The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1879-05-15

| he was one OF the hardest students
ever at West Point, and for the first two
years studied IS 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 speak to
no one who entered the room during
study. At the end of the first two years
it wos thought he would not go through,
and some of the professors advised him
to resign. His pride was touched, and
he Indignantly replied that he would not
do so, but would go through or die"
About the middle of the third year, to
use his own words, the scales fell from
his eyes, and he ssw through things at q
glance which required him weeks to see
through q year before. After that time
he seemed to have had no trouble in any
of mis- classes, and to have taken high
rank. His dement's were few and of no
consequence. He graduated at the end
OF the fourth year with distinguished
honors.
Young Jackson, as horseback rider
on the race, had no superiors. His uncle,
Cummings E. Jackson, kept number
of blooded horses, and had a four-mile
track on his farm. Thomas" as he
always called MIN, was bis trainer, and
so well 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 forward
position his uncle required of him
when on his fastest steeds and running
for " big pile and 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. Notwith-
standing he rode his uncle's racehorses
and won for him money, he was moral.
ist in its fullest meaning. He bserved
the Sabbath, read good books, abstained
from all intemperance and was kind to
the poer. He early espoused the doc
trine OF fereordination, 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 it's close he 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
a number of negro slaves who kept
house for him and attended to his de-
nestle 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 a shaking of hands and laughter,
loud enough to shake the house-tops, was
a sight worth seeing.
Thomas J. Jackson was noble |
hearted fellow, and was never known to |
have forgotten kindness or forsaken a
friend.
While at the mills he was q 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 7
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 ponderei closely the
lives of warriors and heroes of the old |
and new world, and was ensmored with
the "pomp and circumstanc of war"
Taking in review his own mstchless CAM
paigns, 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
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
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
ength of time he became tired of inac>
lion. He wanted something to do. In
The meantime a new professorship was
treated in the Virginia Military Insti-
ute. He was an applicant, and through
he exertions of the late John S. Car
isle, he was appointed to the place. He
discharged its duties to the satisfaction