The officer commanding the First Artillery, Colonel Frank Taylor, possessed that earnest faith which is not content with solitude.  “This good man,” says Dabney, “was accustomed to labour as a father for the religious welfare of his young officers, and during the summer campaign his instructions and prayers had produced so much effect as to awake an abiding anxiety and spirit of inquiry in Jackson’s mind.”  The latter had little prejudice in favour of any particular sect or church.  There was no State Establishment in the United States.  His youth had been passed in a household where Christianity was practically unknown, and with characteristic independence he determined to discover for himself the rule that he should follow.  His researches took a course which his Presbyterian ancestors would assuredly have condemned.  But Jackson’s mind was singularly open, and he was the last man in the world to yield to prejudice.  Soon after peace was declared, he had made the acquaintance of a number of priests belonging to one of the great religious orders of the Catholic Church.  They had invited him to take up his quarters with them, and when he determined to examine for himself into the doctrine of the ancient faith, he applied through them for an introduction to the Archbishop of Mexico.  Several interviews took place between the aged ecclesiastic and the young soldier.  Jackson departed unsatisfied.  He acknowledged that the prelate was a sincere and devout Christian, and he was impressed as much with his kindness as his learning.  But he left Mexico without any settled convictions on the subject which now absorbed his thoughts.

June 12.

On June 12, peace having been signed at the end of May, the last of the American troops marched out of the conquered capital.  Jackson’s battery was sent to Fort Hamilton, on Long Island, seven miles below New York, and there, with his honours thick upon him, he settled down to the quiet life of a small garrison.  He had gone out to Mexico a second lieutenant; he had come back a field-officer.  He had won a name in the army, and his native State had enrolled him amongst her heroes.  He had gone out an unformed youth; he had come back a man and a proved leader of men.  He had been known merely as an indefatigable student and a somewhat unsociable companion.  He had come back with a reputation for daring courage, not only the courage which glories in swift action and the excitement of the charge, but courage of an enduring quality.  And in that distant country he had won more than fame.  He had already learned something of the vanity of temporal success.  He had gone out with a vague notion of ruling his life in accordance with moral precepts and philosophic maxims; but he was to be guided henceforward by loftier principles than even devotion to duty and regard for honour, and from the path he had marked out for himself in Mexico he never deviated.

CHAPTER 1.3.  LEXINGTON. 1851 TO 1861.