Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1879-06-27
the fourth year with distinguished

the fourth year with distinguished
honors.
Young jackson, as a horseback rider
on the race, had no superiors. His
uncle, Cummins E. jackson, kept
number of blood horses, and had a
four. mile track on his farm. Thomas"
as he always called him, was his trainer,
and so we'll was he taught to ride that
he was never thrown from his horse, and
rarely ever failed to win the race. He
looked awkward on horseback, and cut
rather poor figure, from the fact that
he rode with short stirrups and leaned
forwards position his uncle required
of him when on bis fastest steeds run
ming for "big pile and the habit
he then contracted he never afterward
abandoned. And just here an element
in him never failed to show itself. the
mention whereof must not be omitted.
Notwithstanding he rode his uncle's
race horses, and won for him money,
he was moralist in its fullest meaning.
He observed the Sabbath. read good
books, abstained from all intemperance
and was kind to the poor. He early
espoused the doctrine of REORGANIZATION,
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 he was placed in CON-
mand of body of United States sol.
diers at Fort Hamilton, and subse.
quently at Tampa Bay, and after re-
naming at these two places some two
years, his health giving way, he re-
signed his place in the army and re-
turned to his old home at Jackson
Mills. His uncle, bachelor, had a
number of negro slaves who kept house
for him and attended to his domestic
affairs. Some of them had nursed
young Stonewall when child, and his
meeting with them, after an absence,
was not unlike an old-time love-feast
Such shaking of hands and laughter,
loud enough to shake the house-tops,
was sight worth seeing.
Thomas J. Jackson was o noble
hearted fellow. and was never known
to have forgotten kindness or forsaken
friend.
While at the mills he was close stu
dent of history and the laws of war,
and nothing pleased him more than to
discuss 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 pondered closely the
lives of warriors and heroes of the old
and new world, and was enamored with
the "pomp and circumstance of war. "
Taking in review his own matchless
campaigns, it is not wonderful that two
such masters in the arts of war as
Julius Caesar 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 Valley campaigns, "
there can be no doubt.
One of the marked characteristics of
this extraordinary man was his extreme
modesty. 1t was with the greatest diff
ficulty 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
complimented by his superior Chan he,
in our war with Mexico, and yet, if
that fact had been left alone for him to
houo told -
known.
After remaining at his old home some
length of time he became tired of in
action. He wanted something to do.
In the mean time new professorship
was created in the Virginia Military
Institute. He was an applicant, and,
through the exertions of the late John
s. Carlisle, he was appointed to the
place. He discharged its duties to the
satisfaction of all concerned but 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-
piished Courtney, his friends presented
him as suitable successor, and he only
lost the place by Doctor Bledsoe being
an alumnus. For when Judge George
Il. Lee, representative of his old
home, laid before the board of visitors
his credentials of fitness, the venerable
Thomas Jefferson Randolph declared
that no such high character of recon-.
mendation had ever before accompa.
MED the application for professorship
| in the university.
Lieutenant Thomas J. Jackson con.
nected himself with the Virginia Mill
tary Institute in 1851, as professor Of
natural and experimental philosophy
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
bloody drama has become part of our
country's history Wil!iam 3. Arnold.
Did You ever see Lotta's mother
asks correspondent of a Philadelphia
paper. They are as nearly alike rs two
peas. except, of course, that while one
is still green, the other is somewhat