Stonewall Stonewall Jackson ate lemons like apples?

Henry Kyd Douglas is the main source for the idea that Jackson was a lemon lover. He wrote an account in his book of Jackson eating a lemon and using it as if it were a baton to give emphasis to his orders during a battle.

Kyd Douglas indeed wrote about that, but there are earlier references from the Mexican War and his West Point years regarding the lemons as well as him trying to balance himself in peculiar ways to "get his humours flowing the right way"...
 
Kyd Douglas indeed wrote about that, but there are earlier references from the Mexican War and his West Point years regarding the lemons as well as him trying to balance himself in peculiar ways to "get his humours flowing the right way"...
Glad to hear that since there are those who don't regard Douglas too highly as a source.
 
The story Taylor told of Lizinka Campbell-Brown doesn't ring true, either. She had to have been a formidable woman, and I doubt she silently clung to the general's (Ewell's) arm during the entire conversation with Taylor.

Sometimes I even keep my mouth shut while clinging to my husband. Usually so I won't bust a chair over someone's head.
 
I always laugh about how Ewell kept calling her Mrs. Brown after they married!

Jackson liked all sorts of fruit - he was always trying some kind of vegetarian diet anyway. The persimmon story is great. He was actually pretty athletic if awkward at times and this was one of those times. Went up the tree like a monkey and sat on a limb like one, too, until he got his fill of persimmons. But when he tried to come down, one of his big spurs kept catching, couldn't swing a leg over the limb! So, his men got some flat boards, propped them up against the trunk and Jackson was able to come down that way - except he came flying and did a face plant. I'm ok, guys, I'm ok! And he was... :x3: That's why I always say things happened to Jackson that just didn't dare happen to Lee!
 
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Thanks, @FarawayFriend ! That's a good link and I like the part where the author lines up the wives of these generals - LaSalle Pickett, Anna Jackson, Ellen Sherman. Wall flowers none of them...and some of them got the same tough reputation. These military guys almost always marry strong independent women - they need them! The Ewell marriage might have been bumpy but they really did love each other. @JPK Huson 1863 has a good thread about Lizinka:

http://civilwartalk.com/threads/lizinka-campbell-brown-ewell.96365/
 
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