Thomas Jackson

Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, born in Virginia, is one of my favorite Civil War characters. His parents died when he was young, leaving him and his sister in the care of an uncle. He spent his youth working in his uncle's grist mill and secured an appointment to West Point through his influence.

Jackson had a hard time in school; he was shy and awkward, and due to his backwoods education, started at the bottom of his class, having to compete against guys like George McClellan and other Ivy Leaguers. He improved his grades and started moving past less motivated classmates like George Pickett. He kept a book of motivational maxims he collected, one of his favorites was “You may be whatever you resolve to be”. He graduated in the top third of his class; some said if he had another year he would have reached the top.

After graduation, he taught physics and math at VMI, a military academy in Lexington, Virginia, but wasn't a very good teacher. He would memorize lesson plans and recite them by rote in class; if someone interrupted to ask a question, he would resume at the start and repeat the lesson. Needless to say, he was a less than inspiring teacher. One thing he was good at was teaching artillery, a skill that would serve him well in the future. Things didn't come easy for him. He lacked the basic skills most teachers took for granted, but was serious and worked to overcome his limitations. He also lacked social skills; students made fun of his hypochondria and oddball quirks like holding one arm above the other, believing it to have therapeutic value. At the end of the day, he found comfort in his belief that God would provide everything needed in this world and that everlasting life awaited him in the next if he followed His ...

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...w Year's Day, but to align with the federal holiday, they combined King's with the existing Lee–Jackson holiday, until 2000, when Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore proposed splitting Lee–Jackson–King Day into two separate holidays after "debate" arose over whether the nature of the holiday, which simultaneously celebrated the lives of Confederate generals and a civil rights icon, was incongruous, subsequently, the two holidays are now celebrated separately, but equally, as Lee–Jackson Day and Martin Luther King day. Phew!, glad they got that straightened out. If they couldn't reconcile Lee, Jackson and King, then how do they expect us to get along and move forward? Speaking of holidays, why doesn't Lincoln rate a national holiday instead of getting thrown in with Washington on Presidents day? Besides Washington, who could be more important to this country than Lincoln ?