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
