Re: What kind of person was Stonewall Jackson?

Thanks for you reply "Will in New Haven" . I know a little history, but I 
have much to learn yet. Another scene that bothered me from the film Gods 
and Generals was when they had Stonewall Jackson crying about the death of
a 
little girl. And also they had him praying at all sort of times. That film

really made me puke.

I guess, I would compare the south with apartheid (they had appartheid
there 
untill 1964). Yet unlike apartheid the south is shrouded in sentimentality

and myth. Even one of my favorite songs The Band's The Night They Drove
Old 
Dixie Down is full of this feelling. They should be celebrating the fact 
that a great evil has gone from the world. They should have scenes in
movies 
where the brave soldiers are confronted with evil they defended and which 
show the moral dillemma that resulted. In stead they show Stonewall
Jackson 
praying and crying about little girls like he was some kind of saint.

Mike

"Will in New Haven" <bill.reich@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> skrev i melding 
news:b61dc7e0-3898-4b34-9d7b-d1bfdb85c1da@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> On Jun 27, 12:00 pm, "Michael" <michaelwy...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> I have a question. Recently I saw the movie Gods and Generals, and I 
>> noticed
>> the almost saint like immage they painted of Stonewall Jackson. The
movie
>> gave us the impression that the south would have won, had Jackson not 
>> been
>> shot by his own troops
>
> Let's remember that he was _accidently_ shot by pickets who'd been
> spooked by the near-approach of Union cavalry. it is very common to
> use this "shot by his own troops" to denigrate Jackson. There are
> plenty of good reasons to denigrate Jackson. No need to make things
> up. I remember one snide young man saying that General Bee was
> _annoyed_ with Jackson when he said "There stands Jackson like a stone
> wall." He could present no evidence for this. It just fit his world-
> view better.
>
>
> Is this a correct image of the general? Was he
>> really that brilliant.
>
> He was a brilliant subordinate who could take his semi-independant
> force and carry out his commander's intentions without having to be
> baby-sat by a higher headquarters. There is little doubt that he could
> have commanded a fully independant army in the field also. He was a
> fine tactician with some understanding of strategy. If he knew much
> about logistics, it has not been revealed to us. But the standards in
> that field were not high at the time.
>
> But he was a loon.
>
> He was a much harsher disciplinarian than was typical in that army of
> amateurs. He was not always fair in his harshness.  He was willing to
> arrange to engage in a duel with the Army of the Potomic just over the
> horizon and Lee had to watch him like a hawk when certain other
> officers were around. His attitude toward the officer who inherited
> his "Stonewall Brigade" was inexcusable. Probably some of these things
> would have caught up with him anyway, even with all his talent.
>
> Of course, he was far from the biggest _loon_ in that army. Would have
> been hard with A.P. Hill and John Bell Hood around.
>
>> Also, I find the emphasis on the sincerity of the southern fighters to
be
>> quite disgusting in view of the fact that they defended a racist state 
>> built
>> on slavery.
>
> You use an odd choice of words. Do you think they shoud be ****trayed
> as _insincere_ They were on the wrong side, from a moral point of view
> but I don't think many of them _knew_ it. I think Lee knew it but
> Virginia was his nation and Virginia seceded.
>
>
> Somtimes you get the feeling that the war was without reason
>> because of the high casuality number. That may be so, but the south 
>> clearly
>> represented a great evil. Then of course, Jim crow and sharecropping
>> replaced slavery and nothing changed. Enter the KKK etc.
>
> And, of course, none of that happened in the north. I rember the joy
> with which the white people of South Boston greeted their Black
> brothers when integration was ordered. They were so eager for it that
> one wonders why it had to be ordered. And the Indiana Klan and the
> Klan in Little Egypt (Illinois) was only funnin with those guys they
> lynched.
>
> --
> Will in New Haven