rn dated July 20, and in the
meantime several regiments and batteries had been transferred
elsewhere, while others had been added. I have done my best, however,
to trace all such changes; and where officers and employed men are
not included in the returns, I have been careful to add a normal
percentage to the official totals.

As regards Jackson's place in history, my labours have been greatly
facilitated by the published opinions of many distinguished
soldiers--American, English, French, and German; and I have
endeavoured, at every step, as the surest means of arriving at a just
conclusion, to compare his conduct of military affairs with that of
the acknowledged masters of war. His private life, from his boyhood
onwards, has been so admirably depicted by his widow* (* Memoirs of
Stonewall Jackson. The Prentice Press, Louisville, Kentucky.), that I
have had nothing more to do than to select from her pages such
incidents and letters as appear best suited to illustrate his
character, and to add a few traits and anecdotes communicated by his
personal friends.

Several biographies have already been published, and that written by
the late Reverend R.L. Dabney, D.D., sometime Major in the
Confederate army, and Jackson's Chief of the Staff for several
months, is so complete and powerful that the need of a successor is
not at once apparent. This work, however, was brought out before the
war had ceased, and notwithstanding his intimate relations with his
hero, it was impossible for the author to attain that fulness and
precision of statement which the study of the Official Records can
alone ensure. Nor was Dr. Dabney a witness of all the events he so
vigorously described. It is only fitting, however, that I should
acknowledge the debt I owe to a soldier and writer of such
conspicuous ability. Not only have I quoted freely from his pages,
but he was good enough, at my request, to write exhaustive memoranda
on many episodes of Jackson's career.

Cooke's Life of Jackson is still popular, and deservedly so; but
Cooke, like Dr. Dabney, had no access to the Official Records, and
his narrative of the battles, picturesque and lifelike as it is, can
hardly be accepted as sober history. On the other hand, the several
works of the late Colonel William Allan, C.S.A., in collaboration
with Major Hotchkiss, C.S.A., are as remarkable for their research
and accuracy as for their military acumen; while the volumes of the
Southern Historical