What a strange print. Jackson does not look happy at all having Stuart’s hand on his arm. And who is the dude looking over their shoulders?
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Christmas with Stonewall Jackson and J.E.B. Stuart
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I’m quite sure that’s a youthful Buddy Ebsen with a beard.
Very good Mannie. By the way, your recent terrain post was first rate. Thanks for that. Hope you and your wife are enjoying the holidays.
Stuart’s obviously high, while Longstreet looks like, “take your fucking hand off me before I brain you with this pewter mug.” Lee’s got the giggles too. I don’t know (a) what Trotsky is doing(seated, far right) in the Army of Northern Virginia (b) why everyone is happy since the plates and cups are all empty. “Lee’s staff loved it when they played “pretend banquet.”
“Stuart kept begging Longstreet to ‘pull my finger’ but Lee’s old warhorse had been down this road before.”
Shoot, that’s supposed to be Jackson with the crabby look, sitting on Lee’s left? Thought it was Longstreet. Fricking beards.
Matt, — I think you are having a little too much fun with this one.
I had to post the above comments manually, which is why you see my avatar. Sorry about that.
I think the guy behind Jackson is W. N. Pendleton, though Dabney is another possibility. I remember reading about this gathering more than once. Big dude is von Borcke.
What do you figure happened to all that silverware? The guy center rear looks like he’s trying to figure out how to slip it all in his saddlebag without anyone noticing.
Thanks Harry. I didn’t know this was based on a real gathering. I thought it took after one of those postwar prints that includes the whole gang in one room.
Found it! Page 669 of Robertson’s love-letter to Blue Light. The above print I think reconstructs a Christmas dinner at Jackson’s HQ at Moss Neck in 1862. Present were Generals Lee, Stuart, Pendleton, and selected members of their staffs. a total of 12 officers. Lee chided Jackson for the extravagence of his HQ, and Stuart derided the paintings on the wall, including one of a bull. Stuart also commented on the presence of wine on the table. The moment captured in the print I think is when Stuart noticed that the butter had been stamped with a rooster, and said that it must be Jackson’s coat of arms. “Jackson’s slight smile hardly masked his discomfort.”
All this apparrently from an address given in 1898 by Jackson staffer James Power Smith.
Thanks so much for tracking that down – absolutely hilarious.
In the background, von Borcke is saying, “Hey let’s take up a collection and buy Jackson a personality!”
Meanwhile Pendleton is having a massive stroke and is about to pass out on the table.
Behind Pendleton, Clara Barton has cleverly disguised herself as a staff officer and is spying on Jackson and Stuart.
Stuart, just recovered from a bout of severe dysentery, is joking with Jackson about how he was “burning the candle at both ends” the other night while Stonewall is thinking to himself, “Man, I wish I drank.”
Sadly, this was the last time they visited Colonial Williamsburg.
(LOL) I think you are reading just a bit too much into this particular image.
As Stuart points to the results of his lesser known Ride Around the French Quarter, during which he was disguised as Ben Butler, Braxton Bragg wonders how the heck he got to Virginia from Murfreesboro. Lost in thought and dyspepsia, he doesn’t notice von Borcke’s offer of a mug. Sandie Pendleton does, however, and it depresses him almost as much as the paintings of cattle on the wall.
Thanks Ken. I was wondering what Stuart was pointing at. Hope you and Nancy are enjoying the holidays. By the way, I had lunch the other day with someone who informed me that your new book will be released at some point over the summer. Congratulations and I can’t wait to read it.
I wish! Spring 2010 is what I most recently heard. Best to you and Michaela as well.
I agree, looks like Rev. Pendleton standing over SJ. Is he holding a Bible in his left hand?
Isn’t Stuart doing his best magic trick of making the trick candle light up by pointing at it?
Jackson never drank alcohol.
J.E.B. Stuart was the only man in the ANV who could make Gen. Jackson smile, and sometimes laugh. It is beleived that it was due to Stuart's appearance. He was known to s his friends as “Beauty” due to a disfigurement in his lower jaw(The reason why he grew a beard)and had a great sense of humor, Gen.Stuart presented him a with a uniform that Jackson considered garish, and wore only once(The day he was mortally wounded)
J.E.B. Stuart was the only man in the ANV who could make Gen. Jackson smile, and sometimes laugh. It is beleived that it was due to Stuart's appearance. He was known to s his friends as “Beauty” due to a disfigurement in his lower jaw(The reason why he grew a beard)and had a great sense of humor, Gen.Stuart presented him a with a uniform that Jackson considered garish, and wore only once(The day he was mortally wounded)
Jeb Stuart was the only man in the ANV who could make General Jackson smile or laugh out loud, the reason I do not know. Also Stuart was the only man ever, to slap Jacks on in the back as a greeting and grab him by the arm. Just the entry of Stewart into his tent was enough to see him smile.