Let us determine to die here, and we will conquer. Rally behind the Virginians.

Poor General Barnard Bee. So many demerits at West Point, one of the very first generals to die in the Civil War, and all he gets remembered for is accidentally complimenting a guy he was actually using his last moments to bitch about.

"There stands Jackson like a stone wall" sounds great, but in context, he meant that he'd just begged Stonewall Jackson to come help him and his men, who were being overrun by Union force. Jackson responded with a no. (Well, to be fair, he basically said "you have bayonets, handle the charge yourself")  Bee's brave, desperate, and often-quoted speech wasn't to implore his men to follow Jackson's amazing example and rally from that. He was saying, "Look, we aren't getting any help, might as well go out hard." And he did--he was mortally wounded seconds after speaking those words.

Speaking of Old Blue Lights, though, I visited General Jackson's grave in Lexington, where he lived before the war, when I went there a couple weeks back to see Jen. I've got a bit of a thing for Civil War generals. The graveyard was oddly run down and mountain-grim. One of the old granite box tombs was cracked open, and we could see something that looked a lot like bones inside. Jackson's monument thing was sort of interesting. People had thrown lemons all around it in tribute; the legend goes that he loved lemons, and fresh fruit of any kind, and his soldiers would often remark on it. It made me wonder who was bringing them, who came to the grave regularly to put fresh lemons down for a man who'd been dead over a hundred years.

I much prefer Bee's memorial on the Manassas Battlefield. You walk straight back, and there's a thicket and deep emerald green woods where I always would see the same doe and fawns.

So today (yesterday, really, but posting today) I'm thankful for Virginia, and for having a homeland not only so beautiful, but rich in history and people and stories.