Southerners, especially Virginians, came to respect and love Jackson, sometimes to excess. One Virginia woman wrote that “I believe that God leads Jackson and Jackson his men, just where it is best they should go. My only fear is that people are in danger of worshiping Gen. Jackson instead of God, who rules over all. If we idolize him, he will be taken from us.” And taken he was, struck down by a volley of Confederate fire from sentries who mistook Jackson and his men for a Union detachment.
Memorials to Jackson began even before his death, including the famous 1863 photo taken a week before his fatal wounding at Chancellorsville.
Jackson’s grave in Lexington quickly became a “Lost Cause” shrine
and his statue on Monument Avenue in Richmond is one of the most beloved.
And he was immortalized in the carving on Stone Mountain, Georgia, although that carving was not finally finished until 1972 (just about the time my family moved to Atlanta, when I was a baby).
More than ever before, admirers of Jackson must also face up to the ugly realities of American slavery, and acknowledge that Confederate leaders like Jackson were fighting not just for their view of ordered liberty and states rights, but to protect that peculiar institution. Admiration for the Christian soldier Jackson remains a vital, if fading, southern tradition, even as our consciences trouble us about the Confederacy’s commitment to slavery.
Originally posted at Patheos.com
[For more from Dr. Kidd, visit The Anxious Bench]
Thomas Kidd is a contributing scholar to The Kuyperian Commentary. His newest book is Patrick Henry: First Among Patriots, published in 2011 with Basic Books.
~ Further Reading ~
To learn more about General Thomas J Jackson, read All Things For Good: The Steadfast Fidelity of Stonewall Jackson (Leaders in Action Series), by J Steven Wilkins
Also from Pastor Wilkins on the topic of Southern Leadership:
Call of Duty: The Sterling Nobility of Robert E Lee
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