St. Landry democrat., 1879-06-21
STONEWALL JACKSON.

complete cure.
STONEWALL JACKSON.
| How HI Thrashed n West Point Bssoby--
A sHorallst Who Attended Races.
| William B. Arnold
There is lost leaf or unwritten page
of the life of Stonewall Jackson which
it is the purpose of this paper to supply.
The Gold Jackson hou-e and mills"
situated on the west fork of the Monon-
gala, fourmiles north of Weston, where
Stonewall- Jackson lived and worked,
have, by association With his name, BE-
come historic.
Cummi1.s E. Jackson, the uncle of
Stonewall, and owner of the houses,
mills, and adjoining farm, took him after
the death of his father, Jonathan jack
son, 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 we'll known to the writer,
was a youth of exemplary habits, of
melancholy temperament, of indomitable
will and lndoubted courage. He pos
sessed an eminent degree of talents for
mathematics, and was unwilling while
at school to acknowledge his incapscity,
"give him time," to solve any PROPOSE.
ton.
He was by no means what is nowadays
termed brilliant, but was one of those
untiring, plain, matter -of-fact persons
who would never give up when he was
engaged in an undertaking until he &C.
complished his object. He learned
slowly, bus 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 shert notice and
in quick slime. As an evidence of his
most extraordinary decision of purpose ::
A Mr.. Mills tanght school in the neigh
Dorhood. sHe was q pupil, and while on
his way TO the school an overgrown
rustic behaved rudsiy toward two of
the schoolgirls. He was fred st his
cowardly conduct, and told him he must
apologize TO them at once, or he would
thrash hina. The big rustic, supposing
he was an over-match tor him, declined
to do SO whereuoon he pitched into
him and gave him q severe pounding.
When the vacancy occurred in the
cadetship TO West Point from this con
gressional district, by the failure of the
appointee 30 report himself at the acad-
emy, he decided to try for the plsce, and
left mere nearly sundown on horseback,
three hundred miles from Washington,
poorly clad and lily qualified, to see
Judge Spencer, the secretary of war, and
ask him for the position. Arrived in
Washington he went straightway to the
war department, and the pa1ley which
took place. between the secretary and
him, said az eyewitness, "was gruff and
heroic" Young Jackson had sand in
the crsw-.some of the grit of "Old
Hickory and would neither be blufed
nor driven from his purpose. The secre-
tary was much aggrieved about that
time on account of the execution of his
son "on the high seas" by order of
Commodore Mckenzie, and consequently
was not much in giving humor. He
claimed that the appointment should be
given to the son of some soldier Or sea-
man WHO had lost his life in the service
of his country. Young Jackson was an
orphan and descendant OF the early
settlers and Indian fighters of northwest
Virginia, and consequently had but little
difficulty in overcoming his objections to
his appointalent.
The secretary of war, in giving him
the place, said: "Slr, you have good
name. Go 20 West Point, and the first
one who insults you knock him down
and have il charged to my accountv'
He obeyed orders, and although green,
raw and seedy, and good subject for
the cadets to put through" he decided
to 60 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 20 unbearsble
did their conduct become that he was
forced, out Df self-respect, to give the
officer charged with the performance of
that duty fearful bruising. The result
was ne was brought to trial, and only
saved himself from expulsion by plead
ing the order of the secretary OF war.
He was one OF the hardest students
ever at West Point, and for the first two
years studied as much az sixteen hours
out OF the twenty-four. He made 1t a
rule to sit with mis- back to the door
with his book before him, and speak to
no one who entered the room during
study. At the end of the frat two years
it wos thought he would not go through,
and SONS of the professors advised him