History-Revisited

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

As I have been reading Life and Campaigns of Lt. General T.J. (Stonewall) Jackson by R. L. Dabney I have noticed a simple theme throughout the life of this great man, Gen. Jackson. I have come across many times in writing to his wife and with friends reminds them of this truth. I must admit this has been an easy truth when my circumstances are good, but when the Lord is not near, or when circumstances are not what we would desire, this is a much harder truth to find comfort in. Jackson's life, especially after Virginia seceded and those brave patriots that called her home prepared to defend all that they held dear, was approaching a very difficult road, yet he held this truth and found comfort and joy in it. Gen. Jackson told a friend before the war, "Why should the peace of a true Christian be disturbed by anything which man can do unto him? Has not God promised to make all things work together for good to them that love him?"

While reading this book and others I have read in great detail the position of the Southern Confederacy and the truth about who the real defenders of the constitution were. It has been hard these last few days, and it will be hard this entire year here in Kentucky, seeing that Lincoln is being celebrated and Kentucky claims him, one cannot avoid hearing the things that are said about this man, praising him. I thought Dabney put it well when he spoke of the Lincoln administration, "and to crown all, the Constitution of the United States was rent in fragments by the assumption of the President to levy new forces, to wage war, without authority of any law of Congress, and to coerce sovereign States into adhesion, in the utter absence of all intentions and powers to that effect, in the Federal Compact." This war was no Civil War, it was not a rebellion, it was rightly what those in the South called it, the second war of independence. No law was broken, no treason committed by those of the South and when it came time to decide to stand with the Founders and the patriots who gave their lives and blood for liberty and freedom Dabney says this, "nearly all accepted the stern conclusion, that nothing remained except that alternative between base submission or resistance, in which no honest man ever hesitates." All the South loved the Union and held the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence in the highest place.

All this said to show why men like Gen. Jackson fought so hard and for so long, even with all the odds against them. I end with this quote taken from a letter Gen. Jackson wrote to his wife. Jackson's valley campaign had been a huge success and without even knowing he was gone Jackson joined his forces to those of Gen. Lee at Richmond where they struck a heavy blow to Gen. McClellan's army on the peninsula. Gen. Jackson then returned to the Valley and struck out at Gen. Pope at Cedar Run and won yet another brilliant victory. After the battle he wrote his wife:

" On last Saturday our God again crowned our arms with victory, about six miles from Culpepper Court House. All glory be to God for his unnumbered blessings.
I can hardly think of the fall of Brigadier-General C.S. Winder, without tearful eyes. Let us all unite more earnestly in imploring God's aid in fighting our battles for us. The thought that there are so many of God's people praying for His blessing upon the army, which, in His providence, is with me, greatly strengthens me. If God be for us, who can be against us? That He will still be with us, and give us victory after victory, until our independence shall be established, and that He will make our nation that people whose God is the Lord, is my earnest and oft-repeated prayer. Whilst we attach so much importance to being free from temporal bondage, we must attach far more to being free from the bondage of sin."