The Right Arm of Lee and Jackson

James I. Robertson, Jr., is now completing his doctoral degree at Emory University. This account of the Old Stonewall Brigade is based on his work there. A native of Danville, he received his collegiate education at Randolph-Macon College and, in addition, already has a master's degree from Emory. The Right Arm of Lee and Jackson JAMES I. ROBERTSON, JR. DAHKNESS had BBOUGHT an end to a beautiful Sabbath day. It was the Sunday following the great victory at Chancellorsville, but there was little joy in General Lee's heart. To be sure, he had designated this day as one of thanksgiving for the great victory a kind Providence had bestowed upon his army. Yet Lee could not be joyful. He found it difficult to be thankful. For him the day was one of prayerful anxiety. His mind and prayers were not on the shattered remains of his or the Federal armies. His thoughts lay to the south—to a small weather-beaten shack alongside the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac railroad—to the man who had brought him victory a week ago but now lay fighting the overwhelming odds of pneumonia . Late that night as Lee sat alone in his tent an officer entered, saluted , and handed him a small sheet of paper. Lee read it hurriedly and read it again in disbelief. He sank back into his chair and sobbed like a child.1 The news the note carried spread quickly through the Confederate lines. On the extreme right below Fredericksburg, the men who most cared were among the last to hear. Like Lee, they had endured a week of shock and pain. Their leader had been wounded, seriously wounded. But he was too tough to die. God couldn't take him from them. They were his First Brigade, though the world knew them as the Stonewall Brigade. For minutes they refused to accept the news. Old Stonewall dead? Impossible ! The man who had molded them from boys to soldiers, who had immortalized them at First Manassas, who had led them from one fabu1 Douglas S. Freeman, IL E. Lee (New York, 1934-35), II, 563; UI, 1. 423 424JAMES I. BOBEBTSON, JB. lous victory to another, was dead? Jackson dead? These men could not believe it these men would not believe it Realization soon shrouded hopes. Then, like Lee, the men of the Stonewall Brigade wept unshamefully. These bearded and dusty mountaineers had not lost merely a leader; they had lost an inspiration. Like all Graycoats they professed profound love for "Marse Robert," but he had not made them soldiers, had not brought them glory as "foot cavalry," had not won them a reputation as the elite of the Army of Northern Virginia. To them Lee was a godfather, Jackson a father. These men, like the two immortals who led them, had been spurred into war service by the secession of Virgina. Slavery and state rights were of little consequence to them, but the safety and well-being of their state was of paramount importance.2 With Lincoln's call for troops, therefore, these men followed their state into the Confederacy. From the eighteen counties forming the great Valley of Virginia, they flocked to join local militia companies. Each ten companies were organized into a regiment, with the resulting five regiments soon designated the First Virginia Brigade . The men of the Second Infantry Regiment came from the lower (northern) part of the Valley, while the Fourth Regiment was composed of compames from the opposite end. The Fifth Regiment with the exception of one Winchester company, was from Staunton and Augusta County. Companies from the middle counties formed the Twenty-Seventh Regiment . The Brigade was completed by the Thirty-third Regiment from the northwestern part of the state.3 Colonel T. J. Jackson assumed command of the brigade at Harpers Ferry late in April, 1861. He found 4,500 undisciplined but enthusiastic recruits whose weapons and uniforms were a conglomeration of everything imaginable. But the stern V.M.I, professor quickly removed the heterogeneity of attire and action. Included in the rigid seventeen-hoursa -day schedule were at least seven hours of drill.4 All alcoholic beverages were strictly...