Robert Lewis Dabney Robert Lewis Dabney ( March 5 , 1820 – January 3 , 1898 ) was an American Christian theologian , a Southern Presbyterian pastor , and Confederate Army chaplain . He was also chief of staff and biographer to Stonewall Jackson . His biography of Jackson remains in print today . Dabney and James Henley Thornwell were two of Southern Presbyterianism ' s most influential scholars . They were both Calvinist , Old School Presbyterians , and social conservatives . Some conservative Presbyterians , particularly within the Presbyterian Church in America and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church , still value their theological writings , although both these churches have repudiated Dabney ' s and Thornwell ' s beliefs on race and support of Antebellum slavery . Biography . Dabney was the sixth child ( third son ) of Charles Dabney and Elizabeth Randolph Price Dabney . Dabney studied at Hampden - Sydney College and the University of Virginia ( M . A . , 1842 ) , and graduated from Union Theological Seminary in 1846 . He was then a missionary in Louisa County , Virginia , from 1846 to 1847 and pastor at Tinkling Springs Presbyterian Church from 1847 to 1853 , being also head master of a classical school for a portion of this time . He is considered a distinguished son of Providence Presbyterian Church . It was at Tinkling Springs that he met Margaret Lavinia Morrison . They were married on March 28 , 1848 . They had six sons together , three of whom died in childhood from diphtheria ( two in 1855 , the other in 1862 ) . From 1853 to 1859 he was professor of ecclesiastical history and polity and from 1859 to 1869 adjunct professor of systematic theology in Union Theological Seminary , where he later became full professor of systematics . In 1883 , he was appointed professor of mental and moral philosophy in the University of Texas . By 1894 failing health compelled him to retire from active life , although he still lectured occasionally . He was co - pastor , with his brother - in - law B . M . Smith , of the Hampden - Sydney College Church 1858 to 1874 , also serving Hampden - Sydney College in a professorial capacity on occasions of vacancies in its faculty . Dabney , whose wife was a first cousin to Stonewall Jackson ' s wife , participated in the Civil War : during the summer of 1861 he was chaplain of the 18th Virginia Infantry in the Confederate army , and in the following year was chief of staff to Jackson during the Valley Campaign and the Seven Days Battles . After the Civil War Dabney spoke widely on Jackson and the Confederacy . He continued to hold pro - slavery views typical in the South before the Civil War , and his continued support of slavery in speeches and a book published after the war and his strong loyalty to the Confederacy until the 1890s made him a visible figure in the post - war South ( Hettle , 2003 ) . While at the University of Texas he practically founded and maintained the Austin School of Theology ( which later became Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary ) , and in 1870 was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States . Dabney ' s remains were returned to Hampden - Sydney College where he was buried . Architecture . Dabney ' s designs for the Tinkling Spring Presbyterian Church and for two other churches in Virginia are credited with influencing church architecture in Virginia . Three works associated with Dabney are listed on the U . S . National Register of Historic Places : Tinkling Spring Presbyterian Church ; Briery Church , in Briery , Virginia ; and New Providence Presbyterian Church , near Brownsburg , Virginia . Major works . Find more at http : / / dabneyarchive . com . Also , the Banner of Truth Trust reprinted many of Dabney ' s theological works in the late 20th Century .