Stonewall Jackson's Book of Maxims Published

By all accounts, Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's childhood was that of a shy and lonely orphan -- a nearly friendless introvert deprived of family love and rarely afforded the opportunity to live the life of an inquisitive, growing boy.

But Jackson matured to become one of this nation's great military strategists and leaders -- revered by his troops, trusted by his superiors, and admired even by his adversaries.

The influences that guided this transformation from reticent boy to confident commander are explored in Stonewall Jackson's Book of Maxims (Cumberland House Publishing), compiled and edited by James I. Robertson Jr., Alumni Distinguished Professor of History and executive director of the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies at Virginia Tech.

According to Robertson, the maxims -- Jackson's self-selected principles of personal conduct and self-improvement -- were recorded by the general in a small blue-marbled notebook over a five-year period, starting in 1848, and are largely drawn from the collective practical and philosophical teachings of others who influenced Jackson's life, including Lord Chesterfield, John Bunyan, Joel Parker, O. S. Foster, George Winfred Hervey, and, most significantly to Jackson, the Bible.

But the notebook disappeared after Jackson's death in 1863. More than 120 years later, in the course of researching Jackson so he could write a biography of him, Robertson uncovered the notebook while examining other materials in the Davis Collection of Civil War manuscripts at Tulane University. Robertson put the maxims on hold while he completed his research and wrote the biography -- Stonewall Jackson: The Man, The Soldier, The Legend -- which earned numerous awards.

With that work, which critics called the definitive biography of Jackson, behind him, Robertson turned his attention to publishing the maxims. In his new book, he presents the maxims in full and precisely as written by their original author. They cover five primary categories: choice of friends, rules of conversation, guides for good behavior, motives to action, and politeness and good breeding. The author accompanies each maxim with supplementary commentary about such things as the origin of the adage, quotations that parallel Jackson's statement, and the manner in which the maxim was reflected in Jackson's day-to-day life.

"Jackson died after one of his own men shot him during the Battle of Chancellorsville, and while the cause that he served, fought, and ultimately died for did not prevail, the true measure of the man lies in how he lived his life and in understanding the values and principles that guided his daily conduct," Robertson said.

This new book by Robertson takes us one step closer to gaining that understanding.