His manners were not what might be called captivating but they were pleasant and courteous and I was captivated by the fact that ever after our meeting at Mr. Liles, [Lyles] on the street, or elsewhere, he recognized me as an acquaintance and saluted me pleasantly. I was not a great visitor in the town but I think he was and I met him occasionally in houses where he visited. At one house, where were two young ladies whom we both knew we met not infrequently. While his courtesy was unfailing there were some peculiarities about him which were marked. He never assumed a lounging and (so called) “easy position”. He never crossed his legs in company and rarely touched the back of his chair. He seemed to take a lively interest in every general conversation and was, to this extent, responsive, though he never gave the impression that he was a great talker. On one occasion my roommate, who was a ready talker, met him at the house of a friend and in describing something that had been done, or said, by someone, he used the word vim. Thereupon the Major said, in effect – By the way Mr. C. that word vim which you used seems to me to be a very expressive word – what is the meaning of it? Whereupon C. launched out enthusiastically into the definition of the latin vis explaining that vim was the accusative case of it and meant force or energy – all of which seemed to interest the Major greatly. C., who had never been distinguished as a Latin scholar, returned to his room in College and jestingly boasted that he had given a lecture on Latin to Major Jackson; – but he was never quite sure that the Major was not quizzing him slightly.

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I met him occasionally at evening entertainments in the town, where he usually wore his military coat and where his manners were always pleasant though quiet and dignified.

During the Major’s second session at the V.M.I., my elder brother was the Professor of Latin at Washington College and being a single man had his chambers in the College buildings. One evening after tea I called on him and very soon afterwards Major Jackson also called. After the usual salutions [salutations], my brother resumed his seat and I stood, expecting the Major to sit down which he did not. They got into a conversation which drifted into a talk about the Spanish language with which the Major had acquired some familiarity during his sojourn in the City of Mexico. He gave some very pleasant reminiscences of his life in that City –

When he entered the room I, of course, rose and stood expecting him to be seated. Finding that he stood alone and that my brother left him standing while their conversation continued, I hesitatingly resumed my seat. When after a half hour or more, he bade us good night & went out, I referred to the fact that the Major had not taken a seat and had not been especially asked to do so, my brother explained that the Major seldom sat when visiting his intimate male friends and had given them to understand that it was useless to ask him to sit when he was at liberty to stand – Quoting a distinguished young physician of the town, who was the Major’s medical adviser, he said “the Major stood up habitually thinking it best for his health to keep his alimentary canal straight.”

I saw him frequently till June 1853 when I graduated and left College, but do not recall any conversations with him during that period.

In August 1853 he married Miss Eleanor Junkin, the second daughter of Dr. Geo. Junkin. She died in the fall of 1854 and in the mean time my brother married her younger sister, Miss Julia Miller Junkin.

In the summer of 1856 Major Jackson made a short trip to Europe. I was then a Professor at Davidson College N.C. and was living in the house of Maj. D. H. Hill, the Prof. of Mathematics who had married the eldest daughter [Isabella] of Rev. Dr. Robt. Morrison, of Lincoln County, N.C., whose home was about fifteen miles from Davidson, west of the Catawba river. My room mate was Rev. E. D. Junkin, the brother of Maj. Jackson’s first wife. He wrote to the Major on his return from his European trip, asking for some account of his trip. The reply of the Major was brief, contained, as I recollect it, in one sheet of note paper, giving the date when he left America, when he reached Europe, what cities he passed through, giving briefly what he saw of the field of Waterloo and closed with his arrival in Lexington. It was peculiarly noted for its brevity.

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