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STONEWALL JACKSON.

PART I.

FROM HIS CHILDHOOD TO THE FIRST BATTLE OF MANASSAS.

CHAPTER I.

COUNTRY BOY AND CONSTABLE.

THE Jackson family came from England to Virginia in the last century. John Jackson, the first of whom we have mention, settled near Weston, in Lewis County, beyond the Alleghanies, and his son Edward became county surveyor, and served in the Legislature. Jonathan, the son of Edward Jackson, settled in the town of Clarksburg in Harrison County, where he commenced the practise of the law, and married Miss Neal of Wood County. Of his four children by this marriage, two sons and two daughters, THOMAS JONATHAN, born at Clarksburg, January 21, 1824, was the youngest.

The events of Jackson's life up to the commencement of the late war are not sufficiently interesting to justify very extended notice, but some particulars deserve to be recorded. The Jacksons did not belong to the class of planters, living in luxury and elegance on the seaboard, but to that energetic, intelligent, and thrifty population which settled in Western Virginia. In the

first generation they cleared the land, established mills, and tilled the soil. In succeeding generations they were lawyers, judges, members of the Legislature, and soldiers, filling offices of usefulness, and occasionally of distinction. Their manners were plain, their houses and style of living unpretending, but the class to which the family belonged was justly regarded as one of the most intelligent and respectable in the Commonwealth.

Jonathan Jackson practised law for many years with success, and became a thriving citizen, but his latter years were overshadowed by misfortune. His wife died, and the amiable gentleman having become security for needy friends, found all the hard-earned profits of his profession swept away. When he died in 1827, he left his children penniless. Jackson was then three years old. The child was thus left, upon the very threshold of life, to learn the hard lesson of poverty. It is the old story which meets us at the commencement of many a great career, and need not be dwelt upon. The boy was taken to the house of a Dutch farmer, his uncle-in-law, who probably did not make an agreeable impression upon him, as he soon ran away and took refuge with a kind aunt, the wife of Judge Allen of the Court of Appeals. It is said that when the lady gently chid the forlorn young runaway, and urged him to return to his uncle, he replied, with great calmness and decision, "Maybe I ought, ma'am, but I am not going to." Another uncle, Cummings E. Jackson, now came to his succor, and took him to the old family homestead near Weston. Here he remained until he was sixteen, acquiring the rudiments of a plain English education at an old field school, and assisting his uncle in the labors of the farm. His subsequent acquisitions were all due to the hours spent in study at West Point and Lexington.

The character of the boy at this time seems to have been earnest and energetic. At sixteen he had secured so high a reputation for intelligence and probity, that the Justices of the County Court of Lewis elected him constable, the duties of which office he performed with credit and efficiency. It is probable, however, that the position did not please him, and hearing

that there was a vacancy at West Point, he at once determined to apply for the appointment. This intention was expressed to a friend, Colonel J. M. Bennett, who urged the high standard of studies at the great public school, and asked the boy if he had prepared himself. Jackson's reply was, "I am very ignorant, but I can make it up by study. I know I have the energy, and I think I have the intellect."

This reply pleased Colonel Bennett so much that he at once sat down and wrote a letter of introduction to the representative of the district in Congress, urging him to assist the youth, and with this letter in his pocket Jackson resigned his office of constable and set out for Washington. An incident of this journey indicated how much importance he attached to the observance of his promises. He borrowed a friend's horse to ride to Clarksburg, where he expected to take the stage, promising to leave the animal at a certain stable in the town, but upon reaching the place found that the stage was several miles upon its way. This was a serious disappointment to the ardent youth, and a friend, seeing his trouble, urged him to ride to the next town, where he could come up with the vehicle, promising to send after the borrowed horse and return him to his owner. The temptation to accept this offer was great. The roads were ancle deep in mud, and the stage rapidly rolling on its way; the only obstacle was his promise to leave the horse at Clarksburg. He declined the friendly offer, delivered the horse at the appointed place, and shouldering his baggage set off on foot through the mud to catch the stage. He came up with it, and proceeded to Washington. This occurred in June, 1842. Jackson's application was successful, and on the first of July in the same year he was admitted a cadet at West Point.

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