St. Landry democrat., 1879-06-21

awkward on horseback, and cut rather a
poor figure, from the fact that he rode
with short stirrups and leaned forward
position his uncle required of him
when on his fastest steeds and running
TOR s. I" big pile land the habit he then
contracted he never afterward aband
oned, And just here an element in him
never failed to show itself, the mention
whereof must not be omitted. Eotwith-
standing he rode his uncle's racehorses
and won for him money, he was moral
lst IN its fullest meaning. He bzerved
the Sabbath, read good books, abstained
from all intemperance and was kind to
the poor. He early espoused the doc
trine OF foreordination, and cultivated
the belief that men never die till their
time comes-an error which may have
prematurely led to his untimely death.
After leaving West Point he entered
the United States army and fought
through the Mexican war. How he bore
himself in that war the dispatches OF
General Scott to Mr.. Marcy best tell.
At its close h was put in command of
body of United States soldiers at Fort
Hamilton, and subsequently at Tampa
Bay, and after remaining at these two
places some two years, his health giving
way, he resigned his place in the army
and returned to his old home at Jack.
sons Mills. His uncle, bachelor, had
number of negro slaves who kept
houae for him and attended to his dc.
mestic affairs. Some of them had nursed
young Stonewall when child, and his
meeting with them, after an absence
was not unlike an old-tim love feast
Such a shaking of hands ard laughter,
loud enough to shake the house-tops, was
q sight worth seeing.
Thomas J. Jackson was roble-
hearted fellow, and was never known to
have forgotten kindness or forsaken 8
| friend.
While at the mills he was close stu.
dent of history and the laws of war, and
nothing pleased him more than to dis
cuss with the writer the generalship Of
the commanders of armies and the
treaties made by contending forces. He
often said that he had but one talent
and he would never be anything but
Tom Jackson unless the United States
engaged in war;
He had read and ponderel closely the
lives OF warriors and heroes of the old
! and new world, and was enamored with
the "pomp and circumstanc of war
Taking iq review his own matchless cam
paigu5, it is not wonderful that two such
masters in the arts of war as Julius
Cesar and Frederick the Great should
have become his prototypes. That he
often drew inspiration from their dash
and rapid marches their disposition OF
troops and dispatch Of an enemy-in his
"valIey campaigns," there can be no
doubt.
One of the marked characteristics OF
this extraordinary man was his extreme
modesty. It was with the greatest diff
fculty that he could be induced to speak
of any act, however meritorious, with
which his name was associated. No
young officer was ever more highly com.
plimented by his superior than he in
our war with Mexico, and yet, if that
fact had been let alone for him to have
told, it would never have been known.
After remaining at his old home some
length of time he became tired of inac>
tion. He wanted something to do. In
the meantime new protessorship was
created in the Virginia Military Insti-
tute. He was an applicant, and through
the exertions of the late John S. Car
Isle, he was appointed to the place. He
discharged its duties to the satisfaction
Of all concerned bus the field was too
small for the display of his great talents.
When the vacancy occurred in the
chair of mathematics of the University
of Virginia, by the death of the accom-
plished Courtney, his friends presented
him as suitable successor, and he only
lost the place by Doctor Bledsoe being
Al a!umnus. For when Judge George
H. Lee, representative of his old hon Q,
laid before the board of visitors his cre~
dentials of fitness, the venerable Thorn as
Jefferson Randol phi declared that no
such high character of recommended N
had ever before accompanied the apr IL
cation for protessorship in the univ' r
s.ty.
Lieutenant Thomas J. Jackson c a.
nected himself with the Virginia Mi j.
tary University in 1861, as professor of
natural and experimental philosop ~
and artillery tactics, and remained in
that position until the breaking out Of
our civil war. He took sides with the
south, and the role he acted in that