Valley Personal Papers


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Bibliographic Information | Original Version

Augusta County: unknown to unknown, June 2, 1862

Summary:
This letter to the Rockingham Register, probably written by Mary Anna Sibert, pays homage to Stonewall Jackson and his men, and describes their passage through Mt. Solon.


June 2, 1862.

Mt. Solon Augusta Co.

With pleasure we greet the Register again and hope the grievance will not be repeated a second time.

And [illeg.] let me congratulate you and the citizens of Harrisonburg on the departure from your town of what is ever loathsome to southern eyes a yankee army May the "Eden of Virginia" never again be polluted by their vile presence.

Come "listen to my story" The 17 and 18 of May are memorable epochs in the history of our quiet little village caused by the arrival of Gen. Jackson and his band of heroes en route for Winchester from the bleak mountains of the west. I was pleased with the personal appearance of Gen. Jackson he merits the eulogy with which his

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army and country have wreathed his name. May such garlands of honor and worth bloom in perpetual beauty intwining the monuments of time and as a vignette of noble deeds embelish the pages of future history. One act alone speaks in highest eulogiums of his christian heart he and his staff were invited to make their headquarters at the home of Maj. J. M. McCue but like a magnanimous General he politely declined the proffered kindness, preferring the hard damp earth where his soldiers lay to the soft couch of luxury which they could not share with him. Of the famed "Stonewall" too much cannot be said the feeble pen of a lady fails in the effort to tell how that wall of living noble and heroic hearts like a surrounding of brass has defended our beautiful valley from a permanent possession by the enemy under many afflicting trials and long wearisome marches. As they passed through this village of that vast throng not one acted unbecoming gentlemen



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