Robert Lewis Dabney, Life and Commands of Lieutenand- General Thomas J. Jackson

[51] short time of an independent section, he proved himself eminently worthy of it.

It is a singular coincidence, that this report of Captain Magruder was addressed immediately to one who has since had disastrous occasion to verify its correctness. It was received by Captain Joe Hooker, then acting as adjutant to General Pillow, afterwards a Major-General in the Federal army, and Commander at Chancellorsville.

For his conduct in the battle of Chapultepec, Jackson received the brevet rank of Major. To this he had risen, purely by the force of his merit, within seven months, from the insignificant position of brevet second lieutenant. No other officer in the whole army in Mexico was promoted so often for meritorious conduct, or made so great a stride in rank. If the conduct which has been detailed be examined, it will be found to contain every evidence of bravery, thirst for distinction, coolness, and military talent. We see the young Lieutenant, the moment the fall of his immediate superior placed him in command of a detachment at Churubusco, awaiting no orders, but guided by the sound of his Captain's guns on his left, emulously pressing forward towards the enemy. At Chapultepec he is assigned to the post of honor and danger, and advances with alacrity. When Colonel Tronsdale, to whom he owed merely a momentary subordination, thrust him into a position almost desperate, and he was well-nigh deserted by his men, he refused to retire without orders. Comprehending all the advantages and perils of his situation at once, he proposed rather to exercise the further audacity of storming the battery before him, than to attempt a disastrous retreat exposed to its fire. And when the arrival of reinforcements relieved him of his danger, he displayed his ready resource in pursuing the defeated foe, where any other officer would have