Passionate Abolitionist and
Witness to the American Civil War
Passionate Abolitionist and
Witness to the American Civil War
Thomas Jackson arrived in America as a young man and had to overcome many devastating setbacks to build and maintain a successful rope making business. Four times he had to begin again from scratch after losing his factories to floods and arsonists. But he persevered and was finally very successful economically.
Throughout his adult life, he was a passionate abolitionist and finally, when he passed on, this was reflected by the fact that “On the coffin rested a cross of flowers and a wreath placed there by prominent colored citizens in acknowledgment of Mr. Jackson’s devotion to the colored race and opposition to slavery.”
The story of Thomas Jackson’s Life and Letters has really only just begun. We have assembled a considerable amount of material here for others to study and we plan to make the originals of these letters available in a major historical repository. We hope that others will find the story interesting and insightful and will continue to study this collection of letters for further insights that it can give to this pivotal period of American History.
Finally, we would like to believe that there are lessons for our present generation that may emerge from these reflections of a human spirit at time of divisive turbulence.