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BURIED AT LEXINGTON.

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The death of Jackson caused universal mourning throughout the Confederacy, where he was regarded as the greatest of the Southern leaders, with the exception only of General Lee. It took away all the exultation of Chancellorsville. As the Commander-in-chief himself said, 'Any victory would be too dear at such a price." It was but a melancholy consolation to pay the highest honors to his memory. The body was borne to Richmond and laid in state in the Capitol, where tens of thousands thronged to look for the last time on the face that they had seen so often amid the smoke and thunder of battle; and then they carried him away to his last resting-place among the hills which he so much loved. Spending Sunday in Lexington, I went to the church where Jackson had worshipped for ten years, after which two of the Professors who had been associated with him, took me to the spot where he rests. It is on a hill-top, looking down into the peaceful valley, beyond which rise the everlasting hills. "As the mountains are round about Jerusalem," so are they round about Lexington, and no saint or soldier could desire a better spot in which to lie down and sleep till the heavens be no more.

In the opinion of many the death of Jackson was a fatal blow to the Confederacy. No one felt the loss so much as General Lee, when two months later, he fought the battle of Gettysburg, the result of which might have been victory if his "right arm" had not been taken from him. But that was not to be. The Ruler of Nations had ordained a different issue-a fact which we have to recognize, even if we cannot explain. It is not necessary to go quite so far as a good priest of New Orleans, an ardent Confederate, a chaplain of one of Jackson's Louisiana regiments, who felt called upon, in a prayer at the unveiling of a monument to Jackson, to offer an excuse for the Almighty, which he did

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HIS DAUGHTER LAID BESIDE HIM.

in this remarkable address to the Throne of 66 grace : When in Thine inscrutable decree it was ordained that the Confederacy should not succeed, it became necessary for Thee to remove Stonewall Jackson!" But we need not inquire into the purposes of Him with whom are the issues of life and death. Without attempting what does not belong to us, we can recognize the great qualities of the heroic dead, and on this day of peace, beautiful as the Sabbath on which he died, I would place a flower on the grave of Stonewall Jackson.

Six months passed, and I visited Lexington again, and once more turned aside to stop at the gate of the old Cemetery, and walked along the path trodden by so many feet, to the well known spot which attracts so many pilgrims. I found beside it a new made grave, which had been opened but a few days before to receive the only daughter of Stonewall Jackson, who was but a babe when her father died, and was brought to him in his last moments to be laid upon his bed to receive a last fond caress. Little seemed it then that she would be with him again so soon. But with gentle footsteps she, like the true daughter that she was, has followed him till she too has "passed over the river"; and now the warrior and his child, forgetting all the sorrows of this troubled life, "rest together under the trees" in the Paradise of God.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE LAST YEARS OF GENERAL LEE.

"The last hope of the Confederacy was dead when Stonewall Jackson was laid in his grave at Lexington!" So said the Major after he had taken the greater part of a day in detailing to me, to my intense interest, the marvellous career of that great soldier. But not so reasoned all those who had fought by Jackson's side. Not so Jackson himself for when, on hearing of his wound, Lee wrote to him, "Could I have directed events, I should have chosen, for the good of the country, to have been disabled in your stead," he answered, "No, no! Better that ten Jacksons should fall than one Lee!" And now, though Jackson was dead, Lee still lived, and hope lived with him; victory was still possible; and in that faith, and under that leadership, the Confederates fought on for two years more. (Jackson died on the 10th of May, 1863; but Lee did not surrender till the 9th of April, 1865.) How well they fought is matter of history. They fought as they could not have fought, had they not been led by a great Commander. From the very beginning of his military career, all around him recognized his extraordinary capacity. General Scott, with whom he served in Mexico, pronounced him "the very

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THE WAR WAS OVER.

best soldier that he ever saw in the field." But the greatest proof of his ability was when he did not serve under anybody, but planned his own campaigns. Some military critics I know assume to criticize him even here. To such I have only to say that it is a very poor compliment to our leaders and our armies, to question the ability of one who, with less than half the numbers,* kept back for two years the tremendous forces of the North that were pressing in on every side. Whatever others may say of General Lee, the great soldiers who fought against him, fully concede his splendid military genius.

But it is not my purpose to speak of his military career. That belongs to history. "The world knows it by heart." But there is a chapter in that life which the world does not know so well, which ought to be told, to the greater honor of the illustrious dead.

The war was over. The Northern armies had returned victorious, while the veterans of the South, defeated but not dishonored, took their way back to their desolate homes. The army disbanded and dispersed, what should its leader do? His old ancestral home, standing on that noble height which looks down on the Potomac, and across to the dome of the Capitol, was in the hands of those against whom he had been fighting for four years, and had even been turned into a national cemetery, in which slept thousands of the Union dead, whose very ghosts might rise up against his return. But if he was an exile from his own home, there were thousands of others

*When the surrender took place, almost the first question which General Meade asked General Lee, was "How many men had you at Petersburg and in your lines, when they were broken?" "Forty thousand," was the reply. "I am amazed," said Meade, "and could not believe it, if it were not you that said it."

HIE CLINGS TO VIRGINIA.

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open to him all over the South, and across the sea, where his fame had gone before him, and would have made him a welcome guest in princely halls. But such a flight from his country (for so he would have regarded it) was impossible to one of his chivalrous spirit. He had cast in his lot with his people: they had believed in him and followed him, as they thought, to certain triumph; he would not desert them in the day of their adversity.

Of course, had he been willing to listen to them, he could have received any number of "business" proposals. Rich moneyed corporations would have been glad to “retain" him at any price as President or Director, so that they could have the benefit of his great name. One, it is said, offered him $50,000 a year. But he was not to be allured by such temptations. The very fact that they were coupled with offers of money, was reason enough why he should reject them all, as he did without a moment's hesitation. Nor could he be lured by any military proposals. Maximilian offered to place him at the head of his army if he would go to Mexico, thinking that his genius might save the fortunes of the falling empire. But he would not accept any exile, however splendid. His answer was “I love the mountains of Virginia still." His work must be at home, for work he must have. After his active life he could not sink down into idleness. With his military career ended, he must find a new career in civil life. Besides, he had a proud spirit of independence, which would not permit him to live on the bounty of the rich at home, or the titled abroad. He would "work for a living," like the poorest of his soldiers.

At length came a proposal that seemed most alien to his former pursuits: that the Commander of the Southern Armies should become the President of a College! And yet this change from a military to an academic career, was

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