Sketch of the Martyr Jackson and his family.
‘"P. W. A.,"’ writing from
Manassas to the Savannah Republican, gives the following sketch of the heroic
Jackson and his family, the facts of which were derived during a personal interview with his wife and sister,
Mrs. Thomas:
‘
Before leaving
Fairfax, I called to pay my respects to
Mrs. Susan M. Jackson, the widow of
Jas. W. Jackson, the martyr, who fell in
Alexandria on the 24th of May, in the cause of Southern liberty.
She resides in a neat little cottage near the
Court-House, provided for her by
Major Henry W. Thomas, who married a sister of her husband.
She received me with great kindness, and spoke with deep emotion of the generosity of the
Southern people towards herself and family.
She has three lovely children with her — all daughters — of the ages of thirteen, ten and seven, one of whom is said to bear a striking resemblance of her father.
Mrs. Thomas has two daguerreotypes of the hero, one of which was taken while he was at work in his garden, with his hat, coat and vest off. It is a very striking face, and bears abundant evidence, in every lineament, of good humor, gallantry and unshrinking courage.
He has the eve of an eagle.
His features are bold and striking, and his hair is thick and stiff, and stands up like
General Andrew Jackson's, as if in defiance of all the hats in the world.--No physiognomist can look upon the ‘"counterfeit presentment"’ without feeling that he was every inch a hero, and that his was as gallant a spirit as was ever offered up in defence of his country's flag.
You will be glad to learn that his likeness will be multiplied in due time by every means of art, so that every one may obtain a copy who desires it.
There are certain facts connected with the life and death of
Jackson which I have never seen in print, and which cannot fail to interest your readers.
He was born in
Fairfax county, near the
Potomac river, and was 38 years old the 8th of May. He married his wife in
Kentucky, while on a visit to his brother, who resides in that State, and some few years thereafter he removed to Fairfax Court-House, where he continued to live until last December.
He was the life of the village — a generous, open-hearted fellow — wholly unselfish — a great lover of children and young people — always took sides with the weaker party — spoke his own mind freely, though not offensively — scorned everything that was little or mean, and feared no man, living or dead.--You will not be surprised to hear that such a man did not accumulate much of the ‘"thrift that follows fawning." ’ Fond of society, he leased the
Marshall House, in
Alexandria, fitted it up with new furniture and table ware, and removed there the first of the present year.
He is the same man who out down the
Lincoln pole in Ocequan, in the adjoining county of
Prince William, last summer.
Jackson was asleep in the second story when
Ellsworth entered his house (about day-break) and proceeded to the roof to take down his flag.
The servant who aroused him, told him that the house was full of ‘"
Lincoln men,"’ and that some of them had gone up after the flag, and begged him not to leave his room.
He rose immediately, and slipping on his pants, seized his double-barrelled shot gun at the head of his bed, and had reached the first turn in the stairway leading to the third story, when he met
Ellsworth coming down with the flag wrapped around him and followed by a number of Zouaves.
Without uttering a word — it was enough that his flag had been taken down —
Jackson shot him through the heart, the load carrying a part of the flag, like a piece of patching, into the heart itself, where it was afterwards found.
One of the Zouaves fired almost at the same instant upon
Jackson, who was standing a little below and looking up the stairway.
The ball of the
Zouave struck him just between the eyes, on the bridge of the nose, and passed out at the back of his head.
Though in the very article of death, the hero returned the fire of the enemy as he was falling, but without effect, the load passing near his head, burying itself in the wall above.
Notwithstanding he was down and dead, the cowardly rascals rushed upon him, one stabbed him with a bowie-knife in the stomach, and another driving his bayonet through his body and actually pinning it to the floor.
In this position the corpse was kept from early dawn until 11 o'clock, before any of his friends or even his family were allowed either to see it or remove it. At one time it was seriously discussed among the enemy whether they should not cut the body into pieces and burn it.
At length the orders came from
Washington to allow the corpse to be removed.
It was taken to Fairfax Court-House, and thence to the old family homestead where he was born, and near which his aged mother still resides, and there beneath the trees under which he gambolled in his infancy, and near the classic Potomac in whose waters it was his wont to bathe, he was buried by the side of his father.
The old homestead now belongs to
a Mr. Cutts, a Northern man, who has voluntarily fled from the
State and taken up arms against the
South.
The family burying ground was reserved at the time of the sale.
Will not the generous people of the
South rescue the birth place and grave of its heroic son from the tread of the cowardly traitor who now owns it, and present it to his wife and children?
His wife has not the means to purchase it; for all the furniture and other property which they had in
Alexandria were burned or broken to pieces by the enemy.
What better use could the money which our people are raising for their relief be applied to, than to that of purchasing the humble farm where the hero now sleeps, as a permanent home for his stricken widow and weeping orphans?
’
