Mary Bayard Devereux Clarke (1827—1886) of North Carolina, was educated at home by her father, a Yale graduate. She was able to travel widely and began writing early. Her first book was Wood-Notes (1854), after which she contributed poems prolifically to American and European periodicals. She was gifted in languages and
did much translation from European poets, including Victor Hugo’s verse. Her plainspoken and down-to-earth writing has often been noted. Her husband was William J. Clarke, a gallant officer in the Mexican War, judge, railroad president, and colonel of the 24th North Carolina Regiment, CSA. They were introduced and married by her uncle Leonidas Polk. Col. Clarke’s health was destroyed by a Yankee prison and their later years were difficult. Her comments from a publication of her family papers, Live Your Own Life, are often quoted by historians. She continued after the war to be a prolific poet on Christian faith and other themes, and her work will appear again in a later volumes of this series.

​A few moments before Stonewall Jackson's Death, a sweet smile overspread his face, and he murmured quietly, with an air of relief: ‘Let us cross the river and rest under the shade of the trees’.
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​The music and lyrics for this song exist in manuscript form. It is apparently a response to a British outrage against the American navy in the Chesapeake/Leopard affair, and affair which led to the War of 1812 and to John C. Calhoun's entry into national politics. The song is thought to have been used at public events during the antebellum period.