Changes

His peacetime service in the army rather tedious, he resigned his commission in August 1851 and became a professor of artillery tactics and natural philosophy at the Virginia Military Institute.  Though he worked hard at his new duties, he never became a popular or highly successful teacher. A stern man, his devotion to his cadets’ education coupled with his religious beliefs, earned him the derisive titles “Deacon Jackson,” “Old Jack,” and “Fool Tom” (TL 6, pg 29).

His peacetime service in the army rather tedious, he resigned his commission in August 1851 and became a professor of artillery tactics and natural philosophy at the Virginia Military Institute.  Though he worked hard at his new duties, he never became a popular or highly successful teacher. A stern man, his devotion to his cadets’ education coupled with his religious beliefs, earned him the derisive titles “Deacon Jackson,” “Old Jack,” and “Fool Tom” (TL 6, pg 29).

V.M.I. also offered him the opportunity to meet, and marry, Elinor Junkin, daughter of the Reverend Dr. George Junkin, at the time the president of nearby Washington College.  The marriage took place on August 4, 1853, and the union was “a great source of happiness,” as Jackson would write to his sister; indeed, the Jacksons were already expecting their first child.  Fourteen months after the marriage, Jackson would bury his wife, along with her stillborn child.  Despite never belonging to a church, he was a deeply religious man, and his religion gave him comfort.  He wrote to Laura “I am reconciled for my loss and have joy and hope of a future reunion where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest” Jackson would remarry by 1857, the new bride being Mary Anna Morrison; although they were deeply in love, she had to put up with his strict regimon, which included early morning walks and morning family prayers on time; if one was late, Jackson would simply begin without him (TL 6, pp. 29-32).

V.M.I. also offered him the opportunity to meet, and marry, Elinor Junkin, daughter of the Reverend Dr. George Junkin, at the time the president of nearby Washington College.  The marriage took place on August 4, 1853, and the union was “a great source of happiness,” as Jackson would write to his sister; indeed, the Jacksons were already expecting their first child.  Fourteen months after the marriage Jackson would bury his wife, along with her stillborn child.  Despite never belonging to a church, he was a deeply religious man, and his religion gave him comfort.  He wrote to Laura “I am reconciled for my loss and have joy and hope of a future reunion where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest” Jackson would remarry by 1857, the new bride being Mary Anna Morrison; although they were deeply in love, she had to put up with his strict regimen, which included early morning walks and morning family prayers on time; if one was late, Jackson would simply begin without him (TL 6, pp. 29-32).

==The Civil War==

==The Civil War==