“Next to the acknowledgment of his Maker was the thought of home, and of the young mother with his child in her arms! The man of war was at the same time the most domestic of men. All his heart was centred in one spot. Many who read these pages will be surprised at the revelation of his passionate love of home, to which he was eager to return, though he was never to cross its threshold again. While the world saw only the soldier with a coat of mail over his breast, those who knew him best saw under it a great human heart. Above all, to her who looked up in his face with perfect trust and confidence, that face was open as the day. To her this man of iron was the gentlest and tenderest of human beings; whose first thought was always for her; whose strong arm guarded her from harm; who would not ‘that even the winds of summer should visit her too roughly.’

Such devotion cannot be forgotten even after the lapse of a quarter of a century. Still the yearning heart turns fondly to the past. Still the faithful bosom carries within it a great memory and a great affection. As she looks back through the mist of years, she sees not the military hero, the idol of the army, riding down the line of battle, but the husband of her youth, still the same. In her quiet hours, as she sits by her desolate fireside, the old days come again, and they are once more in the home that was always made bright by the sunshine of his presence. They sit round the old hearthstone, and kneel together in prayer, and walk to the house of God in company.” — Henry M. Field, Introduction to Mary Anna Jackson, Life and Letters of General Thomas J. Jackson (Stonewall Jackson) (1892), pp. xvi-xvii