(PORTRAIT: T.J. JACKSON, LIEUTENANT-GENERAL. "STONEWALL" JACKSON.)



TO MY FATHER.



INTRODUCTION.

Before the great Republic of the West had completed a century of
independent national existence, its political fabric was subjected to
the strain of a terrible internecine war. That the true cause of
conflict was the antagonism between the spirit of Federalism and the
theory of "States' Rights" is very clearly explained in the following
pages, and the author exactly expresses the feeling with which most
Englishmen regard the question of Secession, when he implies that had
he been a New Englander he would have fought to the death to preserve
the Union, while had he been born in Virginia he would have done as
much in defence of a right the South believed inalienable. The war
thus brought about dragged on its weary length from the spring of
1861 to the same season of 1865. During its progress reputations were
made that will live for ever in American history, and many remarkable
men came to the front. Among these not the least prominent was
"Stonewall Jackson," who to the renown of a great soldier and
unselfish patriot added the brighter fame of a Christian hero; and to
those who would know what manner of man this Stonewall Jackson was,
and why he was so universally revered, so beloved, so trusted by his