Robert Lewis Dabney

Robert Lewis Dabney (March 5, 1820 – January 3, 1898) was an American Christian theologian, Southern Presbyterian pastor, Confederate States Army chaplain, and architect. He was also chief of staff and biographer to Stonewall Jackson. His biography of Jackson remains in print today. Dabney and James Henley Thornwell were two of Southern Presbyterianism's most influential scholars. They were both Calvinist, Old School Presbyterians, and social conservatives. Some conservative Presbyterians, particularly within the Presbyterian Church in America and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, still value their theological writings, although some within these churches have repudiated Dabney's and Thornwell's beliefs on race and support of antebellum slavery. Life and career Early life Robert Lewis Dabney was born on March 5, 1820. He was the sixth child (third son) of Charles William Dabney (1786–1833) and Elizabeth Randolph Price Dabney, and a descendant of Cornelius d'Aubigné from an extended d'Aubigné (Dabney) Huguenot family that settled in Virginia and Massachusetts in the 17th century. His brother, Charles William Dabney (1809–1895) was the captain of Company C, 15th Virginia Infantry Regiment.