Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: May 12, 1863

The departments and all places of business are still closed in honor of Gen. Jackson, whose funeral will take place to-day. The remains will be placed in state at the Capitol, where the people will be permitted to see him. The grief is universal, and the victory involving such a loss is regarded as a calamity.

The day is bright and excessively hot; and so was yesterday.

Many letters are coming in from the counties in which the enemy's cavalry replenished their horses. It appears that the government has sent out agents to collect the worn-down horses left by the enemy; and this is bitterly objected to by the farmers. It is the corn-planting season, and without horses, they say, they can raise no crops. Some of these writers are almost menacing in their remarks, and intimate that they are about as harshly used, in this war, by one side as the other.

To-day I observed the clerks coming out of the departments with chagrin and mortification. Seventy-five per cent. of them ought to be in the army, for they are young able-bodied men. This applies also to the chiefs of bureaus.

The funeral was very solemn and imposing, because the mourning was sincere and heartfelt. There was no vain ostentation. The pall bearers were generals. The President followed near the hearse in a carriage, looking thin and frail in health. The heads of departments, two and two, followed on foot — Benjamin and Seddon first — at the head of the column of young clerks (who ought to be in the field), the State authorities, municipal authorities, and thousands of soldiers and citizens. The war-horse was led by the general's servant, and flags and black feathers abounded.

Arrived at the Capitol, the whole multitude passed the bier, and gazed upon the hero's face, seen through a glass in the coffin.

Just previous to the melancholy ceremony, a very large body of prisoners (I think 3500) arrived, and were marched through Main Street, to the grated buildings allotted them. But these attracted slight attention, — Jackson, the great hero, was the absorbing thought. Yet there are other Jacksons in the army, who will win victories, — no one doubts it.

The following is Gen. Lee's order to the array after the intelligence of Gen. Jackson's death:

“Headquarters Army Northern Va.,

“May 11th, 1863.

“general Orders No. 61.

“With deep grief the Commanding General announces to the army the death of Lieut.-Gen. T. J. Jackson, who expired on the 10th inst., at 3½ P.M. The daring, skill, and energy of this great and good soldier, by the decree of an all-wise Providence, are now lost to us. But while we mourn his death, we feel that his spirit still lives, and will inspire the whole army with his indomitable courage and unshaken confidence in God as our hope and our strength. Let his name be a watchword to his corps, who have followed him to victory on so many fields. Let officers and soldiers emulate his invincible determination to do everything in the defense of our beloved country.

“R. E. Lee, General.”

The Letter of Gen. Lee to Gen. Jackson.

The letter written by Gen. Lee to Gen. Jackson before the death of the latter is as follows:

“CHANCELLORVILLE, May 4th.

“General: —

“I have just received your note informing me that you were wounded. I cannot express my regret at the occurrence. Could I have dictated events, I should have chosen for the good of the country to have been disabled in your stead.

“I congratulate you upon the victory which is due to your skill and energy.

“Most truly yours,

“R. E. Lee.

“To Gen. T. J. Jackson.”

“The nation's agony,” as it is termed in a Washington paper, in an appeal for 500,000 more men, now demands a prompt response from the people. And yet that paper, under the eye and in the interest of the Federal Government, would make it appear that “the Army of the Potomac” has sustained no considerable! disaster. What, then, constitutes the “nation's agony”? Is it the imminency of war with England? It may be, judging from the debates in Parliament, relating to the liberties the United States have been taking with British commerce. But what do they mean by the “nation?” They have nothing resembling a homogeneous race in the North, and nearly a moiety of the people are Germans and Irish. How ridiculous it would have been even for a Galba to call his people the Roman nation! An idiot may produce a conflagration, but he can never rise to the dignity of a high-minded man. Yet that word “Nation” may raise a million Yankee troops. It is a “new thing.”

The Northern papers say Charleston is to be assailed again immediately; that large reinforcements are going to Hooker, and that they captured six or eight thousand prisoners in their flight on the Rappahannock. All these fictions are understood and appreciated here; but they may answer a purpose in the North, by deceiving the people again into the belief that Richmond will certainly fall the next time an advance is made. And really, where we see such extravagant statements in the Federal journals, after a great battle, we are much rejoiced, because we know them to be unfounded, and we are led to believe our victory was even greater than we supposed it to be.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 321-3

Louise Wigfall to Lieutenant Francis H. Wigfall, May 15, 1863

richmond, May 15th.

. . . Lieut. J. called to see Mama and delivered both the letter and the overcoat. The letter was by far the most welcome of the two, as we had heard so little from you since the battle.  . . . Though your first letter written by moonlight on a limber chest was the most romantic, the last was by far the most satisfactory and interesting.

Hood's Division passed through several days ago and we girls had our usual fun, waving, &c, &c. Quantities of prisoners, thousands at a time, have passed also. 3,000 went through on the day that General Jackson's funeral took place. Quite a misfortune happened last night in the way of the Tredegar Iron Works taking fire — or being set on fire as some people believe by Yankee spies. Genl. Anderson they say has lost an immense amount of money and it will seriously retard the making of arms. Mama is thinking of leaving town Monday, for what destination she does not know. She and Papa both think it useless to wait in Richmond for information of a pleasant locality, so they have determined to get on the cars and travel till they come to some agreeable stopping place. They will then write me of their whereabouts and I will join them, as soon as my examinations will be over, which will be the end of June. There is no news of any sort at present in Richmond. Everything jogs on as usual — and the devotees of the Capitol and Franklin St. take their usual promenades, and with the exception of a new face now and then, and a little variation in the way of stars and gold lace, all is the same as when you were here last winter. Richmond is looking beautifully just at present but in a few weeks the heat and dust will have become intolerable.

SOURCE: Louise Wigfall Wright, A Southern Girl in ’61, p. 130-1

Charlotte Cross Wigfall to Francis H. Wigfall, May 12, 1863

I have just come up from witnessing the funeral procession of dear “old Stonewall.” I never saw a more solemn scene and hope never to see another such. This morning early I went to the Governor's and saw the body lying in state. He looks perfectly natural, more as if he were asleep than dead. No one seems to know who will succeed to his command.

SOURCE: Louise Wigfall Wright, A Southern Girl in ’61, p. 127

Diary of Judith Brockenbrough McGuire: Tuesday Evening, May 12, 1863

How can I record the sorrow which has befallen our country! General T. J. Jackson is no more. The good, the great, the glorious Stonewall Jackson is numbered with the dead! Humanly speaking, we cannot do without him; but the same God who raised him up, took him from us, and He who has so miraculously prospered our cause, can lead us on without him. Perhaps we have trusted too much to an arm of flesh; for he was the nation's idol. His soldiers almost worshipped him, and it may be that God has therefore removed him. We bow in meek submission to the great Ruler of events. May his blessed example be followed by officers and men, even to the gates of heaven! He died on Sunday the 10th, at a quarter past three, P. M. His body was carried by yesterday, in a car, to Richmond. Almost every lady in Ashland visited the car, with a wreath or a cross of the most beautiful flowers, as a tribute to the illustrious dead. An immense concourse had assembled in Richmond, as the solitary car containing the body of the great soldier, accompanied by a suitable escort, slowly and solemnly approached the depot. The body lies in state to-day at the Capitol, wrapped in the Confederate flag, and literally covered with lilies of the valley and other beautiful Spring flowers. Tomorrow the sad cortege will wend its way to Lexington, where he will be buried, according to his dying request, in the “Valley of Virginia.” As a warrior, we may appropriately quote from Byron:

“His spirit wraps the dusky mountain,

His memory sparkles o'er the fountain,

The meanest rill, the mightiest river,

Rolls mingling with his fame forever.”

As a Christian, in the words of St. Paul, I thank God to be able to say, “He has fought the good fight, he has finished his course, he has kept the faith. Henceforth there s laid up for him a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give him at the last day.”

SOURCE: Judith W. McGuire, Diary of a Southern Refugee, During the War, p. 211-3

Diary of Margaret Junkin Preston: Friday, May 15, 1863

General Jackson was buried today, amid the flowing tears of a vast concourse of people. By a strange coincidence, two cavalry companies happened to be passing through Lexington from the West, just at the hour of the ceremonies: they stopped, procured mourning for their colors, and joined the procession.  . . . The exercises were very appropriate; a touching voluntary was sung with subdued, sobbing voices; a prayer from Dr. Ramsay of most melting tenderness; very true and discriminating remarks from Dr. White, and a beautiful prayer from W. F. J. — The coffin was draped in the first Confederate flag ever made, and presented by Pres. Davis to Mrs. Jackson; it was wrapped around the coffin, and on it were laid multitudes of wreaths and flowers which had been piled upon it all along the sad journey to Richmond and thence to Lexington. The grave too was heaped with flowers. And now it is all over, and the hero is left “alone in his glory.” Not many better men have lived and died. His body-servant said to me, “I never knew a piouser gentleman.” Sincerer mourning was never manifested for any one, I do think.  . . . The dear little child is so like her father; she is a sweet thing, and will be a blessing, I trust, to the heart-wrung mother.

SOURCE: Elizabeth Preston Allan, The Life and Letters of Margaret Junkin Preston, p. 165-6