Preserving Stonewall Jackson's Legacy in Capitol Square
"During World War II, George Patton told Eisenhower that he wanted to be Ike’s Stonewall Jackson. Marine hero Chesty Puller carried a biography of Stonewall with him."
“During World War II, George Patton told Eisenhower that he wanted to be Ike’s Stonewall Jackson. Marine hero Chesty Puller carried a biography of Stonewall with him.”
(Don Smith, Bacon’s Rebellion) - The Capitol Square Preservation Council, which has the mission to review any major changes to the monuments in Capitol Square. Although it still exists, it has been defunded and no longer operates. These are my prepared remarks for the presentation I would gladly offer to the council, should it convene again, to consider the fate of Confederate monuments in the square.
If the people and government of the Commonwealth cannot bring themselves to honor the legacy of Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, they will look silly, shallow, emotionally and culturally brittle, and incapable of dealing with complex matters. His statue should remain in Capitol Square.
My name is Donald Smith, and I am a proud Son of Virginia. My mother was born in a cabin—I am not kidding, an actual cabin—outside of Lexington. That cabin was built by my great-grandfather, Givens Kirkpatrick. He, along with his father and all of his brothers, fought under the Confederate flag. Their legacy, and the legacies of hundreds of thousands of past Virginians, are tied in with the legacy of Stonewall Jackson, the quirky but brilliant general who not only led them, but was one of them.
Thomas J., “Stonewall” Jackson, was unique in many ways.
He came from a disadvantaged background. He lost his parents in childhood and…
Some of us believe if General Jackson had not died, the War of Northern Aggression would have had a very different outcome.