Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 06.djvu/55

 JACKSUN

JACOB

his divisio!! led the advance in tiie pursuit of General Schofield as far as Spriu;^ liill, where he held the Federal force at bay. but as he was not supported as planned by Gen. Hood, Schotield escaped. After the battle of Franklin, Nov. 80, 1S64, in which his cavalry was operating on tiie flanks of Hood's anny, he led the Confederate advance to a point only a few miles from the fortification surrounding the cit}' of Nashville, and at Murfreesboro he drove the Federal forces within their intrenchments. His division covered the retreat of Hood's army toward Atlanta, and after the fall of Atlanta he held the road to Macon against the advance of Sherman's armj-. He tlien commanded a division in Forrest's cavalry corps in opposing Wilson's raid tlirougli Alabama and Georgia, March 22 to April 20, 18G5, and he defeated the Federal force under Generals Croxton and McCook, and finally surrendered at Gainesville, Ala., May 9, 1865. At the close of the war he became interested in stock raising and cotton planting. He was married, Dec. 15, 1868, to Selene, daughter of Gen. W. G. Harding, of Belle Meade, Tenn., and assisted his father-in-law in the management of the farm. He was the founder of the Rural Sun, an agricultural jour- nal; was the organizer and first president of the National Agricultural congress; president of the state bureau of agriculture, 1871-75, and fiscal agent of the bureau. In September, 1898, Presi- dent McKinley invited him to become a member of the commission to investigate the workings of the war department, but he declined. He died in Bflle:\rea<le, Tenn., Marcli 30. 1903.

JACKSON, William Lowther, soldier, was horn in Clarksburg, Va., Feb. 3,1825; son of William Lowther, grandson of Edward, and great grandson of John and Elizabeth (Cum- mins) Jackson. He studied law with his father; was commonwealth's attorney, member of the Ii:)use of delegates, second auditor and superin- tendent of the state literary fund, lieutenant- governor of the state, and judge of the 19th judicial district of the state previous to the period of the civil war. In 1861 he supported the state in its secession and was made colonel of the 31st Virginia troops subsequently at- tached to the Confederate array. He became a member of the staff of his cousin, Gen. T. J. Jackson, commander of the Valley district, taking part in the campaign of 1802. He was commissioned brigadier-general and recruited a brigade of cavalry which was sul)sequently at- tached to the Army of the Valley District com- manded by Gen. John D. Imboden. He took a prominent part in the skirmishes at New Lou- doun and at the Quaker meeting-house near Lynchburg, Va., June 4, 1864, where he com- manded three brigades, holding in check the

advance of General Hunter in order to give General Early time to reach Lynchburg with the second (Stonewall Jackson's old) cori)s from Richmond. He was attached to Early's corps in his march on "Wasiiington leaving Lynchljurg, June 213, Staunton, June 26, Winchester, July 2, Harper's Ferry, July 4, Boonsboro, Md., July 6, Frederick, July 9, where he burned Gunpowder Bridge on the Baltimore and Washington rail- road, Rockville, July 10, and was in sight of Fort Stevens, and the dome of thecapitol on Juh' 11. He tiien retreated across the Potomac into Vir- ginia and was one of the last cavalry ofticers to give his parole after disbanding his troops at Lynchburg, Va., in Maj', 1805. He went to Mexico with other Confederate ofticers and on his re- turn in 1866, practised law in Louisville, Kj-., where he was judge of the circuit court, 1872-90. He died in Louisville, Ky., March 26, 1890.

JACOB, Richard Taylor, soldier, was born at the home of his great-grandfather. Commodore Richard Taylor, in Oldham county, Ky., March 13, 1825; son of John Jeremiah (known as Joim I.) and Lucy Donald (Robertson) Jacob; grand- son of Zachriah and Susannaii Jacob, of Ramsey, England, who settled in Maryland in 1740, and of Isaac and Mathilda (Taylor) Robertson, and a descendant from Donald and Rachel (Rogers) Robertson, of Virginia, and from Col. James Taylor, of Carlisle, England, whose daughter mar- ried Ambrose Madison, and was the grand- mother of James Madison, fourth President of the United States, and whose son, Zachary Tay- lor, was grandfather of Gen. Zacharj' Taylor, twelfth President of the United States. He joined an emigrant party, leaving the Missouri river May 11, 1846, for California. On reaching Fort Laramie, he was chosen second in command of the expedition. With eight of the party he reached the frontier of California, Sept. 9, 1846, to find the Californians in rebellion. He raised a company, was elected captain, and joined Fre- mont, serving under him till tiie sun-ender of the Mexican army at Los Angeles. He returned to the United States b}' way of the Isthmus of Pan- ama. On reaching New Orleans in 1847 he offered his services to the government, but failing to receive a commission he returned to Kentucky, where he raised a company of volunteers for the Mexican war, which was not accepted. He went to Washington as a witness in the court-martial of Fremont, and was married Jan. 17, 1848, to Sarah, the third daughter of Senator Thomas H. Benton, and sister of the wife of General Fre- mont. They resided on a farm in Missouri until 1854, when they removed to Oldham county, Ky. He was a Breckinridge elector, 1860, representa- tive from Oldham county in the state legislature, 1859-61, and as a member of the committee on