Let Us Cross The River And Sit In The Shade Of The Trees

I had an acre of old pasture on the Colorado river outside of Austin.  I could do anything I wanted.  It was legal to shoot firearms anytime day or night, the fishing was decent, and the neighbors a mixed lot.

One day Thomas Jonathon Jackson, Stonewall, did not come home.  That evening I found him panting under a willow tree close to the river.  He was partially paralyzed.  I took him home.  I knew he had been poisoned for I had also lost two other cats to poison, one for certain and the other a probable.  

No matter how angry I was there was nothing to do about it.  I have no proof that the people I suspect did this thing.  

Stoney showed up my first week at my river place one night while I was drinking beer and reading about Chancellorsville by Coleman lantern light, which must be what reading a map in No Man's Land was like.  He burst out of the weed covered barbed wire fence and attacked my right flank, achieving complete tactical dominance and routing my heart! 

One time I had Stoney up at a vet's and the capable pink haired coy gay guy technician told me he liked the name "Stonewall".  I told him that was great and how did he think about the way Lee and Jackson worked together, particularly during the Seven Days?  This was a very short conversation.

That awful night I found him and got him home, I scratched his chin as he died in much pain.

I buried him with the others and placed a good size marble slab over him.  I played taps on my guitar over the grave.  I will always miss him.

(At Chancellorsville, Lee sent Jackson to attack Joe Hooker's right flank.  He gave Jackson 18,000 troops while he held the front with what he had left.  Jackson was seen by the Union army moving to the assault but Hooker declared that the Confederates were retreating, and nothing could change his mind.  The Union right flank was in the air and not tied into any defenses.  General O.O. Howard was informed by a cavalryman that an entire army was headed his way and Howard was heard to exclaim  "Why can't I get any reports on Jackson's movements"? although he had just had one.  The rebels crashed into the right end of the blue line and utterly routed their poorly placed opponents.  Chancellorsville was Lee's masterpiece but as usual the Confederacy lacked the resources to exploit the victory.  Stonewall Jackson was shot by his own troops that night while he was ahead of them with his staff while on reconnoiter.  The title of this post is the last thing Thomas Jackson ever said.  The battlefield was a nightmare of trees and underbrush and wounded men burned to death after things caught on fire.  General Hooker had the battle won and then freaked out and huddled down.  He was an arrogant fool and cost his men many of their lives after they had worked so hard on winning the war in one blow).

 

 

 

     As readers of this site know, a few days ago my beloved hunter cat, Stonewall, was poisoned.  That is four I have lost to the same group of welfare scum out in Garfield.  I cannot prove anything, except the death of Phoebe.  But coincidence is for God and small children.
     I would gladly trade all vengeance to have Stoney back.  He died arching in convulsions as the poison seized him.  I did not have the money to have him put to sleep.  I did not possess a firearm.  I did think that he had a chance.  He died one minute after I got back from the store with mineral oil for him.
     There is another world for our pets.  Received by beings of light, they are guided out of pain and sorrow into the meadowlands beyond the bridge.  There they will hunt and play and love and will forget the earth until the human that loved them arrives.  Then all will meld together and start again.
     Goodbye my darling cat, I must quit writing now as my heart breaks.