THOMAS JONATHAN JACKSON 377 Love-letters to his " only sweetheart," written in camp, in the saddle, from smoking battle-fields, red with the blood of the slain, reveal a heart as tender as it was stout, faith that never failed, the courage of a lion, the unspoiled simplicity of a child. Our last extract from war papers is significant of what might have been but for the fall of the South's greatest chieftain at the most critical period of the struggle : "Jackson alone stands forth the one advocate of 'ceaseless invasion' as our 'safest hope,' the first conviction of his mind and a policy in accord with South- ern feeling." Mrs. Jackson joined her husband at his quarters near Fredericksburg, bring- mg with her the baby-girl he had never seen until then, on April 20, 1863. On the 23d the little one, held in the proud father's arms, was baptized by the regi- mental chaplain. Nine golden days followed the reunion of the loving family before Hooker crossed the Rappahannock in force. Wife and baby were hur- ried off to Richmond after " a hasty, tender adieu," and the battle of Chancellors- ville began. " From the opening of this campaign," says Jackson's biographer, " it was observed that a wondrous change came over him. From the quiet, patient, but arduous laborer over his daily tasks, he seemed transformed into a thunderbolt of war." During the three awful days of Chancellorsville " the thunderbolt " seemed omnipresent to the Confederate soldiers, oftenest in the hottest of the fight, al- ways where he was most sorely needed. On the afternoon of May 2d, in making his way from one part of the field to another with his staff and couriers, they were mistaken for Federal cavalry, and a volley of musketry was poured in upon them, wounding General Jackson mor- tally. On the way to the rear a second disaster overtook the doomed band. A Federal battery opened a fire across the road, and the devoted attendants, laying the wounded chief in a shallow ditch, covered him with their own Lodics while the tempest of shot tore up the earth on all sides of them. The danger was averted by a change in the range of the guns, and the mournful march was re- sumed. Meeting a North Carolina general who " feared," m reply to Jackson's eager questions, "that his troops could not maintain their position," the hero spoke outi in the accustomed tone of command : " You must hold your ground, General Pender ! you must hold your ground, sir ! " It was his last military order. Some hours later he lay in his tent, weak from pain and loss of blood, one arm gone, and his other wounds dressed, when a mes- senger arrived in haste from General J. E. B. Stuart, relating that he was con- tending against fearful odds in the field, and asking for counsel from the friend Vv'ho would never more ride forth at his side. At the tidings of Stuart's extrem- ity, General Jackson aroused himself to interrogate the bearer of the message,
