hanna260
Sergeant Major
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2015
- Location
- Just Around the Riverbend
Okay- so wasn't sure whether to post this here or in the Stonewall forum but I figured that this remarkable lady needed a tribute where all the other remarkable ladies received theirs.
So, Stonewall's sister. First came across her when reading Rebel Yell, where he mentioned that she and her brother were extraordinarily close. Their mother died when they were little and despite getting farmed out to various relatives, they clung to each other as the only immediate family they had left.
They sent tons of letters to each other before the war but we don't have any record of what she sent to him. The author of Rebel Yell says that from looking at his responses, she was sensitive- got offended quite easily, and very strong-willed- perhaps a family trait? He would often talk to her about her relationship with God in his letters. Jackson was always very loving- in the letters he often revealed a side of him that you don't see, reading about him as a ferocious man of battle, referring to himself as "your affectionate brother" and she apparently got along quite well with Anna- Jackson's second wife.
She was so strong-willed, that she was an arch Unionist, despite a famous brother in the Confederate army and a Confederate sympthasizer for a husband- their marriage fell apart and she divorced him in the 1870s. "In a May 1863 letter to his wife, in which he discusses the fighting near Beverly, local attorney Mortimer Johnson wrote: Mrs. J. Arnold - sister of Gen. Jackson - went off with the Yankees. Arnold stayed at home, says he is a good southern man, that his wife is crazy, but Hell he says, could not govern a Jackson. See more here: http://civilwarwomenblog.com/laura-jackson-arnold/"
This was her and her husband's house.
She was fully behind the Union war effort. "Laura Arnold was well remembered by convalescing Union troops, one of whom wrote that "her fragile form was almost ubiquitous in the hospitals, and with her own tender hands she soothed the aching temples of many a dying soldier boy, far away from the loved ones at home." Also found here: http://civilwarwomenblog.com/laura-jackson-arnold/
She and her brother never saw each other during the war and she is said after he died to have said something to the effect that while she mourned his loss, it was better for the country that he was gone.
She died in September 24th 1911, after I believe at least 20 years of poor health, which she spent in a sanatorium. One hopes her and her brother were re-united in wherever souls go in death.
So, Stonewall's sister. First came across her when reading Rebel Yell, where he mentioned that she and her brother were extraordinarily close. Their mother died when they were little and despite getting farmed out to various relatives, they clung to each other as the only immediate family they had left.
They sent tons of letters to each other before the war but we don't have any record of what she sent to him. The author of Rebel Yell says that from looking at his responses, she was sensitive- got offended quite easily, and very strong-willed- perhaps a family trait? He would often talk to her about her relationship with God in his letters. Jackson was always very loving- in the letters he often revealed a side of him that you don't see, reading about him as a ferocious man of battle, referring to himself as "your affectionate brother" and she apparently got along quite well with Anna- Jackson's second wife.
She was so strong-willed, that she was an arch Unionist, despite a famous brother in the Confederate army and a Confederate sympthasizer for a husband- their marriage fell apart and she divorced him in the 1870s. "In a May 1863 letter to his wife, in which he discusses the fighting near Beverly, local attorney Mortimer Johnson wrote: Mrs. J. Arnold - sister of Gen. Jackson - went off with the Yankees. Arnold stayed at home, says he is a good southern man, that his wife is crazy, but Hell he says, could not govern a Jackson. See more here: http://civilwarwomenblog.com/laura-jackson-arnold/"
This was her and her husband's house.
She was fully behind the Union war effort. "Laura Arnold was well remembered by convalescing Union troops, one of whom wrote that "her fragile form was almost ubiquitous in the hospitals, and with her own tender hands she soothed the aching temples of many a dying soldier boy, far away from the loved ones at home." Also found here: http://civilwarwomenblog.com/laura-jackson-arnold/
She and her brother never saw each other during the war and she is said after he died to have said something to the effect that while she mourned his loss, it was better for the country that he was gone.
She died in September 24th 1911, after I believe at least 20 years of poor health, which she spent in a sanatorium. One hopes her and her brother were re-united in wherever souls go in death.
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