If folks want it we can have a running discussion of the WBS/Civil War.
The picture above is of Jackson leading a meeting in prayer. He was a "pious blue eyed killer" in Ken Burns phrase. He would have accepted that with humility as a rebuke to his lack of humanity in combat. He always told his people that they should take care to shoot valorous Union Army leaders when they had the chance so that later the South could live in peace as "good neighbors" with the North. BTW, he was careful to ensure that POWs were treated well.
I do not think you can understand historical ground combat without seeing the ground in the company of a guide who understands the sources and ground warfare. Without those factors there are many things you will never know and sites you will never find. Examples would be the location of the hill at the center of the 1st Battle of Winchester. This is located behind and hidden behind Handley High School. I know where it is because Jay Luvaas the Yankee historian who was my faculty advisor at the War College showed it to me.. Another would be the field of the 3rd Battle of Winchester. This is now behind a strip mall just east of Winchester. My great grand-pa fought there in the 5th Wisconsin. He said that the Johnnies simply ignored most Union Army rifle fire because it was so poorly executed. Not his regiment of course, he was talking about the city wimps from the northeast.
If you want to read a lot about Old Jack, the best things are:
- My article.
- "Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War," Colonel GFR Henderson, British Army. This is the first serious book on the campaign. 19th Century. My 1911 edition was rebound in Calcutta in calf.
- "Stonewall in the Valley," by Tanner. This is the best campaign study.
- "Stonewall Jackson, etc." by James Robertson. This the definitive biography.
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Here we have Jackson at Chancellorsville in my novel, "The Butcher;s Cleaver." This is the moment when he arrives on the scene to take charge in a deserate moment of troops not normally his own.
