Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1879-06-27
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A Lost Leaf.
FROM THE LIFE OF sroNEwALL JACKSON.

AUSt LCdls
FROM THE LIFE OF sToNEwALL JACKSON
There is lost leaf or unwritten page
of the life OF Stonewall Jackson which
it is the purpose of this paper to sup
ply.
The odd Jackson house and mills, ="
situated on the west fork of the
Monongahela river, four miles north
Of Weston, where Stonewall jack
son lived and worked, and then so lit
tie known to the outside world, have,
by association with his name, become
historic.
Cummins E. Jackson, the uncle of
Stonewall, and owner of the houses,
mills and adjoining farm, took him af-
ter the death of his father, Jonathan
Jackson, when about twelve years of
age, to live with him, who taught him
to work in the mills and on the farm.
Thomas Jonathan Jackson, titled in
the conflict of arms "Stonewall Jack
son, who was well known to the writer.
was youth of exemplary habits, of a
melancholy temperament, of indomi.
table will and undoubted courage. He
possessed an eminent degree of talent
for mathematics, and was unwilling
while at school to acknowledge his in.
capacity, "give him time," to solve any
proposition.
He was by no means what is nova
days termed brilliant, but was one of
those untiring, plain, matter.o fact
persons who would never give up when
he was engaged in an undertaking until
he accomplished his object. He learned
slowly, but when he got learning in his
head he never forgot it. He was not
quick to decide, except when excited,
and then when he made up his mind to
do thing he did it on short notice and
in quick time. As an evidence of his
most extraordinary decision of purpose,
a Mr.. Mills taught school in the neigh
borhood. He was a pupil, and while
on the way to the school an overgrown
rustic behaved rudely toward two of
the school girls. He was fred at his
cowardly conduct, and told him he
must apologize to them at once, or he
would thrash him. The big rustic,
surprising he was an over-match for
him, declined to do so; whereupon he
pitched into him and gave him severe
pounding.
When the vacancy occurred in the
cadetship to West Point from this Con-
gressional district, by the failure of the
appointee to report himself at the acad-
envy, ne decided to try for the place,
and left here near shutdown on horse
back, three hundred miles from WASH
ington, poorly clad and ill qualified,
to see Judge Spencer, the Secretary Of
War, aud ask him for the position. Ar
rived in Washington, he went straight
way to the War Department, and the
parley which took place between the
Secretary and him, said an eye witness,
"was gruff and heroic" Young Jack.
son had sand in the craw-some of the
grit of "Old Hickory and would
neither be bluffed nor driven from his
purpose. The Secretary was much ag-
grleved about that time on account of
the execution of his son "on the high
seas" by order of Commodore McKen-
zie. and consequently was not much in
giving humor. He claimed that the
appointment should be given to the son
OF some soldier or seaman who had lost
his life in the service of his country.
Young jackson was an orphan and a
descendant OF the early settlers and
Indian lighters of Northwest Virginia,
and consequently had but little diff
Guilty in overcoming his objections to
his appointment.
The Secretary of War, in giving him
the place, said: "Sir, you have good
name. Go to West Point, and the first
one who insults you knock him down
and have it charged to my account p
de obeyed orders, and although green,
raw and seedy, and good subject for
the cadetsto put through" he decided
to go through himself, or die in the
effort.
AS is usual, the boys soon began to
lay their plans to introduce him into
what was then known as the mysteries
OF West Pointer, and so unbearable
did their conduct become that he was
forced, out of self-respect, to give the
officer charged with the performance OF
that duty severe bruising. The result
was he was brought to trial, and only
saved himself from expulsion by plead.
ing the order of the Secretary of War.
AAo "oo OAC Va tuc uaTu6SL SLuOGQCs
ever at West Point, and for the first two
years studied as much as sixteen hours
out OF the twenty-four. He made it a
rule to sit with his back to the door,
with his book before him, and to speak
to no one who entered his room during
study. At the end of the first two years
it was thought he would not be able to
go through, and some of the professors
advised him to resign. His pride was
touched. and he Indignantly replied he
would not do so, but would 60
through or die" About the middle OF
the third year, to Use his own words, the
scales fell from his eyes, and he saw
through things at glance which re-
CURED him weeks to see through year
before. After that time he seemed to
have had ne trouble in any of his
classes. and to have taken high rank.
His dement's we're few and of no con
sequence. He graduated at the end OF