A recent letter from Confederate hero Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson is now making the rounds of the Baptist press of the South.The correspondence serves to enhance his growing legend as the South’s righteous Christian warrior, a man who traces his love of the Bible to a Baptist church he attended in his youth.
Head. Qrs. Valley District
July 21st, 1862Rev. Edwin A. Bolles,
Genl. Agt. B. S. C. S. A.
Dear Sir: I gratefully acknowledge the honor conferred upon me by a portion of God’s people, in constituting me a life director of the Bible Society of the Confederate States of America.
It is a cause in which I feel a deep interest, and by my earnest prayer is, that God will make this infant Bible Society, the means not only of giving his blessed word to our people, but of sending it freely to the remotest nations of the earth.
Enclosed is a check for $159. Please acknowledge its reception, and believe me very truly your friend and brother in Christ.
Thos. J. Jackson
In the operation of the Bible Society of the Confederate States of America, Baptists are working alongside other Christians in printing and distributing tens of thousands of Bibles and other Christian literature to Confederate soldiers.
Source: “Letter from ‘Old Stonewall,'” Christian Index, August 19, 1862
