We chose Stonewall Jackson for a number of reasons, but mainly we find him to be one of the greatest archetypes of man produced in the history of the West: a man of high caliber and duty, well-read, but also possessing martial and practical skills as a man. In essence, Stonewall was a capable man who, with his abilities, lived in a manner that displayed his love of home and of his Lord.
Reverence
In Stonewall’s short time under the sun, he understood where his feet stood in regard to the created order of the world and was able to play his part. Stonewall understood that the Lord had created man, and man, as creation, owed God worship.
Stonewall would walk faithfully with the Lord in his life, known for praying for his men as they marched to arms, appealing to the Lord, washing his wife with the Word, remaining faithful in church membership, and having the name of Christ found in all aspects of his life.
It was this faith in the Lord that allowed Jackson to earn his nickname. As men retreated in a frenzy around Stonewall, cannon fire exploded and bullets whizzed by and around him. Jackson’s resolve was not in protecting his own life, but in taking the ground in front of him for the glory of God and the good of his home. It was his understanding that he would not perish sooner or later than the Lord intended for him to that allowed him to stand firmly planted in the face of battle. This was ultimately his comfort in death: that he was going to be with his Lord.
Resolve
Jackson, though he would die a great man and his legacy would grow into that of a Southern hero, was not born into greatness.
Jackson was born in what is now West Virginia to a good family who loved him. Nonetheless, Jackson’s early years were full of tragedy. Jackson, at two years old, would watch his older sister pass away, followed by his father’s passing, who died leaving gambling debts and Jackson’s mother in poverty. This dire situation would affect his mother’s health, and she would pass two years later as well.
Jackson would not receive a formal education, only getting to attend school here and there. So, as a young boy, Jackson would ignite pine straw late into the evenings so he could study on his own time, resolved to become a learned man. This resolve would allow him, without the formal education that most received, to enter West Point and become an officer in the Army.
Jackson’s resolve would permit him to rise in rank and renown, and in the hearts of his men and his fellow countrymen, to the point that he is still a household name here in Dixie.
Duty
Jackson understood his place in God’s created order of the world. He accepted his duties as they came from above: farming as a boy, studying at West Point, serving as a soldier, a husband, a deacon, and a professor, and certainly doing all of these in submission to being a follower of Christ.
A man, if reducible to an equation, is the sum of his propensity to seek to fulfill all his duties given unto him.
Jackson once uttered, “Duty is ours: Consequences are God’s,” and we see in Jackson’s life the faithful plodding of a man resolved to do his duties well unto the Lord.
May we endeavor to do the same.