Has anyone read this? I picked it up and it is very warm and moving. Also you need to read this in conjunction with watching Gods and Generals.

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J. B. Atken
John Knox PCA
Layman, M.A. student at Louisiana College

That looks sweet! I've met Stephen Lang too -- good man.

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Andrew Myers
Husband of Jessica, Father of Jackson, Katie and Samuel
Member, Presbyterian Reformed Church of Northern Virginia
Warrenton, VA USA
Editor, The Matthew Poole Project

"Let your Morning Thoughts, and your last Evening Thoughts, be what shall become of you to all Eternity." -- Matthew Poole

Stephen Lang autographed my book!--I haven't met him, though. This was given me as a gift.

Very kewl!

Mr. and Mrs. Jackson were two people who truly loved each other. Remarkable people.

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Ivan Schoen, Pastor * Maranatha Baptist Church, Poplar Grove, IL * http://maranatha-sbc.org/

"I want to assist churches and to assist pastors in training pastors. But, after fourteen years of service in this capacity, I am absolutely certain that the finest theological seminary on earth is absolutely incompetent at replicating the actual life of a Gospel congregation. I want to train a generation of pastors who will train pastors, and I want to help them in that task." --- Dr. R. Albert Mohler, President of THE Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY

Unfortunately, he should have fought for the Union. Nicer uniforms, better food...

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Richard T. Zuelch, M.Div
Ruling Elder, OPC (not currently serving)
Westminster Presbyterian Church, CA (OPC)
www.reiterations.wordpress.com
www.foft.wordpress.com

"When I cease to preach salvation by faith in Jesus, put me into a lunatic asylum, for you may be sure that my mind is gone." - Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)

Jackson is a very interesting figure to me.

I've read a bit about him and always wondered what his allure was. I've concluded he must have had some sort of personal charisma of some of the quiet military officers that I've met that make them seem very personally imposing and competent even when they hardly say anything.

Jackson was actually a bit awkward intially at West Point and had to work much harder than others to maintain his grades. He was not a man of great privilege like some of the others and some ailments caused him to ride stiffly in the saddle and sit very upright. His self-discipline, however, was legendary even while at West Point.

Because he finished middle of his class, he didn't get to go into the prestigous Engineering Corps like McClellan did (who finished 2nd in the Class of 1846) but went into the Dragoons instead.

I'm not quite certain how but in the War against Mexico he impressed some people because he finished the war as a brevet Major - ahead of all his class mates.

When war broke out, he was a teacher at VMI. I've heard he wasn't particularly popular with his students in the same way a really hard professor is not popular because he expected high standards out of others in the same way he expected of himself.

I'm rambling here because I've never quite found the quality in him spelled out that made him so beloved and yet that fact was indisputable among his men. I know he was fearless in battle and could be found to be among his men suffering their same challenges and have concluded that must be what made him so legendary.

Yet militarily, he really ticked of his subordinate Generals at times and I've never read anything that indicated to me he was a really deep thinker or inventor of new concepts but that his boldness and daring and tenacity were his keys to success. At Chancelorsville, A.P. Hill was under arrest by him for failing to keep pushing his men in the previous engagement.

On a sidenote, at Chancelorsville, his famous flanking maneuver was aided by some local knowledge. There was apparently a kid who knew this circuitous route on a road that allowed him to march his entire Corps, unseen, to the flank of the Army of the Potomac. I believe it was the 10th of the Ohio that they basically rolled up and made a deep incursion into Union Lines. They moved so far that the lines were really confused by nightfall and, while Jackson was reconning, he got shot (might have even been by his own men accidentally).

I'll tell you the truth, when you read about him you just can't help but root for him. There is something really mysterious about it. I used to really despise men like him when I was younger and really ambitious. I never understood personal charisma and why I didn't have it. Now, I've simply accepted that I don't have what other men have. As I've said, though, I've never read anything that leads me to believe the man was incredibly gifted intellectually but that he had a magnetic personality in spite of his quietness. I've met similar men and conclude he just must have been like them. It certainly was not his ability to go around slapping people on the back and making them laugh or being really friendly to people that endeared him so much to others.

Anyway, sorry for the distraction but this thought came to my mind the other day and this thread kind of resurrected it.

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Rich
Northern VA
PCA

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He was fortunate to have a good biographer (R.L. Dabney). He was also fortunate to have Stephen Lang play his part in a movie!

...but less honor?

So much for class ranking.

Yeah, the guy who finished first (Seymour) virtually disappeared from history after that. McClellan and Jackson were probably the most famous figures from that Class. McClellan was only 16 when he entered West Point and was really obsessed about finishing on top.

He did fight for the Union, but the Union betrayed it's constitution and so reform was going to come by way of separation.

The revolution failed and the constitution was lost and has been ever since.

__________________

Travis Speegle
Redeemer Presbyterian, PCA (Waco, Tx)
Pacific Cross Roads, PCA (Los Angeles, CA)


"When it comes to trustworthy theologians one can usually honor the rule of thumb that the deader the better."-Dr. John Hannah, DTS (of all places)