But no one has labeled Thomas Jonathan Jackson a "marble man," as impenetrable as the statues which commemorate his valor, because his pious Christian character, his service to the church and teaching vocation, his unwavering commitment to duty, his affectionate role as husband and father, as well as his magnificent service to Virginia and the Southern Confederacy were carefully recorded by his close friend and confidant Robert Lewis Dabney. Dr. Dabney understood, far better than most subsequent biographers, the animating principles of Stonewall Jackson's life - his personal faith in Jesus Christ and his absolute trust in the Providence of God. Labeled by some a religious fanatic, General Jackson was simply a consistent biblical Christian who lived out his faith every day, seriously and without compromise.

    The time has not arrived for the writing of an impartial history of the conflict between Slavery and Freedom in the United States. Reports of military operations are incomplete; documents in the archives at Washington are inaccessible; much material remains to be gathered before the patient historian can sift the wheat from the chaff. More than this, the war of ideas is not yet ended. Defeated Rebels in some parts of the South are bent on exterminating the African race. Few of those lately in rebellion plead guilty of having committed a crime; taking up arms against the government they consider to have been a blunder only. We are, therefore, too near the great events to render proper judgment upon questions in which our principles and sympathies have been enlisted.

    The author, a Bostonian, was in a unique position to expose and criticize the actions of his own State, beginning with her earliest threats of secession immediately following the ratification of the Constitution and up to the outbreak of hostilities between North and South in the 1860s. Also discussed are the disastrous effects of a premature emancipation upon the Negro population of the South, including the shockingly high death toll of the former slaves due to starvation and disease, as well as the indifference of their alleged Northern benefactors to their desperate plight.