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The Life of Gen. Thomas J. Jackson, ("Stonewall" Jackson)
The Life of Gen Thomas J Jackson - "Stonewall" Jackson Author:Sarah Nicholas Randolph Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. LEXINGTON. At Fort Hamilton, Jackson remained two years. While there, his thoughts dwelt much on religious subjects. In his intimate friend an... more »d commanding officer, Colonel Taylor, he found an adviser, and one who sympathized with him in his anxiety to know what church it would be best for him to join. Having never been christened, he at last determined to have the rite administered by Mr. Parks, an Episcopal minister, in whose church he also took communion. On leaving Fort Hamilton, Jackson was sent to Fort Meade, near Tampa Bay, on the coast of Florida. There he found the change from the harsh climate of New York to the milder one of Florida very beneficial to his health, which was far from strong. He had found at Fort Hamilton that the life of a soldier shut up in a fort is far different from what it is when he is in the midst of all the excitement and activity of war. At Fort Meade also his active and energetic spirit chafed under the tedium of the idle, inactive life he was forced to lead. Jackson had not been many months at Fort Meade when he was relieved from the irksome life there by being elected Professor of Natural Philosophy and Artillery Tactics in the Virginia Military Institute at Lexington. Being weary of the idle life he was leading at the fort, he gladly accepted the appointment to a position where, besides the pleasure of instructing others, he would have an opportunity of continuing his own studies and increasing his knowledge. He resigned his position in the army, therefore, and went to Lexington in July, 1851. There he received a salary of twelve hundred dollars. He had had much bad health, which left his eye-sight very weak, and he made it a conscientious rule to take the best possible care of his eyes, and so long as they remained we...« less