Stonewall Jackson's death

Daniel W. Stowell (STOWELL@nervm.nerdc.ufl.edu)
Mon, 4 Apr 1994 00:19:18 ECT

The discussion of Longstreet's reputation and of his identification as a
Judas and Jackson as a martyr has provided me with a nice transition to
request some information. I am preparing an article on the reaction of
religious southerners to Jackson's death in 1863. I am sure that the
members of this list have collectively examined hundreds of manuscript
collections, newspapers, and autobiographies from the Civil War. I would
appreciate any references to reflections on the religious meaning of
Jackson's death. Southerners--civilian and military--are my main interest,
but northern views of why God allowed Jackson to die would be interesting
for the contrast. My argument in brief is that the explanations religious
southerners developed to explain God's purposes in Jackson's death were
revived in 1865 to explain the far greater loss of the war itself. In
both instances, white religious southerners assured themselves that God
was not judging and forsaking them; rather, he was correcting and
purifying them.

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

Daniel W. Stowell
University of Florida
stowell@nervm.nerdc.ufl.edu