It is difficult to conceive, however, that the fact
would either have disturbed his brain or weakened his resolution. Few
generals, apparently, have been caught in worse predicaments than he
was; first, when his army was near Harper's Ferry, and Fremont and
Shields were converging on his rear; second, when he lay in the woods
near Groveton, with no news from Longstreet, and Pope's army all
around him; third, when he was marching by the Brock road to strike
Hooker's right, and Sickles' column struck in between himself and
Lee. But it was at such junctures as these that his self-possession
was most complete and his skill most marked. The greater the peril,
the more fixed became his purpose. The capacity of the opponent,
moreover, cannot be accepted as the true touchstone of generalship.
"The greatest general," said Napoleon, "is he who makes the fewest
mistakes," i.e. he who neither neglects an opportunity nor offers one.
Thus tested Jackson has few superiors. During the whole of the two
years he held command he never committed a single error. At
Mechanicsville, and again at Frayser's Farm, the failure to establish
some method of intercommunication left his column isolated; this,
however, was a failure in staff duties, for which the Confederate
headquarters was more to blame than himself.
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