May 14, 1863, The New York Herald
By intelligence we published yesterday from Richmond, via Hooker’s army on the Rappahannock, our readers have learned that the celebrated Stonewall Jackson died on Sunday last, partly from pneumonia and partly from the effects of the amputation of his arm, rendered necessary by a wound be received in the battle on the Sunday before. The interment was to have taken place on Tuesday last. This event is a serious and an irreparable loss to the rebel army; for it is agreed on all hands that Jackson was the most brilliant rebel general developed by this war. Form his coolness and sagacity, rapid movements and stubbornness in the fight, and his invariable good fortune, he resembled Napoleon in his early career more than does any other general of modern times. According to the estimate formed of him by the Richmond Enquirer, the special organ of Jeff. Davis, the loss is greater to the rebels than if they had lost a whole division of their army. Their victory at Chancellorsville is therefore dearly bought. To him was largely due the victory at the first fight at Bull run. Here he received his nickname of “Stonewall,” from the firmness with which he and his regiment fought. His raid through the valley of the Shenandoah was a masterly stroke of strategy; for, while he kept McDowell’s and Banks’ corps employed and struck terror at Washington, by a rapid retrograde movement he appeared on the battle field, in the seven days’ fight on the Chickahominy, to turn the scale just at the critical moment, while McDowell was non est, like Patterson at Bull run. Again, when Pope was retreating from the Rapidan and the Rappahannock, Jackson, by forced marches, gained his flank, caused terrible confusion, and obtained vast spoil. Lastly, at the battle of Antietam, after capturing Harper’s Ferry, he turned up on the right flank of our army in time to repulse Hooker, save the remnant of Lee’s force and prevent the battle from becoming a rout. Wherever Jackson appeared on any field victory seems to have perched upon his banners.
In his demeanor he is represented as having been extremely quiet and modest, plain and unostentatious in his dress, silent and thoughtful; in his habits temperate, in his conduct strictly moral, and in religion he is said to have been almost a fanatic. He was a universal favorite in the rebel armies, and popular even in our own. Over his men he exercised the strictest discipline, and always moved them with the least possible quantity of baggage. Hence his rapid marches, and the soubriquet by which his troops were known – […..] cavalry.” What is curious about the manner of his wound is that, according to the Richmond Enquirer, he was shot by some of his own men – which is very probable in the smoke and confusion of so terrible a battle, with perhaps one part of his line more advanced than another, and he, as he generally was, in the front of the fight. His death is no doubt owing less to the wound than to his exposure in the rain storm, and by continuing in command in such a condition, superinducing pneumonia and a fatal termination.