General Henry Kyd
Douglas
Henry Kyd Douglas s/o Robert Douglas and Mary Robertson(Robinson?). Henry was
born 29 Sept. 1840 Shepardstown, Jefferson County, Virginia Died 18 Dec 1903
Shepherdstown, Jefferson County, West Virginia buried Ellemwood Cemetery, West
Virginia
Was General Stonewall Jackson's youngest staff member and personal aide. His
memoirs were published after the Civil War - "I Rode With Stonewall" -
by his nephew John Kyd Beckenbaugh. He lived at Ferry Hill Place across the
Potomac River from Shepherdstown, WV. He enlisted in the Confederate Army as a
private, rose to Captain, and later Colonel. He was Assistant Inspector General
and Assistant Adjudant General on Jackson's staff. After Jackson's death, he was
Chief of Staff and Assistant Adjutant General to five Confederate Generals. He
was commander of the Light Brigade at Appomattox. His troops were the last to
stack arms upon surrender. He was wounded six times and imprisoned twice.
He practiced law in Winchester, VA after the war, and later moved his
practice to Hagerstown, Maryland.
'A general failing of health, including mental troubles, was the
cause of his death'. - Los Angeles Times, 19 Dec 1903
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I Rode with Stonewall, Being Chiefly the War Experiences of the Youngest Member of Jackson's Staff from the John Brown Raid to the Hanging of Mrs. Surratt
, By Henry Kyd Douglas
US List Price: $34.95
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A Great Memoir and
A Fun Read!, 29 May, 1998
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Reviewer: A
reader from Millbury, Massachusetts, USA |
This book, first published in 1940 - long after Douglas' death - is
based on Douglas' war-time journal and personal papers. Douglas began to
assemble them into book form several times, but never had them
published; his relatives did......What emerges are wonderful portraits
of Douglas, Jackson (for whom Douglas was a staff officer) and many
other well-known (and not so well-known) soldiers and civilians caught
in the Civil War. Douglas is decidedly pro-Jackson, but Douglas also
shows us the real Jackson: a man who could be cruel to the extreme and
then gentle and kind a few moments later. The book is fill with humorous
anecdotes, which make it a "fun read" - I could not put it
down. Yet there is an underlying sadness in the book, as one watches
Douglas' many friends being killed off, sees the homes of his family and
civilian friends burned or otherwise destroyed. Douglas never explicitly
states it, but the reader can feel the anguish that Douglas - and many
others - experienced....... One thing Douglas did not do was go into
great detail about each battle. He reasoned that later historians, with
a better overall view of things, would do a much better job. What he
does do is "put you there" - whether in battle, in camp, or on
some small adventure. This is one fantastic book! Along with the memoirs
of Gen. E.P. Alexander, these memoirs are about the best I have ever
read. Simply a great book! --This text refers to the Paperback
edition.
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