Stonewall Jackson is a celebrated Confederate general who does not appear in the story, as he had died in the spring of 1863, but whose memory looms large in Southern consciousness. His influence is especially felt by , whom Jackson had threatened to court-martial for cowardice and whose reputation has never recovered from the fact, and by , who feels the vacancy of leadership Jackson has left behind. remembers him as a colorful character, both a devout Christian and someone who “knew how to hate.”