An appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, provided Jackson educational and career opportunities beyond what was possible in rural Virginia. He was poorly prepared academically when he entered West Point in 1842, but by applying his immense powers of concentration and formidable memory he raised his standing each year. He graduated seventeenth in the rank of fifty-nine cadets in the class of 1846.
An appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, provided Jackson educational and career opportunities beyond what was possible in rural Virginia. He was poorly prepared academically when he entered West Point in 1842, but by applying his immense powers of concentration and formidable memory he raised his standing each year. He graduated seventeenth in the rank of fifty-nine cadets in the class of 1846.
Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was a leading Confederate general during the American Civil War. An outstanding leader and brilliant tactician, he served under Robert E. Lee, leading troops at Manassas, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. He led some of the most stunning campaigns of the war and earned a place in military history.
Background
Stonewall Jackson, born Thomas Jonathan Jackson, was born on January 21, 1824, in Clarksburg (then Virginia), West Virginia, United States. His father, a lawyer named Jonathan Jackson, and his mother, Julia Beckwith Neale, had four children. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was the third born.
When Jackson was just 2 years old, his father and his older sister, Elizabeth, were killed by typhoid fever. As a young widow, Stonewall Jackson's mother struggled to make ends meet.
In 1830 Julia remarried Blake Woodson. When the young Jackson and his siblings butted heads with their new stepfather, they were sent to live with relatives in Jackson's Mill, Virginia (now West Virginia). In 1831, Jackson lost his mother to complications during childbirth. The infant, Jackson's half-brother William Wirt Woodson, survived, but would later die of tuberculosis in 1841. Jackson spent the rest of his childhood living with his father's brothers.
Education
After attending local schools, in 1842 Jackson enrolled in the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. He was admitted only after his congressional district's first choice withdrew his application a day after school started. Although he was older than most of his classmates, Jackson at first struggled terribly with his course load. To make matters worse, his fellow students often teased him about his poor family and modest education. In 1846, he graduated from West Point, 17th in a class of 59 students.
Jackson left West Point just as the Mexican War was starting and he was sent to Mexico as a lieutenant with the 1st United States Artillery. He quickly earned a reputation for toughness and bravery, and by the war's end in 1848 he held the rank of brevet major. Jackson continued his military service until he accepted a professorship at the Virginia Military Institute in 1851.
Jackson spent 10 years as a professor of artillery tactics and natural philosophy (similar to modern-day physics) at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington. He was better at teaching artillery than natural philosophy.
When Virginia seceded from the Union in 1861, Jackson accepted a commission as a colonel in the Confederate army and went off to war, never to return to Lexington alive.
Jackson served only briefly as a colonel before receiving a promotion to brigadier general under General Joseph E. Johnston. Jackson earned his nickname at the First Battle of Bull Run (also known as Manassas) in July 1861 when he rushed his troops forward to close a gap in the line against a determined Union attack. Upon observing Jackson, one of his fellow generals reportedly said, "Look, men, there is Jackson standing like a stone wall!" - a comment that spawned Jackson's nickname. Jackson was commissioned a major general in October 1861.
In the spring of 1862, Jackson spearheaded the Shenandoah Valley Campaign, firmly establishing himself as a strong and independent commander. The Confederate army's high command had charged him with the task of defending western Virginia from an invasion by Union troops. With an army of some 15,000 to 18,000 troops, Jackson repeatedly outmaneuvered a superior Union force of more than 60,000 men. Jackson’s army moved so quickly during the campaign that they dubbed themselves "foot cavalry." President Abraham Lincoln had split the Union army into three parts, and Jackson used his mobility to attack and confuse the divided forces over the course of the campaign. He won several key victories over armies of larger size. By the campaign's end in June, he had earned the admiration of Union generals and had become the South's first great war hero. Jackson had prevented the Northerners from taking the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, and had done so in the face of unfavorable odds.
Jackson joined Lee's army in June 1862, and Lee was determined to keep him in the thick of the fighting in Virginia. Chosen for his tactical prowess and bravery, Jackson did not disappoint. From August 1862 until May 1863, he and his troops played key roles at the Second Battle of Bull Run, the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Fredericksburg and the Battle of Chancellorsville.
By October 1862, Jackson was a lieutenant general and led a significant portion of Lee's army. His widely publicized exploits had elevated him to legendary status among Southern soldiers and citizens alike. Jackson's bravery and success inspired devotion from his soldiers, but to his officers, he was known as overly secretive and difficult to please. He frequently punished his officers for relatively minor violations of military discipline and rarely discussed his plans with them. Rather, they were expected to obey his orders without question.
Lee and Jackson's most famous victory took place near a crossroads at the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia in May 1863. Facing a numerically superior Union force of 130,000 men to 60,000 of their own, Lee and Jackson devised and executed a plan to rout the army of Union General Joseph Hooker.
Historians call this battle one of Lee's finest moments as a Confederate general, and his success owed much to Jackson’s participation. On May 2, Jackson stealthily and quickly took 28,000 troops on an approximately 15-mile forced march to Hooker's exposed flank while Lee engaged in diversionary attacks on his front. Jackson’s attack on the Union rear inflicted massive casualties on the superior force, and Hooker was forced to withdraw only days later.
But the victory was not without cost. Jackson's brutal attack ended at sunset, and he took some men into the forest to scout ahead. A North Carolina regiment mistook them for enemy cavalry and opened fire, severely wounding Jackson. He was taken from the field and General J. E. B. Stuart took over his command. Doctors determined that a bullet had shattered the bone just below his left shoulder, and they quickly amputated Jackson’s left arm. He was transferred to a field hospital at a nearby plantation to recover. Jackson initially appeared to be healing, but he died from pneumonia at the age of 39.
Achievements
Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson is regarded as one of the most gifted tactical commanders in United States history. His Valley Campaign and his envelopment of the Union Army's right-wing at Chancellorsville are studied worldwide, even today, as examples of innovative and bold leadership. He excelled as well in other battles: the First Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas), where he received his famous nickname "Stonewall:" the Second Battle of Bull Run (Second Manassas); and the battles of Antietam and Fredericksburg.
Religion
Jackson had developed a deep interest in the Christian religion earlier, beginning in Mexico. His views were Calvinistic, including a belief that everything is predetermined by God and that man is utterly depraved, i.e., all human actions, whether "good" or "bad" can never gain God's favor because the relationship between humanity and God was severed by original sin. Calvinism’s principle of unconditional election teaches that some are chosen by God to be delivered of knowledge of Himself, and these are selected solely based on His own will and not due to any exceptional behavior or merit of those chosen.
Jackson may have believed he was one of those chosen; elements of Calvinistic beliefs evidenced themselves in his Civil War career. He said it mattered not if he were exposing himself to danger in battle or cowering in bed when God’s chosen time came for him to die, he would die and not until then. He attributed all victories to God and regarded setbacks as requisite chastisement. After the First Battle of Bull Run he wrote to his wife, "Whilst great credit is due to other parts of our gallant army, God made my brigade more instrumental than any other in repulsing the main attack."
The belief in predetermination led Jackson to believe the United States was created by God's will and plan, but that the Confederacy also was created through that same holy will.
Politics
During the first wave of secession from December 1860 through February 1861, during which time seven Southern states declared their independence from the United States, Jackson hoped that his home state of Virginia would remain in the Union. However, when Virginia seceded in April 1861, he supported the Confederacy, showing his loyalty to his state over the federal government.
Views
Like many Southerners, Jackson struggled with his feelings about the institution of slavery, but it obviously was God's will that it exists - a belief widely held in the South. In 1855, he began teaching Sunday school classes to slaves in Lexington, a violation of Virginia’s segregation laws. Slaves came to know him through these classes and sometimes begged him to buy them so they wouldn't be sold into the Deep South where they might be worked literally to death.
Quotations:
"My religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in a bed. God has fixed the time for my death. I do not concern myself about that, but to be always ready, no matter when it may overtake me. That is the way all men should live, and then all would be equally brave."
"You may be whatever you resolve to be."
"War means fighting. The business of the soldier is to fight. Armies are not called out to dig trenches, to throw up breastworks, to live in camps, but to find the enemy and strike him; to invade his country, and do him all possible damage in the shortest possible time. This will involve great destruction of life and property while it lasts, but such a war will of necessity be of brief continuance, and so would be an economy of life and property in the end."
"Always mystify, mislead, and surprise the enemy, if possible; and when you strike and overcome him, never let up in the pursuit so long as your men have the strength to follow; for an army routed, if hotly pursued, becomes panic-stricken, and can then be destroyed by half their number. The other rule is, never fight against heavy odds, if by any possible maneuvering you can hurl your own force on only a part, and that the weakest part, of your enemy and crush it. Such tactics will win every time, and a small army may thus destroy a large one in detail, and repeated victory will make it invincible."
"Never take counsel of your fears."
"Duty is ours: consequences are God's."
"Why should the peace of a true Christian be disturbed by anything which man can do unto him? Has not God promised to make all things work together for good to those who love him?"
Personality
Jackson was a fascinating mixture of contrasts: eccentricity and excellence, ambition and humility, restlessness and repose, faithfulness, and righteousness. Each of those ingredients, in acceptable measurement, existed in his nature. General John B. Gordon, who fought alongside Jackson, concluded that there were "in all his mental and moral characteristics the most perfect harmony."
He was disliked by some cadets for his brusqueness, lack of sympathy, and eccentric behavior. Students mocked him for his hypochondria and his habit of keeping one arm elevated to hide a perceived discrepancy in the length of his limbs.
Physical Characteristics:
Jackson stood a full 6 feet and carried 175 pounds on a strong frame. Brown hair, thick beard, pointed nose, high forehead, unusually large hands and feet, high-pitched voice, and thin lips usually pressed tightly together, were other chief features. Yet what attracted the most attention were blue eyes that stared at everything with deep intensity.
Connections
Jackson married twice, both times to daughters of Presbyterian ministers. His 1853 marriage to Elinor Junkin of Lexington brought Jackson the first real feelings of love he had ever known. Yet she died in childbirth fourteen months after their wedding. In 1857 he married Anna Morrison of Davidson, North Carolina. That union, bound extraordinarily by Christian love, produced a surviving daughter that Jackson saw but once.
Father:
Jonathan Jackson
1790-1826
Mother:
Julia Beckwith Neale Woodson
1798-1831
Spouse:
Eleanor Junkin
Spouse:
Mary Anne Morrison
stepfather:
Blake Woodson
Sister:
Elizabeth Jackson
1819-1826
Brother:
Warren Jackson
1821-1841
Sister:
Laura Ann Jackson Arnold
Jackson's strong bond with his beloved younger sister Laura would gradually diminish when the Civil War began, Laura - a staunch Unionist - stopped talking to her brother altogether when he sided with the Confederacy. Jackson nevertheless gave his new daughter the middle name "Laura" in honor of his sister.
