I had the good fortune to speak at a Lee/Jackson dinner recently and took a different approach to the recognition of these two heroes.. While we all know of the accomplishments of Generals Lee and Jackson, and recognize the similarities of the two.. I want you to step back with me and look at several more similarities that make them even more special.

General Lee was born, January 19, 1807, into what some would call the aristocracy of the time.  His father was “Light Horse” Harry Lee, a hero of the first American Revolution, who served as a general officer in the Continental Army. He was very politically active serving as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1786-88, from 1789 to 1791 he served in the General Assembly and from 1791-64 as the governor of Virginia. His exploits made him famous not only in this country but in the entire English speaking world. The problem with being a “hero” is that it doesn't pay the bills. Harry was one to become politically outspoken at the drop of a hat, he was also drawn to wild schemes in which he would invest large sums of money. These two character traits led to him having to leave the country in 1813, the country he fought to free in the Revolutionary War. Harry Lee died on his way back to his native Virginia, March 25, 1818.  (Robert E. was only 11.)  Harry Lee was buried on Cumberland Island, Georgia and remained there until 1913, when his remains were moved to the Lee Family crypt, at Lee Chapel, on the campus of Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia.  Robert E. Lee visited his father’s grave for the first time while in Georgia in the Engineering Corps of the U.S. Army.

Robert and his siblings were raised by their mother, Anne Hill Carter Lee, who was a descendant of King Robert II of Scotland. Anne had an inheritance from her family and when Harry left,  the family lived on what was left of her inheritance. One of my favorite quotes about this time in Robert's life is from a period historian who stated, “While the family never went hungry, the variation of the meals left something to be desired”. 

Robert went on to earn his education, ending up in West Point where he graduated second in his class and never received a demerit. His military career began with the U.S. Army and his war-time exploits in the field are known to us all, starting with the capture of John Brown, the Mexican War, and eventually the War for Southern Independence.

Robert married Mary Anna Randolph Custis (1808–1873), great-granddaughter of Martha Washington     and step-great-granddaughter of George Washington, the first president of the United States. They were married on June 30, 1831 at Arlington House, her parents' house just across from Washington, D.C. The 3rd U.S. Artillery served as honor guard at the marriage. They eventually had seven children, three boys and four girls.  Gen. Robert E. Lee died October 12, 1870.  His citizenship was signed in 1975 by Pres. Gerald Ford.

     ————————————

Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson was born January 21, 1824, into a completely different setting. His great-grandfather, John, and great grandmother, Elizabeth, arrived in the colony's aboard a prison ship, where they met and after serving their sentences of indenture, married in July 1755. The family moved  into what is now called West Virginia. They acquired large tracks of virgin farmland near what is now Buckhannon. John and two of his sons served in the First American Revolution, at the end of the war, John was a Captain and later served as a Lieutenant in the Virginia Militia.  Interesting note was that while John and the older boys were away,  Elizabeth fortified the home to prevent Indian attacks, it was known as “Jackson's Fort”.

Thomas was the third child of Julia and Jonathan Jackson, an attorney.  He was named for his maternal grandfather. Thomas lost his older sister, Elizabeth, March 6, 1826 to typhoid as he sat by her bedside.   Twenty days later, his Father died of the same disease. The day after Thomas’ father died, his mother gave birth to a sister, Laura Ann. This left his mother with three very young children and no means of support.  She declined family charity and moved the children into a small one room house where she “took-in” sewing and taught school to support herself and children. In 1830, Julia married an attorney named Blake Woodson, who had little use for Thomas and the other children. Julia died in 1831, from complications of childbirth leaving her three children, for all practical purposes, orphans.

Prior to his mother's death, Thomas and his sister Laura Ann were sent to live with their uncle, Cummins Jackson at “Jackson's Mill near what is now Weston, West Virginia.  The older brother, Warren, was sent to live with relatives on his mother's side of the family. Warren died in 1841 of tuberculosis. Thomas and Laura Ann spent four years at Jackson's Mill, then Laura was sent to live with her mother’s family and Thomas was sent to live with his Aunt Polly, his father's sister and her husband.  Again, he was disliked and even mistreated.  After a year, he decided to return to Jackson's Mill and walked the 18 miles through the mountain wilderness to his uncle's home where he was welcomed. While his Uncle Cummins was a strict surrogate father, he was loved and respected by Thomas. He helped around the farm, tending sheep, driving teams of oxen and helping harvest the wheat and corn. Formal education was not easy to come by for young Jackson, but he attended school when able, sometimes as little as 39 days a year.  At one point,  his teacher was a former soldier who wrote “the” book on military tactics of the time in regards to border warfare.  One can only wonder if this brief encounter with such a man helped shape the future Southern Hero. Much of Thomas’ education was “self-taught”.  He studied as time allowed, much of his studies was at night. The story is told of a deal made with one of his uncle's slaves to provide him with pine knots, which were used to light the night for his studies, in exchange  Jackson would teach the slave to read and write. Virginia law forbid the teaching of slaves to read or write but Jackson was a man of his word and taught the young slave, who later used his newly acquired skills to write his own pass and escaped north to Canada. Jackson himself eventually worked as an educator in the schools around the area.

Thomas Jackson was accepted into the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Due to his inadequate prior education he had difficulties with the entrance exams and was not to be accepted until another student became ill and had to withdraw. Jackson began his studies there in the bottom of his class. He had to work harder than most to absorb the lesson, it has been pointed out by many modern day educators that Jackson was probably dyslexic.  However, his determination was to persevere and by graduation, he had moved from the very bottom to 17th in a class of 59. It was said by his peers that if he had stayed there another year, he would have graduated first.

So what have we learned about Lee and Jackson?  They both came from homes where they lost at least one parent (in Jackson‘s case, both), they were not raised with all the available amenities of the day.  They both had to work hard for what they received, they were raised as Christian men and retained that belief through-out their lives. We can look at the early hardships suffered by these men and realize that these are the same conditions that today are used to excuse bad behavior of our youth. This was in the days before DFACS, welfare, food stamps, counseling and etc., before it was common place to point back at your upbringing and say it was “their fault” because of a breakdown of the family structure. These men overcame the hardships of their childhood and in Jackson's case possible reading problems, to become the very best of the best. They didn't let the loss of the family unit derail their future, they are some of the earliest to “overcome”.

Take time to emphasize this to your children and grand-children, let them know that there is no reason to search for a hero to shape their future. Make sure they know that men like Lee and Jackson are the ones they should admire and try to emulate..

Remember the Charge, it's our responsibility to carry on the cause and reason they fought.

Remember it was the Second War for Independence.
Jack