"But the admiration for Jackson was by no means confined to his own soldiers and to his own section"
About this Quote
Admiration, Hill implies, is doing strategic work here: it drafts Stonewall Jackson into something bigger than a Confederate hero, turning him into a national archetype of martial virtue. The phrasing is almost bureaucratically modest - "by no means confined" - but the ambition is expansive. Hill isn’t just praising a commander; he’s claiming a kind of cultural jurisdiction. If even those outside "his own soldiers" and "his own section" revered Jackson, then the Confederacy’s cause can masquerade as merely the stage on which universally recognizable greatness appeared.
Context matters: Hill, a Confederate officer writing in the postwar shadow of defeat, is participating in the early architecture of what would become Lost Cause memory. Defeat needed alchemy. Jackson’s early death in 1863 made him especially usable: he can’t be compromised by later setbacks or political messiness, and martyrdom travels well across enemy lines. Hill’s sentence quietly suggests that Jackson’s reputation transcended faction, which softens the moral glare of secession by shifting attention to character, discipline, and sacrifice.
The subtext is also a rebuke to narrow partisanship. By separating Jackson from "his section", Hill tries to launder admiration into something apolitical, as if military excellence can be extracted from the war’s purpose. It’s a powerful rhetorical sleight of hand: broaden the audience, elevate the man, and let the cause ride in his wake.
Context matters: Hill, a Confederate officer writing in the postwar shadow of defeat, is participating in the early architecture of what would become Lost Cause memory. Defeat needed alchemy. Jackson’s early death in 1863 made him especially usable: he can’t be compromised by later setbacks or political messiness, and martyrdom travels well across enemy lines. Hill’s sentence quietly suggests that Jackson’s reputation transcended faction, which softens the moral glare of secession by shifting attention to character, discipline, and sacrifice.
The subtext is also a rebuke to narrow partisanship. By separating Jackson from "his section", Hill tries to launder admiration into something apolitical, as if military excellence can be extracted from the war’s purpose. It’s a powerful rhetorical sleight of hand: broaden the audience, elevate the man, and let the cause ride in his wake.
Quote Details
| Topic | Military & Soldier |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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