Famous Last Words: Stonewall Jackson

Image via Wikipedia

The aggressive, taciturn and religious Confederate general Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson was–and in some circles still is–a revered figure in the history of the American South.  For example, the above bas relief, the largest in the world, is carved on an immense granite rock near Atlanta called Stone Mountain.  Stonewall Jackson is the figure bringing up the rear behind Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee.  Part of the funding for the carving of the bas relief came from the Ku Klux Klan–and part from the U.S. federal government.  I’m not alone in considering the bas relief an immense monument to slavery and racism.  In his “I have a dream” speech, Martin Luther King, Jr, said, “let freedom ring from Stone Mountain in Georgia.”

Regardless of my feelings about Jackson as a defender of slavery, I find his last words striking, but not redeeming.  The words are either an amazing coincidence or an instance of the poetry inherent in humanity.  Jackson was a victim of friendly fire.  Hit three times by a fusillade from his own troops, he lost an arm and then succumbed to pneumonia.  He died delirious.  Jackson’s last words, as recorded by the attending physician Dr. Hunter McGuire, were delivered after “a smile of ineffable sweetness spread itself over his pale face.”  Strange but true, these last words make what can only be called a natural–as opposed to literary–haiku.  With his last breath Jackson uttered a seventeen-syllable sentence that includes nature words and a cut.  I’ve written the words below with the traditional line breaks after the fifth and twelfth syllables:

Let us cross over

the river, and rest under

the shade of the trees.

Notes and Asides

• Dr. Hunter McGuire served as president of the American Medical Association.  He was involved with the creation of the Geneva Conventions on the conduct of warfare.  You may find his full account of the death of Stonewall Jackson at http://americancivilwar.com/south/stonewall_jackson_death.html.  

• The most conservative Japanese haiku use nature words from the seasons.  These words come from traditional lists of such words.  Given that Jackson’s words were about resting in the shade in Virginia on May 10, I think that his words hit the mark for late Spring in the South.

• Stone Mountain Park is now a resort owned by the State of Georgia but featuring privately managed attractions.  The park has several hiking and nature trails, a funicular to the top of the rock, a riverboat attraction, and a train ride around the park.  Several annual festivals take place there, like the Yellow Daisy Festival of arts and crafts and the Stone Mountain Highland Games and Scottish Festival.  The management has made some effort to distance the park from its original status as a memorial to the Confederacy.  The population of Stone Mountain, Georgia, the Atlanta suburb surrounding the park, is 69 percent African American. 

You can, of course, find out more about Stonewall Jackson, Stone Mountain, and haiku in Wikipedia.