Jackson's Mill

Three generations of Jacksons operated mills here, beginning with Col. Edward Jackson before 1800. Jackson’s Mill included saw and gristmills, carpenter shop, blacksmith forge, slave quarters, barns and other outbuildings, and a general store on 1,500 acres of forest and pasture land.<br><br> In 1831, this became the home of six-year-old Thomas Jonathan Jackson (1824-1863) and his four-year old sister, Laura Ann Jackson (1826-1911). Their mother, Julia Beckwith Neale Jackson Woodson, sent them here to live with relatives. Their father, Jonathan Jackson, had died in poverty in 1826. In 1830, their mother married Blake G. Woodson, who was likewise mired in poverty and resented his stepchildren. Julia Woodson died late in 1831. <br><br> Thomas Jackson left in 1842 to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. After graduating in 1846, Jackson served in the Mexican War and later taught at the Virginia Military Institute. He joined the Confederate army when the Civil War began, commanding a brigade at Harpers Ferry. On July 21, 1861, Jackson led his unit at the First Battle of Manassas, where he received his famous nickname, &#8220;Stonewall.&#8221; His illustrious military career ended with his death on May 10, 1863, after being wounded during the Battle of Chancellorsville. <br><br> Jackson and his sister remained close until, like so many other siblings, they found themselves on opposite sides during the Civil War. Laura Jackson, who married Jonathan Arnold in 1844, opened their house in Beverly to Federal troops as a hospital and nursed them herself. Her outspoken Unionism estranged her from her brother.<br><br><i>(Sidebar):</i> The Jackson's Mill farmstead has been subdivided and passed through several hands. In 1921, the State of West Virginia acquired the remaining property and entrusted it to the Extension Service of West Virginia University for a youth camp. The property became the nation's first state 4-H camp. Most of the early structures as well as the slave cemetery have been lost; the gristmill and Jackson family cemetery remain.