Posted on 11/11/2002 7:12:48 AM PST by stainlessbanner
VMI Cadets at Stonewall Jackson's grave, ca. 1868. From the VMI Archives photograph collection.
Major Gen. F.H. Smith
Supt., Virginia Military Institute
Sir:
By Command of the Governor I have this day to perform the most painful duty of my official life in announcing to you and through you to the Faculty & Cadets of the Virginia Mil. Institute the death of the great and good--the heroic and illustrious Lieut. General T.J. Jackson at 15 minutes past 3 oclock yesterday afternoon.
This heavy bereavement over which every true heart within the bounds of the Confederacy mourns with inexpressible sorrow--must fall if possible with heavier force upon that Noble State Institution to which he came from the battle-fields of Mexico, and where he gave to his native state the first years service of his modest and unobtrusive but public spirited and useful life.
It would be a senseless waste of words to attempt a eulogy upon this great among the greatest of sons who have immortalized Virginia. To the Corps of Cadets of the Virginia Military Institute, what a legacy he has left you, what an example of all that is good and great and true in the character of a Christian Soldier.
The Governor directs that the highest funeral honors be paid to his memory, that the customary outward badges of mourning be worn by all the officers and cadets of the Institution.
By command, W.H. Richardson, A.G.
By Command of Major Genl. Smith. A.G. Hill, Actg. Adjt., V.M.I.
CD
God Bless the Confederacy!!
It is honestly questionable whether the man could make it in today's military heirarchy given this limitation, no joke, but then that may have been true of the antebellum U.S. as well - war tends to bring out the fighters as a peacetime military does not. You wouldn't want to invite Grant to a tea party either.
"...There, clearly in view, was Jackson's Mill! The West Fork River was still curling like a moat around the boundaries of the family home place. ...Look! He could see the little boy: tired, withdrawn, alone.
He knew where the lad was going. It was where he wanted to go. On the other side of the West Fork was the little grove of white poplars that was his solitude---and his refuge---from the cares of the world. The sanctuary beckoned to him now with an intensity he had never felt before.
"Let us cross over the river," he exclaimed, "and rest under the shade of the trees."
-Tom Jackson had come home. (Robertson, pg. 753)
Jackson, at Chanchellorsville before being shot.
I am sure that the quote can be found in Shaara's God's and Generals, the prequel to Killer Angels, from which "Gettysburg" was made, and is to be a theatric release in Feb. 2003.
Warner Bros. Gods and Generals site
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.