Stonewall Anna Stonewall Jackson's Wife

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Stonewall Jackson Dies
Days later, the mortally wounded Stonewall Jackson died with his faithful wife, Anna, at his side.
“He now sank rapidly into unconsciousness, murmuring disconnected words occasionally, but all at once he spoke out very cheerfully and distinctly the beautiful sentence which has become immortal as his last: “Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees,” Anna wrote in her memoirs.

After the funeral and burial in Lexington, VA, Anna dressed in mourning clothes and returned with her baby Julia to Cottage Home in Lincoln County.
She never remarried and wore mourning clothes for the remainder of her life.
“For many years after the death of my husband the shadow over my life was so deep, and all that concerned him was so sacred, that I could not consent to lift the veil to the public gaze,” she stated years later.

Back home in Lincoln County, Anna tried to give her daughter a normal life.
“Here she was the only child in the family, the pet of the household, and her
childhood’s life was one of great innocence and simplicity. She had no playmates, except when little visitors came, which always gave her great delight, but she was happy in amusing herself in her own solitary, childish ways — making play-houses under the great oak trees, and planting and tending her little garden, as she saw her mother do hers. She cultivated pop-corn, peanuts, vegetables and flowers, and once proposed planting
candy in her garden, thinking it would yield her a rich return of sweets. She had many beautiful dolls, each one having its own name, and she loved them as if they were really human. Among them was a perfect Confederate soldier, with his miniature canteen, tobacco
bag, and every equipment for the service in war. He was “Johnny Reb,” and was a present to her, as were all of her handsomest dolls. She was devoted to pets,
and had her terrier dog, Bess, her kittens, chickens and canary birds — the latter all coming to grief, however, from the cruel ravages of the cats. In her garden were several little graves of her birds, over which she had shed many tears. Her grandfather gave her a pure white calf, which she named “Snowdrop,” and after it came into service as a milch-cow, if she ever saw a servant strike, or maltreat her pet, it aroused her indignation and caused her genuine distress. But the supreme object of her affection in the barnyard was her father’s war-horse, “Little Sorrel,’^ or “Fancy,” as he was called on the farm. She delighted in petting him, and nothing pleased her more than to have a ride upon his back, to which she began to be treated at quite an early age. She was extremely fond of horse-back riding,
and became a fearless and graceful rider as she grew to womanhood. She then had her own horse, “Kex,” but he never occupied the place in her heart which old Fancy possessed. Her birthdays in childhood were always celebrated by little entertainments,” Anna wrote in her memoirs.
Knowing that her daughter need a more formal education than could be provided for her at Cottage Home, Anna moved to Charlotte in 1873 so Julia could attend the Charlotte Institute for Young Ladies. In 1885, Julia married William Christian and they had two children: Julia Jackson Christian and Thomas Jonathan Jackson Christian.
But sadness once again hit the family in 1889 when Julia died of typhoid fever at age 26, leaving Anna to raise the two grandchildren.

Widow of the Confederacy
Anna became very active in her later years and was involved in the reunions of Confederate veterans, and became known as the “Widow of the Confederacy.”
She made her home on Trade Street in Charlotte, near the present-day First Presbyterian Church.
In 1898 she organized the Stonewall Jackson Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in Charlotte, and was elected President for life. She was active in the chapter until failing health forced her to give up her responsibilities.
She remained a beloved figure in the South for the remainder of her life, and in 1907 the N.C. General Assembly offered her a pension for her husband’s service.
Although she needed the money, she told the lawmakers that she preferred the money go to needy soldiers or to start a school for wayward boys. The lawmakers chartered the Stonewall Jackson Training School that session. The school was on Old Charlotte Road, south of Concord.
Mary Anna Morrison Jackson died on March 24, 1915, in Charlotte, at 83 years of age.
“Her plan of life was as simple as her husband’s, which consisted of finding out each day what she believed to be her duty, through prayer, Bible reading, and meditation, and then doing it uncomplainingly and with as little affectation as possible,” it was written about her on her death.
She was buried beside her beloved Stonewall in Lexington, VA.

Sources include: Stonewall Jackson, The Man, The Myth, The Legend, By James I Robertson; Lee Lieutenant’s, A Study in Command, by Douglas S. Freeman; They Married Confederate Officers, by Kathy Herran; The Letters of General Thomas J. Jackson by his Widow, by Mary Anna Jackson.

* Her death certificate states that was she born at Cottage Home in Lincoln County, but some reports say she was born near Derita Road, Charlotte
 
I've seen another photo obviously taken at the same session that shows young Julia sitting by herself in the chair.
 
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