On his way to Harper’s Ferry, he wrote thus to his dear wife:
“Winchester, April 29th, 1861.
“I expect to leave here about two P. M. to-day for Harper’s Ferry. I am thankful to say that an ever-kind Providence, who causes ‘all things to work together for good to them that love Him,’ has given me the post which I prefer above all others. To His name be all the praise. * * * You must not expect to hear from me very often, as I shall have more work than I have ever had in the same time before; but don’t be troubled about me, as an ever-kind Heavenly Father will give me all needful aid.”
“This letter,” says a friend, “gives a true idea of his character. He feels within himself the genius and power which make him long to have a separate command; but he also feels the need of resting upon his Heavenly Father for aid and support.”
Colonel Jackson had been ordered by Major-General Lee to organize and drill the men who had gathered at Harper’s Ferry and to hold the place as long as possible against the foe.
He went to work with great zeal and, aided by Colonel Maury and Major Preston, soon had the men organized into companies and regiments. As Colonel Jackson was known to have been a brave soldier in the Mexican War, he was readily obeyed by the soldiers in his little army, which soon numbered forty-five hundred men.
But on the 2nd of May, Virginia joined the Southern Confederacy and handed over all of her soldiers to that government, which bound itself in return to defend Virginia and to pay her troops.
General Joseph E. Johnston was sent on the 23rd of May by the Confederate Government to take command at Harper’s Ferry and Colonel Jackson at once gave up his trust to General Johnston.
The Virginia regiments at that place—the Second, the Fourth, the Fifth, the Twenty-seventh, and a little after, the Thirty-third, with Pendleton’s battery of light field-guns—were now organized into a brigade, of which Jackson was made the commander. This was the brigade which afterwards became famous as the “Stonewall Brigade,” and which, we shall see, did much hard fighting, and was to the Southern army what the “Tenth Legion” was to the great Cæsar.
Gen. J. E. Johnston.