| − | He was born in Clarksburg, a mountain town in one of Virginia's western counties, the son of a lawyer who got himself involved in a series of bad investments and dying of typhoid in 1826 when Thomas was two, leaving his family deep in debt. After their mother died five years later, Thomas, his brother Warren, and sister Laura, spent the remainder of their childhoods between several different relatives (TL 6, pg. 22). | + | He was born in Clarksburg, a mountain town in one of Virginia's western counties, the son of a lawyer who got himself involved in a series of bad investments and dying of typhoid in 1826 when Thomas was two, leaving his family deep in debt. After their mother died five years later, Thomas, his brother Warren, and sister Laura, spent the remainder of their childhoods between several different relatives (TL 6, pg. 22). Thomas (later "Stonewall") Jackson was thereby essentially [[homeschooled]]. |
| | It was during his childhood that Thomas developed a "quirky" personality. He complained of a stomach malady for which no doctor could find a cause. Later, while at West Point, he sat bolt upright in his seat, never allowing his spine to touch the back of his chair; the reason supposedly being that he needed to keep his internal organs in alignment, thus aiding digestion. He convinced himself that the use of pepper in his food made his left leg itch, and he was often seen sucking on lemons. When in battle his men, seeing his left arm raised, often assumed he was praying to his Maker; Thomas had a different explanation: his left arm was heavier than his right, and by lifting it “the blood might run back into his body and lighten it” (TL 6, pp. 23–24). | | It was during his childhood that Thomas developed a "quirky" personality. He complained of a stomach malady for which no doctor could find a cause. Later, while at West Point, he sat bolt upright in his seat, never allowing his spine to touch the back of his chair; the reason supposedly being that he needed to keep his internal organs in alignment, thus aiding digestion. He convinced himself that the use of pepper in his food made his left leg itch, and he was often seen sucking on lemons. When in battle his men, seeing his left arm raised, often assumed he was praying to his Maker; Thomas had a different explanation: his left arm was heavier than his right, and by lifting it “the blood might run back into his body and lighten it” (TL 6, pp. 23–24). |