Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War
glory, when the legions controlled the destinies of their country, none
was more honoured than the soldier. His interests were always the first
to be considered. The highest ranks in the peerage, the highest offices
of State, were held by men who had carried the knapsack, and when
thrones were going begging their claims were preferred before all
others. The Emperor, with all his greatness, was always “the Little
Corporal” to his grenadiers. His career was their own. As they shared
his glory, so they shared his reward. Every upward step he made towards
supreme power he took them with him, and their relations were always of
the most cordial and familiar character. He was never happier than
when, on the eve of some great battle, he made his bivouac within a
square of the Guard; never more at ease than when exchanging rough
compliments with the veterans of Rivoli or Jena. He was the
representative of the army rather than of the nation. The men knew that
no civilian would be preferred before them; that their gallant deeds
were certain of his recognition; that their claims to the cross, to
pension, and to promotion, would be as carefully considered as the
claims of their generals. They loved Napoleon and they trusted him; and
whatever may have been his faults, he was “the Little Corporal,” the
friend and comrade of his soldiers, to the end.
It was by the same hooks of steel that Stonewall Jackson grappled the
hearts of the Second Army Corps to his own. His men loved him, not
merely because he was the bravest man they had ever known, the
strongest, and the most resolute, not because he had given them glory,
and had made them heroes whose fame was known beyond the confines of
the South, but because he was one of themselves, with no interests
apart from their interests; because he raised them to his own level,
respecting them not merely as soldiers, but as comrades, the tried
comrades of many a hard fight and weary march. Although he ruled them
with a rod of iron, he made no secret, either officially or privately,
of his deep and abiding admiration for their self-sacrificing valour.
His very dispatches showed that he regarded his own skill and courage
as small indeed when compared with theirs. Like Napoleon’s, his
congratulatory orders were conspicuous for the absence of all reference
to himself; it was always “we, ” not “I, ” and he was among the first
to recognise the worth of the rank and file. “One day, ” says Dr.
McGuire, “early in the war, when the Second Virginia Regiment marched
by, I said to General Johnston, “If these men will not fight, you have
no troops that will. ” He expressed the prevalent opinion of the day in
his reply, saying, “I would not give one company of regulars for the
whole regiment. ” When I returned to Jackson I had occasion to quote
General Johnston’s opinion. “Did he say that? ” he asked, “and of those
splendid men?” And then he added: “The patriot volunteer, fighting for
his country and his rights, makes the most reliable soldier upon earth.
” And his veterans knew more than that their general believed them to
be heroes. They knew that thia great, valiant man, beside whom all
others, save Lee himself, seemed small and feeble, this mighty captain,
who held the hosts of the enemy in the hollow of his hand, was the
kindest and the most considerate of human beings. To them he was “Old
Jack” in the same affectionate sense as he had been “Old Jack” to his
class-mates at West Point. They followed him willingly, for they knew
that the path he trod was the way to victory; but they loved him as
children do their parents, because they were his first thought and his
last.
In season and out of season he laboured for their welfare. To his
transport and commissariat officers he was a hard master. The
unfortunate wight who had neglected to bring up supplies, or who
ventured to make difficulties, discovered, to his cost, that his quiet
commander could be very terrible; but those officers who did their
duty, in whatever branch of the service they might be serving, found
that their zeal was more than appreciated. For himself he asked
nothing; on behalf of his subordinates he was a constant and persistent
suitor. He was not only ready to support the claims to promotion of
those who deserved it, but in the case of those who displayed special
merit he took the initiative himself: and he was not content with one
refusal. His only difference with General Lee, if difference it can be
called, was on a question of this nature. The Commander-in-Chief, it
appears, soon after the battle of Fredericksburg, had proposed to
appoint officers to the Second Army Corps who had served elsewhere.
After some correspondence Jackson wrote as follows:—“My rule has been
to recommend such as were, in my opinion, best qualified for filling
vacancies. The application of this rule has prevented me from even
recommending for the command of my old brigade one of its officers,
because I did not regard any of them as competent as another of whose
qualifications I had a higher opinion. This rule has led me to
recommend Colonel Bradley T. Johnson for the command of Taliaferro’s
brigade. . . . I desire the interest of the service, and no other
interest, to determine who shall be selected to fill the vacancies.
Guided by this principle, I cannot go outside of my command for persons
to fill vacancies in it, unless by so doing a more competent officer is
secured. This same principle leads me to oppose
having officers who have never served with me, and of whose
qualifications I have no knowledge, forced upon me by promoting them to
fill vacancies in my command, and advancing them over meritorious
officers well qualified for the positions, and of whose qualifications
I have had ample opportunities of judging from their having served with
me.
“In my opinion, the interest of the service would be injured if I
should quietly consent to see officers with whose qualifications I am
not acquainted promoted into my command to fill vacancies, regardless
of the merits of my own officers who are well qualified for the
positions. The same principle leads me, when selections have to be made
outside of my command, to recommend those (if there be such) whose
former service with me proved them well qualified for filling the
vacancies. This induced me to recommend Captain Chew, who does not
belong to this army corps, but whose well-earned reputation when with
me has not been forgotten.”
And as he studied the wishes of his officers, working quietly and
persistently for their advancement, so he studied the wishes of the
private soldiers. It is well known that artillerymen come, after a
time, to feel a personal affection for their guns, especially those
which they have used in battle. When in camp near Fredericksburg
Jackson was asked to transfer certain field-pieces, which had belonged
to his old division, to another portion of the command. The men were
exasperated, and the demand elicited the following letter:—
“December 3, 1862.
“General R. E. LEE,
“Commanding Army of Northern Virginia.
“General,—Your letter of this date, recommending that I distribute the
rifle and Napoleon guns ‘so as to give General D. H. Hill a fair
proportion’ has been received. I respectfully request, if any such
distribution is to be made, that you will direct your chief of
artillery or some other officer to do it; but I hope that none of the
guns which belonged to the Army of the Valley before it became part of
the Army of Northern Virginia, after the battle of Cedar Run,
will be taken from it. If since that time any artillery has improperly
come into my command, I trust that it will be taken away, and the
person in whose possession it may be found punished, if his conduct
requires it. So careful was I to prevent an improper distribution of
the artillery and other public property captured at Harper’s Ferry,
that I issued a written order directing my staff officers to turn over
to the proper chiefs of staff of the Army of Northern Virginia all
captured stores. A copy of the order is herewith enclosed.
“General D. H. Hill’s artillery wants existed at the time he was
assigned to my command, and it is hoped that the artillery which
belonged to the Army of the Valley will not be taken to supply his
wants.
“I am, General, your obedient servant,
“T. J. JACKSON, _Lieutenant-General._”
No further correspondence is to be found on the subject, so it may be
presumed that the protest was successful.
Jackson’s relations with the rank and file have already been referred
to, and although he was now commander of an army corps, and universally
acknowledged as one of the foremost generals of the Confederacy, his
rise in rank and reputation had brought no increase of dignity. He
still treated the humblest privates with the same courtesy that he
treated the Commander-in-Chief. He never repelled their advances, nor
refused, if he could, to satisfy their curiosity; and although he
seldom went out of his way to speak to them, if any soldier addressed
him, especially if he belonged to a regiment recruited from the Valley,
he seldom omitted to make some inquiry after those he had left at home.
Never, it was said, was his tone more gentle or his smile more winning
than when he was speaking to some ragged representative of his old
brigade. How his heart went out to them may be inferred from the
following. Writing to a friend at Richmond he said: “Though I have been
relieved from command in the Valley, and may never again be assigned to
that important trust, yet I feel deeply when I see the patriotic people
of that region under the heel of a
hateful military despotism. There are all the hopes of those who have
been with me from the commencement of the war in Virginia, who have
repeatedly left their homes and families in the hands of the enemy, to
brave the dangers of battle and disease; and there are those who have
so devotedly laboured for the relief of our suffering sick and
wounded.”
NOTE
_Table showing the Nationality and Average Measurements of 346,744
Federal Soldiers examined for Military Service after March 6, 1863._
Number Height ft. in. Chest at Inspiration in.
United States
(69 per cent.) Germany Ireland Candada England France Scotland
Other nationalities including Wales and five British
Colonies 237, 391
35,935 32,473 15,507 11,479 2,630 2,127
9,202 ———— 5 7.40
5 5.54 5 5.54 5 5.51 5 6.02 5 5.81 5 6.13
— 35.61
35.88 35.24 35.42 35.41 35.29 35.97
— 346,744
Report of the Provost Marshal General, 1866, p. 698.
The Roll of the 35th Massachusetts, which may be taken as a typical
Northern regiment, shows clearly enough at what period the great influx
of foreigners took place. Of 104 officers the names of all but four—and
these four joined in 1864—are pure English. Of the 964 rank and file of
which the regiment was originally composed, only 50 bore foreign names.
In 1864, however, 495 recruits were received, and of these over 400
were German immigrants.—_History of the 35th Regiment, Massachusetts
Volunteers,_ 1862–65.
[1] See Note at end of chapter.
[2] “Throughout New England,” wrote the Special Correspondent of an
English newspaper, “you can scarcely enter a door without being aware
that you are in a house of mourning. Whatever may be said of Irish and
German mercenaries, I must bear witness that the best classes of
Americans have bravely come forth for their country. I know of
scarcely a family more than one member of which has not been or is not
in the ranks of the army. The maimed and crippled youths I meet on the
highroad certainly do not for the most part belong to the immigrant
rabble of which the Northern regiments are said to consist; and even