Other biographical data.
Thomas Jonathan Jackson was born in
Clarksburg, W. Va., (then a part of
Virginia,) January 21, 1824.
At the age of eighteen he
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was appointed to
West Point, but owing to the fact that he was poorly prepared to enter that institution he never took a high standing in his classes.
He was graduated in 1848 and ordered to
Mexico, where he was attached as a lieutenant to
Magruder's battery.
He took part in
Scott's campaign from
Vera Cruz to the city of
Mexico, and was twice breveted for gallant conduct—at
Cherubusco and
Chapultepec—attaining the rank finally of first lieutenant of artillery.
After the
Mexican war he was on duty for a time at
Fort Hamilton, New York harbor, and subsequently at
Fort Meade, Fla., but in 1851 ill health caused him to resign his commission in the army and return to his native State, where he was elected
Professor of Natural Sciences and Artillery Tactics over such competitors as
McClellan,
Rosecrans,
Foster,
Peck, and
G. W. Smith, all of whom were recommended by the faculty at
West Point.
