A while ago I spent time exploring Lexington, Virginia where I met up with the historian at Stonewall Jackson’s family home to discover insights about Jackson’s life leading up to the Civil War.
Jackson and his second wife, Mary Anna Morrison, lived in the brick and stone house before the Civil War.
Tours of the house focus on Jackson’s civilian life as a professor, church leader, businessman, and husband. Today the house is owned and operated by Virginia Military Institute.
We then stopped in for a visit with Lucy Wilkins, Director of Collections and educator at Washington & Lee University where she shared fascinating insights about Robert E. Lee’s post-Civil War tenure as President of Washington College.
Lee was the first in America to institute the system of majors and electives that spread to colleges and universities across the country, and transformed American higher education forever.
During Lee’s tenure he also instituted America’s first four-year journalism major.
Lee died five years after the conclusion of the Civil War, and sadly his numerous academic accomplishments were vastly overshadowed by serving as the Commander of the Army of Northern Virginia and ultimately the entire Confederate Army.
Come along and join the conversation at Jackson’s home and then a visit at Washington & Lee University to discover an often overlooked glimpse of Jackson’s post Civil War life in Lexington, Virginia.
