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The Union defeat at Bull Run shocked many Iowans.  In contrast, Iowa State Legislator James H. Williams had “the biggest drink of brandy” to mark “the glorious [Confederate] victory.”

Two days later, James returned to his native Virginia, leaving behind a successful law practice in Dubuque and a future in the Iowa Democratic Party.  He returned to his slave-owning family in Woodstock in the Shenandoah Valley.[1]

Four months later, on November 27, 1861, James became a recruiter for Chew’s Battery, 7th Virginia Cavalry.  To celebrate, his father gave James a body servant named John Jackson.[2]

“Black Hawk”

James became an artillery lieutenant, and he ate meals with a mess of other men.  Body servant John Jackson, nicknamed “Black Hawk,” fixed their meals.

Chaplain James Battle Avirett visited James’s mess on occasion.   Forty years later, Rev. Avirett discussed John Jackson in a letter to Confederate Veteran:

The old cook of the mess, commonly called ‘Black Hawk,’ was the faithful depositary of the officers’ watches and money when the fight was on.  Highly respected and as trustworthy as he was during that fearful struggle, ‘Black Hawk’ still ministers as a trusted servant in the family of the late Gen. James H. Williams of Woodstock, Va.[3]

John Jackson remembers:  Two opportunities for freedom

Seven years later, in 1912, John Jackson, using the nickname “Black Hawk,” wrote the following to Confederate Veteran:

I thank you for putting my picture in your magazine. I am proud of my war record.  I was given when a young man by my old master, Samuel C. Williams, who was a member of the Virginia Secession Convention, to his oldest son, who was then Lieut. James H. Williams, of Chew’s Battery, and I stood by him and his brothers until the close of the war.

I was taken prisoner twice, captured once with the watches and money of our boys and others of the Williams mess upon my person, given into my care when the battle began.  I escaped and returned with watches and money all safe …

The picture you published was taken while Dr. Averitt was on a visit to Mrs. James H. Williams at Woodstock, Va.  I was not Dr. Averitt’s camp servant, nor was he ever a member of the Williams mess … Rev. Dr. Averitt was often our guest.

Like the rest of the veterans, I am growing old; but I am with my people in Woodstock, where I was born.[4]

Mystery

I haven’t found any documentation of why John Jackson continued to work for James H. Williams after the war ended.  There is always a certain amount of mystery involving relationships of the past.

Perhaps John Jackson evaluated his experience, training, and job opportunities in the war-ravaged Shenandoah Valley.  If James treated his former body servant with respect and kindness, perhaps John Jackson decided his best option was to stay put.  One thing is certain:  Their story reflects the complexity of their intertwined American lives.[5]

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[1] James H. Williams diary entry, 7/22/1861, James Harrison Williams Diaries, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library; 1860 Census, Schedule 2, Slave Inhabitants in Woodstock, Shenandoah County, Virginia, pg. 5, 7/10/1860, Samuel C. Williams (James H. Williams’s father).

[2] “John Jackson Dead,” Shenandoah Herald, 3/12/1920.

[3] James B. Averitt, letter to editor of Confederate Veteran (Nashville, 1905), Vol. XIII, 7/17/1905.

[4] “Black Hawk,” Confederate Veteran (Nashville, 1912), Vol. 20, 410.

[5] Marc Wortman, “Why was Robert Webster, a slave, wearing what looks like a Confederate uniform?”, October 2014, Smithsonian Magazine, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-was-robert-webster-slave-wearing-what-looks-confederate-uniform-180952781/ , viewed 7/24/2016.

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