In 1844, as Thomas was halfway through West Point, Cummins Jackson discovered a small vein of silver near his property. He began to counterfeit half-dollar coins of lead with a thin coat of silver. After several months a federal grand jury indicted Jackson for forgery and 26 counts of counterfeiting. The forgery trial was delayed by the actions of the defense attorneys until 1848. That year Jackson escaped from the jailhouse window and traveled to California with one of his nephews and thirteen others to try his hand at prospecting during the California Gold Rush. Jackson struck it rich at a mine near Mount Shasta. But he fell ill, either with pneumonia or typhoid fever, and suffered for almost a month before his death in Shasta County, California. He is buried there in an unmarked grave. The nephew who accompanied him is said to have gambled away all of the gold profits and returned penniless to Virginia. References Robertson, James I., Jr., Stonewall Jackson: The Man, The Soldier, The Legend, MacMillan Publishing, 1997, . 1802 births 1849 deaths American counterfeiters Infectious disease deaths in California People from Lewis County, West Virginia People of the California Gold Rush Deaths from pneumonia in California Deaths from typhoid fever