Maryland free press., 1866-06-14


with the character of the material he had
to deal with, good deal of his unpopular
rigor with the cadets abated. The insti-
tute possessed beautiful battery of brass
field pieces, but the State appropriation
was too small to provide also the necessary
horses, and therefore the consequence was,
that when the classes were going through
their drill; the junior classes had to be har-
messed to the gun carriages to pull them
along. This was an employment by no
means to the taste of the young gentleman,
but it had one compensation, for, whereas,
they were compelled, when in class, to go
through the infantry drill with perfect 81
lence and due formality. When they be-
came horses they assumed the privileges
of talking, laughing and cutting all sorts
of capers, in which they INDUCED all the
more freely because they saw it displeased
Major jackson, whose drawling tones they
also numerically mimicked. Yet no one
ever saw Major Jackson lose his equanimity
His firmness and perseverance were exhib-
tied in small as we'll as great things and he
at last awed his unruly team into silence
during artillery drill. At one time his
eyes were affected, and he was unable to
read anything; and it being just after the
death of his first wife, he was asked how he
spent his evenings, and he replied that he
found occupation for himself in his en-
forced deprivation from books. by going
over in his mind his course of natural phil
osophy.
HIS POWER OF coNcENTRATIoN-IIs RELIG-
IoUs AND MILITARY DUTIES.
Jscksoa had wonderful power of con-
centrating his thoughts on the subject he
might have in mind, and the lecturer ex-
pressed his belief that after the commence
ment of the war Jackson's whole mind was
occupied with only two subjects, viz: his
religious and military duties. 1t had been
remarked before that his mind, though
powerful, was slow, and did not readily
admit new impressions, nor even compre-
hend easily an unusual statement of the
most familiar facts; in illustration of which
the lecturer stated that once asking a pu-
pill what were the three principal mechan-
ical powers, and the pupil answering, "the
pulley, inclined plane and level" jackson
gravely said, "no, you are wrong; they
are the level, inclined plane and pulley"
He seemed utterly wanting in originality,
and therefore his great abilities were never
properly recognized before the war, though
it must be admitted that they had not yet
been exhibited, in addition to which the
GOODNESS and Indifference of his manners
always made him appear rather drowsy
than otherwise. He was sure always to
carry out every order literally, an amusing
instance of which habit was afforded by
his compliance with genral order at the
Institute that the weekly reports ofthe pro-
fessors should be carried to the president
by 5 o'clock on Friday of each week, the
meaning evidently being that the reports
must be in not later than Eve. jackson,
however, could not see it in this light, and
had Ibeen repeatedly been seen walking
about for an hour or so with his reports in
his hand, waiting for the stroke of the clock
before he could present them. The first
impression that Jackson made on the lec-
turer of his excellence as an officer was
when the Virginia troops responded to the
| call of Governor Wise for the defence of
Charlestown, when his whole manner SEEM
ed to be changed. All his orders were
given with the most perfect clcarness and
misunderstanding forgotten, omitted or
confused there was an evident kind
ling of his eountenance that showed how
he entered into the scene. But, although
he thus impressed the lecturer and those
about him, nobody yet deemed him to pos
sess any special qualifications for an inde-
pendent command, and after his return
from Charlestown he seemed to relapse into
This old indifference.
HIS CONVICTIONS AS A PATALIsr-HIs coLoRED
.''' -' PUPILS.
In his religion, jackson was strict
Presbyterian, but quiet and unobtrusive,
and never commenced any argument or
controversy, though always ready to defend
his convictions. Every Sunday he taught
in the colored Sunday school, and bestowed
the same conscientious care upon his sable
pupils, that he did on his classes at th'
Institute. He never absented himself from
divine service or the prayer meeting, ane
was elected deacon in the church, ane
in his performance of this duty might b
seen going from door to door, visiting th'
) sick, and distributing the charity of tn
church to its INDECENT members. He ha'
y r lNl..