University of Virginia Library

THOMAS JONATHAN JACKSON,
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL CONFEDERATE STATES ARMY.

Thomas Jonathan (known during the recent great civil war by the
sobriquet of "Stonewall") Jackson was born January 21, 1824, in
Clarksburg, Harrison county, Virginia. His great-grandfather, a native

of England, was an early settler of the western wilds of Virginia,
and Edward Jackson, his grandfather, was surveyor of Lewis county,
and for some years represented it in the State Assembly. The son of
the last, Jonathan Jackson, removed to Clarksburg, where he studied
and commenced the practice of law with his cousin, John G. Jackson,
and acquired considerable reputation. He married Julia, daughter of
Thomas Neal, of Wood county, and these were the parents of the subject
of the present sketch. Jonathan became pecuniarily embarrassed,
and dying in 1827, left his family penniless. His children were four in
number—two sons and two daughters—Thomas, the youngest, being
only three years old. The widow remarried in 1830, but died the following
year of a pulmonary affection. Thomas was thus doubly orphaned
at the early age of seven. After living for a time with some
of his relatives in the vicinity of his birth, becoming dissatisfied, he
determined to seek the residence of an uncle, Cummins Jackson, the
half-brother of his father, distant eighteen miles, which he journeyed
alone and afoot. He was kindly received by his uncle and two
maiden aunts who lived with him. His elder brother Warren was
also an inmate of the family. Cummins Jackson was a man of vigorous
mind, resolute and of vehement passions. He was a farmer,
lumber-getter and miller, and slave owner. He gave his orphaned
nephews the advantages of schooling whilst with him, but the eldest,
Warren, who was of a restless disposition, persuaded Thomas to
accompany him to the home of a relative on Blennerhasset Island.
The two lads proceeded down the Ohio river to its mouth and finally
located on a lonely island of the Mississippi near the southwestern
corner of Kentucky. Here they spent the summer alone in a cabin,
earning their living by cutting fire-wood for the river steamers. Our
future hero, thus early, at the age of nine years, learned the life lesson
of self-reliance. But the malaria of their field of action overcame the
adventurous lads, and becoming enfeebled with the ague, they had
fain to return home by the charity of a steamboat captain. Thomas
again made his residence with his uncle Cummins Jackson, and by
his kindness received a plain English education. In arithmetic he
surpassed his schoolmates, but in other branches he made his way
slowly, and only by dint of persistent application. When not at
school he assisted his uncle in the several occupations of the last, a
frequent task being the transportation, with an oxen team, of logs
from the forest to the saw-mill. While thus early and arduously
engaged, his constitution gave signs of weakness, and a year or two
later he suffered a slight attack of paralysis, the effects of which
gradually wore away, but he was troubled through life with weak
digestive organs.

At the age of sixteen he was elected constable of the extensive
county of Lewis. The duties of this office gave him opportunity for
the study of men and cultivated his will power and self-possession.

He became a daring and skillful rider (though he continued through
life an exceedingly ungraceful one) and became very fond of horse
racing, a sport to which his uncle was addicted. Thomas was his favorite
jockey, and it was proverbial among the people of the section
that if a horse had any winning qualities in him Tom Jackson
was the rider to bring them out. Thomas, indeed, is traditionally
transmitted as being at this period an ardent frequenter of races,
house-raisings, and country dances. Nevertheless, he was truthful,
laborious, modest and self-reliant, scorning everything base. Moreover
he was ambitious of preferment and insatiably thirsted for knowledge.
In 1842, hearing of a vacancy in the United States Military Academy
at West Point, Thomas Jackson, with his accustomed decision and
energy, made application for the appointment, and being cordially
supported by his friends, waited upon the Secretary of War, dressed
in a suit of homespun, his remaining wardrobe being contained in a
pair of saddle-bags. The Secretary of War, Hon. John C. Spencer,
was so much pleased with Jackson's resolute bearing that although
hardly prepared to enter the Academy a warrant for his appointment
was ordered to be immediately made out. Young Jackson's zeal and
purpose found striking exhibition on this occasion. Being pressed by
a friend to remain in Washington for a few days to see the objects of
chief interest in that city, he declined, urging that as the studies of
the Military Academy were in progress, it was best that he should repair
there forthwith. He accordingly contented himself with a hasty
panoramic view of the city from the top of the dome of the capitol.
He entered the Military Academy July 1, 1842. In his studies Cadet
Jackson made steady progress. In drawing he never became an
adept; his greatest success being in natural philosophy and ethics.
He was graduated with the usual rank of brevet Second Lieutenant,
July 1, 1846, the seventeenth in grade in a class of fifty-nine members.
Among his classmates were Generals George B. McClellan, John G.
Foster, Jesse L. Reno, D. N. Couch, Truman Seymour, M. D. L.
Simpson, S. D. Sturgis, George Stoneman, Innis N. Palmer, Alfred
Gibbs, George H. Gordon, Frederick Myers, Joseph N. G. Whistler,
and Nelson H. Davis of the United States Army, and Generals John
A. Brown, John Adams, Dabney H. Maury, D. R. Jones, Cadmus M.
Wilcox, Samuel B. Maxey and George E. Pickett of the Confederate
States Army, besides others distinguished in civil life and the walks
of literature. The war with Mexico being then in progress, Lieutenant
Jackson had an opportunity for immediate service, and was ordered
to report himself to the First Regiment of the Artillery, then at
New Orleans. Proceeding thither, he soon moved with the troops for
Mexico, serving under General Zachary Taylor, until General Winfield
Scott took the field, when he was transferred to the command of
the latter. His military career was distinguished and his promotion
rapid. He was engaged in the siege of Vera Cruz, March 9-29, 1847;
the battle of Cerro Gordo, April 17-18; skirmish of La Hoya, June
20; skirmish of Oka Laka, August 16, 1847. Shortly after the battle
of Cerro Gordo, Jackson was assigned to the light field battery of
Captain John B. Magruder. He participated in the battle of Contreras,
August 19-20, 1847 and was promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant,
and brevetted Captain August 20 for "gallant and meritorious
conduct in the battles of Contreras and Churubusco." In the last
named engagement Magruder's First Lieutenant, Johnstone, was
killed and Jackson thus became second in command, and took charge
of a section of the battery. He was engaged in the battle of Molino
del Rey, September 7; the storming of Chapultepec, September 13,
1847, where for his conspicuous gallantry he was brevetted Major, a
promotion, it is said, then unprecedently rapid. In the battle of Chapultepee
Jackson with his section found himself placed unexpectedly
in the presence of a strong Mexican battery, at so short a range that
in a few moments a majority of his horses were killed and his pieces
nearly unmanned by the terrific storm of grape-shot to which they
were subjected, whilst seventy men out of two regiments of infantry
with difficulty maintained their position in his rear. General Worth
perceiving the desperate position of Jackson's guns, sent him word to
retire. He replied that it was more dangerous to withdraw his pieces
than to hold his position. Magruder, who moved rapidly to the support,
having his horse killed under him as he did so, found that Jackson
had lifted by hand a single gun across a deep ditch to a position
from which it could be effective, and this gun he was rapidly loading
and firing with the assistance of a Sergeant alone, the remainder of
his command being either killed, wounded or crouching in the ditch.
Another gun was now quickly put in position, and in a few moments
the Mexicans were driven from their battery, which was turned upon
the flying enemy. Years afterwards, whilst a quiet professor, with
the sobriquet of "Old Jack," accorded because of his grave and serious
demeanor—when asked by his pupils why he did not run when
his command was so disabled, he placidly replied: "I was not ordered
to do so," and to the query if he was not alarmed when he saw so
many of his men falling around him, answered, "No;" that his
only fear was lest the danger would not be great enough for him
to distinguish himself as he desired. Major Jackson participated
in the closing scene of the war, the assault and capture of the City of
Mexico, September 13-14, 1847. He served in garrison at Fort Columbus,
New York, in 1848, in Fort Hamilton, New York, 1849-51,
and in the Florida hostilities against the Seminole Indians in 1851.
The arduous service he had undergone impaired his naturally delicate
constitution, and in consequence he resigned his commission in the

"STONEWALL" JACKSON,

From a portrait said by his widow to be the best likeness of him in existence

army February 29, 1852, and returning to Virginia, was elected
Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy and Instructor of
Artillery Tactics in the Virginia Military Institute at Lexington,
which position he usefully filled until the breaking out of our late unhappy
civil war. Immediately after the secession of Virginia, April
17, 1861, the Corps of Cadets was ordered to Richmond by Governor
Letcher. They were marched thither under the command of Major
Jackson, and stationed for some time at the State Agricultural Fair
Grounds (converted into a camp of instruction, and called "Camp
Lee"), as drill masters to the troops arriving there. Jackson was
now commissioned by Governor Letcher, Colonel, and on the 3d of
May, 1861, took command of the small "Army of Observation" stationed
near Harpers Ferry. The prescribed limits of this sketch
prevent a detailed account of the glorious career of Colonel Jackson,
and a brief recapitulation must suffice here. Promoted to the rank
of Brigadier-General June 17, he encountered the advance of the
Federals under General Patterson at Falling Waters July 2, checked
him and brought off without loss forty-five prisoners. He bore a distinguished
part in the battle of Bull Run August 21, where in the
language of the gallant and lamented General Barnard E. Bee he
"stood like a stone-wall." October 7th following he was promoted
to the rank of Major-General and assigned to the command of the
forces in and around Winchester. In January, 1862, he conducted an
expedition against Bath and Romney, which in the suffering and exposure
to cold which it entailed surpassed the privations of Valley
Forge of the Revolution. It resulted in the capture of a large quantity
of supplies. March 23, 1862, the battle at Kernstown, with the Federals
under Shields, was fought, which was so far successful as to recall to Winchester
large bodies of Federal troops which had been sent from thence.

Early in May, 1862, Jackson again assumed the offensive, and by a
rapid march cut off a detached body at Front Royal and compelled
the Federals under Banks to retreat hastily to the Potomac. From
the quantity of stores massed at Winchester by Banks and captured
by General Jackson, the former has been derisively termed "Jackson's
Commissary General." Fremont and McDowell attempted to
cut Jackson off, but he succeeded in eluding them by a display of
energy, decision, and fertility of resource, which gained for him the
distinction of one of the great commanders in the world's history.
Hastening his forces to Richmond, his timely arrival at Gaines Mill
gave the victory to the Confederate arms, on the 29th he engaged
McClellan's rear guard at Fraziers Farm; and July 1st was engaged
at Malvern Hill. He next moved his corps against General Pope, and
on the 9th of August fought the sanguinary battle of Cedar Run
with the force of General Banks. General Lee having joined Jackson,
the latter was dispatched, August 24th, to gain the rear of General

Pope, which he did, capturing at Manassas prisoners, cannon and
stores. Lee came to his support, and on the 30th was fought the
second battle of Manassas. Jackson took part in the invasion of
Maryland. September 15th, captured Harpers Ferry with 11,000 prisoners,
and rejoined Lee at Antietam in time to do the severest fighting
at that battle. October 11, 1862, Jackson was promoted to the rank
of Lieutenant-General, and December 13th following witnessed the
important battle of Fredericksburg. By Jackson's flank movement
at Chancellorsville, May 2, 1863, the Eleventh Corps of Hooker's army
was routed and compelled to fall back, but in the darkness as he returned
with his staff to the rear he was fired upon by his own men
and received wounds from which he died on Sunday, May 10, 1863.
He died as became a Christian and a soldier. Shortly before he expired,
on being told of his hastening dissolution, he responded feebly
but firmly. "Very good; it is all right." A few moments before he
died he cried out in his delirium. "Order A. P. Hill to prepare for
action! pass the infantry to the front rapidly! tell Major Hawks—"
then stopped, leaving the sentence unfinished. Presently a smile of
ineffable sweetness spread itself over his pale face, and he said quietly
and with an expression as if of relief: "Let us cross over the river
and rest under the shade of the trees," and then, without pain or the
least struggle, his spirit passed from earth to the God who gave it.

The remains of "Stonewall" Jackson he in an unpretentious grave
at Lexington, Virginia. It may be of interest to note that the favorite
war steed of General Jackson, "Old Sorrel," lived many years and
was affectionately cared for, an honored pensioner of the Virginia
Military Institute. General Jackson was twice married, first to a
daughter of Rev. George Junkin, D. D., and secondly to a daughter
of Rev. Dr. Morrison, of North Carolina. A sister of Mrs. Jackson
is the wife of General Daniel H. Hill, late Confederate States Army.
Only one child of General Jackson, by his second marriage, survives
— Miss Julia Jackson — who, with her mother, has been the object
of the most respectful attentions throughout this country. The
graciousness of their reception during a visit to Massachusetts is
noteworthy, as a generous expression of the people of that State,
and it is held in connection therewith as a somewhat curious exemplification
that the most marked attentions were at the hands of the then
Chief Magistrate of the State, General Benjamin Franklin Butler.

A bronze statue of General Jackson, executed by J. H. Foley, R. A.,
and presented to the State of Virginia by English admirers of the
great soldier, stands in the Capitol grounds at Richmond, Virginia.
It is shown in Vol. II. from a special photograph taken for this
work. It was unveiled with appropriate ceremonies, October 26,
1875, Gov. Kemper and Rev. M. D. Hoge, D. D., delivering addresses.