Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Colonel Thomas J. Jackson to Mary Anna Morrison Jackson, June 14, 1861

Harper’s Ferry, June 14, 1861.

We are about leaving this place. General Johnston has withdrawn his troops from the Heights (Maryland and Virginia), has blown up and burnt the railroad bridge across the Potomac, and is doing the same with respect to the public buildings. Yesterday morning, I was directed to get ready to evacuate the place, and in the evening expected to march, but up to the present time the order has not come. I am looking for it at any moment, and, as I am at leisure, will devote myself to writing to my precious pet. I am very thankful to our kind Heavenly Father for having sent Joseph1 for you, and I trust that you are now safely and happily at Cottage Home,2 and that you found the family all well. You speak of others knowing more about me than my darling does, and say you have heard through others that I am a brigadier-general. By this time I suppose you have found out that the report owes its origin to Madam Rumor.
__________
1 My brother.
2 My father's place.

SOURCE: Mary Anna Jackson, Life and Letters of General Thomas J. Jackson (Stonewall Jackson), p. 160-1

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