Lexington, Va.,
January 26, 1861.
My Dear Nephew:
Your very welcome letter reached me a few days since. I was
apprehensive from not hearing from any of you for so long a time that some of
you might be sick. I am glad to learn that you are progressing so well in your
studies, and trust that you will be able to enter the desired class in the
Institute. During the present academic year the cadets have numbered between
two and three hundred. I was glad to learn your father's views respecting the
state of the country; I agree very much with him. In this county there is a
strong Union feeling, and the union party have unanimously nominated Samuel
McDowell Moore and Jas. B. Dorman as delegates to the convention,1
and I expect that they will be elected by a large majority. I am in favor of
making a thorough trial for peace, and if we fail in this, and the state is
invaded, to defend it with a terrific resistance. . . . I desire to see the
state use every influence she possesses in order to procure an honorable
adjustment of our troubles, but if after having done so the free states,
instead of permitting us to enjoy the rights guaranteed to us by the
Constitution of our country, should endeavor to subjugate us, and thus excite
our slaves to servile insurrection in which our families will be murdered
without quarter or mercy, it becomes us to wage such a war as will bring
hostilities to a speedy close. People who are anxious to bring on war don't
know what they are bargaining for; they don't see all the horrors that must
accompany such an event. For myself I have never as yet been induced to believe
that Virginia will even have to leave the Union. I feel pretty well satisfied
that the Northern people love the Union more than they do their peculiar
notions of slavery, and that they will prove it to us when satisfied that we
are in earnest about leaving the Confederacy unless they do us justice. Your
aunt joins me in love to you all. Write often.
Your affectionate
uncle,
Thomas.
_______________
1The State Convention called to meet at the
capital in Richmond.
SOURCE: Thomas Jackson Arnold, Early Life and Letters of
General Thomas J. Jackson, p. 293-4
