This is a product of Sophomore English, but it recieved a good response at school, and only required the transfer of a text file, rather than a new idea, to create this week's Weekly Feature.

In eighteen hundred and sixty-one___________________________________________ ________ ___ the Union was torn asunder _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ____________________________________ ________ ___ and General Beauregard fired on Fort Sumter_________________________________________ __ _ _ as the World looked on in wonder.

No blood was spilt in that battle ___________________________________________ ________ ___ save that of one Confederate horse ___________________________________________ ________ ___ Yet six hundred thousand men were slain ___________________________________________ __ __ _ in that War's bloody course.

As the President of the Union___________________________________________ ________ ___ prepared himself and the nation for the trying years ahead _ __ ______________________________ _ He saw the greatest danger the nation had ever faced ___________________________ ________ ___ and Abraham Lincoln ominously said

All the armies of Europe, Asia, and Africa combined, with all the treasure on the earth... could not by force take a drink from the Ohio or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.... If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.

Thomas Jonathan Jackson commanded a brigade___________________________________ ___ _____ at the battle of Manassas Junction ___________________________________________ ________ ___ For he had hurried his men towards Bull Run creek_______________________________ ________ ___ as fast as the trains could function.

The Union pressed them, the fighting grew hot, _____________________________________________ and the untrained Rebels fled___________________________________________ ________ ___ Remembering all that they had loved___________________________________________ ________ __ of Home and Peace and Bed.

But as the others ran, Jackson stood with his men ___________________________________________ with Valour for all to see ________ ______ ________ _____ ___ __ ___ _ _____ __ ___ ___ __ ___ And this prompted the utterance of that famous line______________________________ ________ ___ by the star-crossed General Barnard Elliot Bee:

Look, there stands Jackson like a stone wall! Rally behind the Virginians, boys!

The battle was won, and Jackson grew___________________________ ____ _ ___________________ in power, rank, and fame,_________________________________________________ ________ ___ and was called Old Blue Light, for battle caused ____________________________________________ his eyes to burn with an icy azure flame.

The Union faltered and always fell ___________________________________________ ________ ___ before Jackson and Robert E Lee, ___________________________________________ ________ ___ So Jackson chased the Federals through the Wilderness _______________________________ _______ as the blue-coats tried to flee.

The march was swift with hasty burials _____ ______________________________________ ______ for the valiant men who died__ _____ ___________________________________ _____ ______ __ ___ As Jackson pursued the Yankees ___________________________________________ ________ ___ and attacked them on each side.

Thus may a smaller force defeat a larger one, and repeated victories will make it invincible.

Jackson was eccentric,_________________________________________________ ________ ___ famous for his many strange ways:___________________________________________ ________ ___ To "keep his fluids in balance" he kept one hand in the air ____________________________________ as he rode at the head of his valiant Greys.

He sucked on lemons, even as the bullets___________________________________________ _______ flew dangerously near his head; __ _________________________________________ ________ ___ And he refused to eat pepper, for it caused him pain ______________________________ ________ ___ that would confine him to his bed.

He admired death, and when he heard the account______________ ________ _____ _ __ _ _____ ___ of how a lieutenant chanced to die ___________________________________________ ________ ___ He thought for a time, moved by the tale, ___________________________________________ _____ and then gave his approving reply:

Very commendable. Very commendable.

When Lee came to Chancellorsville,___________________________________________ ________ ___ he sent Jackson against the Union flank___________________________________________ ________ And the Federals learned that military convention___________________________________________ was something on which they dared not bank.

The Federal soldiers fell back, ______________________________________________ ________ ___ but night grew nigh ______________________________________________________ ________ ___ And Jackson needed more time ______________________________________________ ________ ___ to make the Union die.

It quickly grew dark, and Jackson rode out, ___________________________________________ _____ to see the Federal position again____________________________________________ ________ ___ And when he returned, cloaked in the dark, ___________________________________ ________ ___ the pickets who shot him were his own loyal men.

He was shot in the left arm ________________________________________________ ________ ___ and it was cut off _______________________________________________________ ________ ___ And rumours spread through the army, ___________________________________________ ________ spoken in whispers grim and soft.

When Lee heard the news, _________________________________________________ ________ ___ he fought back his grief __________________________________________________ ________ ___ And his anguished lament ___________________________________________________ ________ ___ is piercingly brief.

He has lost his left arm, but I have lost my right.

Sent home to recover,_____________________________________________________ ________ ___ he was stricken with blight, _____________________________________________ ________ ___ plagued by delirium,___________________________________________________ ________ ___ feverish at all hours of the night.

Refusing all drugs, and weakened by loss,_______________________________________________ __ he grew ever more grievously ill. ___________________________________________ ________ ___ Deliriously he issued orders, ___________________________________________ ________ ___ "Advance! Attack!" to General Ambrose Powell Hill.

Then he grew calm,____---------------------------------____________________________ ________ ___ and one final time_________------------------__________________________________ ________ ___ With his eyes burning blue _---------__________________________________________ ________ ___ he uttered one last lucid line:

Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees.

It is said that after Stonewall Jackson's death, the angels of the Lord came down to his grave to bear his soul to Glory. But when they reached the cemetery, they found that his soul was not there. Sorrowing, they returned to Heaven, only to learn that by a rapid flank movement, Jackson had already gotten in.

I hope you enjoyed this poem, and you are welcome to leave comments or suggestions for future Weekly Features for jsayers1@utk.edu

That's all that's here right now. If you want, you can return to my home page.

Next week: A NEW WEEKLY FEATURE! (Maybe)