Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 35.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

[80] sneered at his appointment; made all manner of fun of him, and told various anecdotes of his career at the Virginia Military Institute to disparage him. I remember one of them said to me: ‘Governor Letcher has made a great mistake in promoting “Old Jack.” He is no soldier. If he wanted a real soldier. why did he not give the place to Major——’ mentioning the name of a worthy gentleman, who afterwards served in the army, but made no reputation as a soldier.

But when ‘Old Jack’ took command, we were soon made to see the difference between his rule and that of certain militia officers who had been commanding us, and were made to feel and know that a real soldier was now at our head. He soon reduced the high-spirited mob who rushed to the front at the first call of their native Virginia into the respectable ‘Army of the Shenandoah,’ which he turned over to General Joseph E. Johnson when he came to take command of the department.

Jackson won some reputation in several skirmishes in the lower valley, and at this time very small affairs were magnified into brilliant victories.

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When he became famous.

But it was on the plains of first Manassas, July 21, 1861, that he first became famous.

General McDowell had ably and skilfully outgeneraled Beauregard, and crossing the upped fords of Bull Run, had moved down on the Confederate flank, driving before him the small Confederate force stationed there.

General Bee, in the agony of being driven back, galloped up to Jackson, who, in command of a Virginia brigade, was stationed on the Henry House hill, and exclaimed: ‘General, they are beating us back!’

Jackson's eyes glittered beneath the rim of his old cadet cap. as he almost fiercely replied: ‘Sir, we will not be beaten back. We will give them the bayonet.’

Bee rushed to his own decimated ranks and rallied them by exclaiming: ‘Look! there stands Jackson like a stone wall! Rally on the Virginians! Let us determine to die here, and we will conquer!’

Jackson not only stood the shock of the heavy attack made