s regarded the fine uniform, scarcely daring to touch
it, and at the quiet way in which at last he folded it up carefully
and deposited it in his portmanteau, saying to me, "Give Stuart my
best thanks, Major; the coat is much too handsome for me, but I shall
take the best care of it, and shall prize it highly as a souvenir.
And now let us have some dinner." But I protested emphatically
against the summary disposition of the matter of the coat, deeming my
mission indeed but half executed, and remarked that Stuart would
certainly ask how the coat fitted, and that I should take it as a
personal favour if he would put it on. To this with a smile he
readily assented, and having donned the garment, he escorted me
outside the tent to the table where dinner had been served in the
open air. The whole of the staff were in a perfect ecstasy at their
chief's brilliant appearance, and the old negro servant, who was
bearing the roast turkey to the board, stopped in mid career with a
most bewildered expression, and gazed in such wonderment at his
master as if he had been transfigured before him. Meanwhile, the
rumour of the change ran like electricity through the neighbouring
camps, the soldiers came running by hundreds to the spot, desirous of
seeing their beloved Stonewall in his new attire; and the first
wearing of a new robe by Louis XIV, at whose morning toilette all the
world was accustomed to assemble, never created half the excitement
at Versailles that was roused in the woods of Virginia by the
investment of Jackson in the new regulation uniform."* (* Memoirs of
the Confederate War volume 1.)

The second incident is less amusing, but was not less appreciated by
the rank and file. Riding one morning near Front Royal, accompanied
by his staff, Jackson was stopped by a countrywoman, with a chubby
child on either side, who inquired anxiously for her son Johnnie,
serving, she said, "in Captain Jackson's company." The general, with
the deferential courtesy he never laid aside, introduced himself as
her son's commanding officer, but begged for further information as
to his regiment. The good dame, however, whose interest in the war
centred on one individual, appeared astonished that Captain Jackson
"did not know her particular Johnnie," and repeated her inquiries
with such tearful emphasis that the young staff officers began to
smile. Unfortunately for themselves, Jackson heard a titter, and
turning on them with a scathing rebuke f