The Father of Virginia Military Institute: A Biography of Colonel J. T. L. Preston, CSA by Randolph P. Shaffner (review)

Randolph P. Shaffner has succeeded admirably in producing the first full-length scholarly biography of Colonel J. T. L. Preston. As his title suggests, Shaffner argues that Preston was, more critically than anyone else, the father of the Virginia Military Institute (VMI). Shaffner hopes to be able to prove his case, or at least provoke a debate about Preston’s role in the formation of VMI. While proof remains a pretty high bar, Shaffner certainly creates a conversation. Regardless of VMI’s actual parentage, Preston was a principal player in its inception, establishment, and operation from the 1830s until his final retirement in the 1880s.

The author acknowledges that he is a descendant of Preston’s, but he has tried to limit the potential bias that such a family connection can create. On this score, Shaffner is only partially successful as he has a difficult time measuring his praise for and being critical of Preston. The portrait of Preston that Shaffner creates is still a viable one, but the author cannot hide his obvious fondness.

Shaffner employs a number of short topical chapters embracing a broad chronological framework. This structure allows the author the flexibility of following Preston across time and issues. Early chapters explore Preston’s upbringing among Virginia’s elite families, his classical schooling, and his graduation from Washington College (later Washington and Lee University). When it opened in 1839, VMI was the “first state supported military institute” in the country (p. 57). Preston signed on as the ranking faculty member of languages, and the author details the trials and tribulations of the next twenty years as VMI developed.

Preston’s personal life is a constant feature in the narrative, and Shaffner does an impressive job of integrating that story into the public one. The author’s chapters on the Civil War are among his best. His narrative broadens to provide the reader with a more comprehensive framework in which to view Preston’s and VMI’s contribution to the war effort. Preston followed the lead of the institute’s most famous professor, Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, and joined the Confederacy. Preston was soon appointed by Jackson (who was also his brother-in-law) as his chief of staff. The author also covers the 1864 battle of New Market, in which many VMI cadets participated, and the subsequent destruction of the VMI post at the hands of the Union army.

Shaffner’s two chapters on slavery and race may be his finest. The author explains that Preston’s defense of slavery and his views about African Americans were mainstream beliefs for most nineteenth-century white southerners. In the end, Preston claimed that “‘with God’s providence, ’” the institution of slavery was “‘humane, equitable, and beneficent’” (p. 191). After the Civil War, Preston returned to his post at the institute, where he remained active until his death in 1890.

Shaffner’s portrait of J. T. L. Preston makes an important contribution to our understanding of this significant nineteenth-century Virginian. The author does a commendable job of weaving together the many facets and contributions of his subject in this sympathetic profile.