Beloved Bride foreword by Stephen Lang

'Beloved Bride' Foreword

By Stephen Lang
November 18, 2002

The mists of legend swirl thickly around our nation’s memory of Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson. There is, of course, a certain attraction in obscurity, for it allows us, indeed requires us, to see the Jackson we want to see, the Jackson that most neatly suits our own particular historical agenda. It is strange that our view of Jackson should be thus, for so much has been written about Jackson, and accurately written at that. Diaries, memoirs, battle reports, letters, and testimonials paint a specific and multilayered portrait of a major protagonist in the national tragedy that was the Civil War. To understand that war, to appreciate the reasons and passions behind it, it is necessary to penetrate the mists of legend and see the man clearly in all his aspects.

Any portrait of Jackson would be woefully incomplete without giving full understanding to the depth of his love for Anna Morrison Jackson. Such a portrait would be missing his heart. The Thomas-Anna relationship is not merely the conventional woman behind the man, the “General’s General” as it were, but a central and vital web in the tapestry of his soul. Anna did not just support Jackson, although she did that. She did not just enable Jackson, although she did that. She did not just provide him emotional sustenance, although she assuredly did that. For Jackson, Anna was a living and breathing example of God’s goodness and beneficence, of the absolute beauty of life on this earth, of the piece of God’s plan that allowed for happiness and fulfillment in this life. Anna not only shared his faith, she epitomized his faith, she sweetened his faith, she completed his faith. Through his relationship with Anna his relationship with God was enriched, deepened, and widened from the concept of an all-powerful God of justice and ultimate judgment to a God of love. Without Anna, Jackson may well have hardened into the unbending ascetic many believe him to have been. They are mistaken. Her presence in his life brought balance. Her influence and guidance did not inhibit the qualities that made “Stonewall” Jackson a warrior among warriors, but greatly enhanced the virtues that made Thomas Jackson a man among men.