Jackson, Thomas J. (Stonewall)

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JACKSON, THOMAS J. (STONEWALL)

(b. January 21, 1824; d. May 10, 1863) Confederate general.

Thomas Jackson was one of the South's most important generals in the Civil War, a man who became an icon of the Southern fighting spirit and the "Lost Cause."

Born in what is now West Virginia, Jackson was only two years old when his father, an attorney, contracted typhoid fever and died. Now a widow, Jackson's mother, Julia, was saddled with the family's considerable debt. In 1830, she married Blake Woodson, a shabby genteel man with numerous children scattered across the country, who was fifteen years her senior. Refined and charming in public, in private he was a hard man who detested Julia's children. They were soon sent away to live with various relatives.

Despite a less than rigorous early education, Jackson was admitted to West Point in 1842, but only after his congressman's first choice for an appointment had failed there. Academy life proved difficult for Jackson. His classmates, keenly aware of his modest upbringing, ridiculed him as "Tom Fool" and, because he was older than many of the other entering cadets, as "Old Tom." Still, he was a hard worker, and he learned the workings of the academy better than almost anyone else, developing a sense of discipline and self-containment that served him well during the difficult and dangerous years ahead. He finished his entire junior year without earning even one demerit, at an institution where demerits were passed out with a liberality bordering on zeal. When he graduated in 1846, he ranked seventeenth out of fifty-nine men in his class.

After serving with distinction in the War with Mexico (1846–1848), Jackson was offered and accepted a teaching position at the Virginia Military Institute. In 1852, he resigned his army commission, but he returned to active service at the outbreak of the Civil War. After a short stint at Harpers Ferry, Jackson was made a Confederate brigadier general. During the first Battle of Bull Run in the summer of 1861, Jackson earned his well-known nickname by standing pat against surging Union forces. Jackson's fame quickly spread (his division shared the nom de guerre "Stonewall," the only Confederate division to adopt such a name as its official designation), and he was subsequently promoted to divisional command.

Success bred further success. Jackson led brilliantly during the so-called Shenandoah Valley campaign of

early 1862, using tactics that are still studied today. Employing surprise maneuvers and rapid marching, he was able to overcome Union forces that vastly outnumbered his own Confederate troops and claim victory. By doing so, he and Robert E. Lee were able to save the Shenandoah Valley at that point and keep Union troops from threatening the Confederate capital at Richmond. He fought effectively at Fredericksburg, Antietam, and the second Battle of Bull Run.

Jackson seems to have been that rare type of commander who was both respected and trusted by his superiors and also loved by the soldiers who served under him. That he was capable of unusual and inexplicable behavior is beyond dispute. His supposed passion for sucking on lemons has been overstated to the point of absurdity, and yet there was something of the eccentric in him. His penchant for responding with apparent nonsequiturs and verbal filler to both good news and bad is widely reported. Stalwartly religious, Jackson regretted fighting on Sunday, and always waited until Monday to post correspondence. He once promoted an unpopular soldier to a position of authority, and, when questioned about his decision, replied that the man, being widely disliked, would have no reason to offer biased or inaccurate reports. If anything, however, these quirks of character served only to increase Jackson's celebrity.

It was at the height of this fame that the unexpected occurred. On May 2, 1863, during the Battle of Chancellorsville, Jackson's forces outflanked Union forces and forced them to withdraw. It was a great victory, perhaps Jackson's best. Then came darkness and, with it, misad-venture. Returning from reconnaissance, he and his party had the misfortune of being mistaken by his own men for enemy riders. Jackson was struck three times, leading to the amputation of an arm. Eight days later, on May 10, 1863, Thomas Jackson died. It was a grievous blow to the Confederate cause and the entire Southern nation mourned his loss.

Of this masterful strategist and leader, no less a figure than Robert E. Lee later wrote, "He has lost his left arm; but I have lost my right arm." Jackson is widely admired in the South even today as a strategist and gentleman, the very picture of Southern fortitude and character.