstreet could get up, and routed Pope at the second battle of Bull Run, in August, 1862.

Two weeks later, in the beginning of the Maryland campaign, Jackson invested and captured Harper's Ferry with eleven thousand prisoners, many stands of arms, and seventy-two guns, and by a terrible night march reached Sharpsburg on September 16th. The next morning he commanded the left wing of the Confederate army, repulsing with his thin line the corps of Hooker, Mansfield, and Sumner, which were in succession hurled against him. At Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862, Jackson commanded the Confederate right wing, and in May, 1863, made his Chancellorsville movement, which resulted in his death. On May 3d he received a severe wound in the arm, which rendered amputation necessary. Pneumonia supervened, and he died on the 10th of May.

In person Jackson is described by an intimate friend as “a tall man, six feet high, angular, strong, with rather large feet and hands." He rather strode along than walked. There was something firm and decided even in his gait. His eyes were dark blue, large, and piercing. He looked straight at you, and through you almost, as he talked. He spoke in terse, short sentences, always to the point. There was never any circumlocution about what he had to say. His hair was inclined to auburn. His beard was brown. He was as gentle and kind as a woman to those he loved. There was sometimes a softness and tenderness about him that was very striking.

Jackson was exceedingly fond of children, and seldom failed to win their love in return. A story is told of him that illustrates both his love of children. and his distaste for pomp and show. When encamped at Fredericksburg, he received a gift of a fine new cap, resplendent in a band of dazzling gold braid. This was one day greatly admired by a child of whom he was fond, whereupon Jackson took her on his knee, ripped the gold band off of his cap, bound it around the little one's curls, and sent her away delighted.

Jackson was carefully temperate in his habits. On one occasion, when he was wet and fatigued, his physician gave him some whiskey. He made a wry face in swallowing it, and the doctor inquired if it was not good whiskey. “Oh, yes," he replied, "it's good. I like liquor; that's why I don't drink it."

One of the most curious peculiarities of Jackson was a fashion he had of raising his right hand aloft, and then letting it fall suddenly to his side. He often held his hand, sometimes both hands, thus aloft in battle, and his lips were seen to move, evidently in prayer. Not once, but many times, has the singular spectacle been presented of a commander sitting on his horse silently as his column moved before him, his hands raised to heaven, his eyes closed, his lips moving in prayer. At Chancellorsville, as he recognized the corpse of any of his veterans, he would check his horse, raise his hands to heaven, and utter a prayer over the dead body.

Jackson was a great hero and favorite throughout the South among both soldiers and people. They had the most implicit faith in his abilities, and the greatest love and reverence for his character. Their sentiments were well expressed in the prayer of old "Father Hubert," of Hays' Louisiana Brigade, who, in his prayer at the unveiling of the Jackson monument in New Orleans, said as his climax: "And Thou knowest, O Lord! that when Thou didst decide that the Confederacy should not succeed, Thou hadst first to remove Thy ser vant, Stonewall Jackson."