The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 61, July 1957 - April, 1958 Page: 553
591 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Book Reviews
The only new biography of Jackson in the quarter-century
after Dabney's was by Sarah N. Randolph, great-granddaughter of
Thomas Jefferson. Brought out by Lippincott in 1876, Mrs. Ran-
dolph's well-informed and good-tempered book attracted little
attention then or later. The reason, probably, was tacit disap-
proval of the female as military biographer. One notices that the
women other than his widow who have since written books about
Jackson-Mary Lynn Williamson in 1899, Julia Adams in 1931,
Helen A. Monsell in 1942-have all addressed themselves to
children.
In 1891 there appeared under the Harper imprint a Life and
Letters of Jackson by his wife, Mary Anna Jackson. Her "sweet
portrait of their domestic life," as Kyd Douglas called it, and
especially her printing of intimate letters, made this volume one
of the basic items about Jackson. A Southern edition of the book,
using the same plates (less one chapter), decked out in a monu-
mental format, given new matter by John B. Gordon and others,
and retitled Memoirs of Stonewall Jackson, was published in
Louisville in 1895.
Thirty-five years after his death, Jackson became the subject of
the first great biography of an American soldier. Delightful as
this event must have been to Southerners, whatever the source of
the book, it was made doubly so by the fact that the author was
not an American but a brilliant professor at the British Staff
College, Lieutenant Colonel G. F. R. Henderson. Henderson
wrote at perhaps the ideal time for his purposes, late enough to
use nearly all the Official Records as well as works like Richard
Taylor's Destruction and Reconstruction (1879; reprinted 1955)
and William Allan's history of the Valley campaign (1880; re-
printed 1912 and 1923), early enough that he was still able to
draw heavily upon Jackson's staff, especially Jed Hotchkiss. The
application of Henderson's gifts and training to these rich ma-
terials produced a big book (the original two-volume edition con-
tained 1,2oo pages) at once recognized as a classic. Henderson's
opening chapters now seem somewhat quaint; the layman may
occasionally grow weary of his insistent lessons from military his-
tory; and D. S. Freeman found defects in his handling of the553
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Periodical.
Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 61, July 1957 - April, 1958, periodical, 1958; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101164/m1/661/: accessed May 2, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.