1050 Union University Dr, Jackson, TN 38305, United States
Jackson attended West Tennessee College (now Union University).
West Point, New York, United States
Jackson was appointed a cadet at West Point, entering July 1, 1852, and graduating in 1856.
1050 Union University Dr, Jackson, TN 38305, United States
Jackson attended West Tennessee College (now Union University).
West Point, New York, United States
Jackson was appointed a cadet at West Point, entering July 1, 1852, and graduating in 1856.
Jackson was born on October 1, 1835, in Paris, Tennessee, United States. He was the son of Dr. Alexander Jackson and Mary W. Hurt Jackson, both natives of Virginia, who had settled in West Tennessee in 1830. The parents later removed to Jackson, Tennessee, where William was, for the most part, reared.
Jackson attended the common schools of Jackson, Tennessee, and West Tennessee College (now Union University). While in the senior class of the college, he was appointed a cadet at West Point, entering July 1, 1852, and graduating in 1856.
Before the war, William Jackson served as a cavalry officer in the United States Army against the Indians in Kansas and New Mexico. Although he opposed the idea of war, he resigned his commission in the army in May 1861 and became a loyal Confederate. He served as a staff officer under General Gideon J. Pillow at Memphis.
In November 1861, he was wounded at Belmont, Mississippi, during an attempt to rout General Ulysses S. Grant. At the battle of Shiloh in the spring of 1862, Jackson was a colonel in command of all cavalry from western Tennessee and northern Mississippi. At the battle of Corinth and the raid on Holly Springs, Mississippi, in late 1862, he commanded all cavalry under General Earl Van Dorn.
Promoted to brigadier general on December 29, 1862, Jackson fought in 1863 under General Joseph E. Johnston. He commanded the cavalry during the relief of Vicksburg and destroyed General William T. Sherman's supplies around Meridian, Mississippi, in early 1864. Later, he was cavalry commander of the left-wing of Johnston's Army of Tennessee during the Georgia campaign from Atlanta to Jonesboro, Georgia, and at Spring Hill and Franklin, Tennessee, in November 1864.
At Murfreesboro under General Nathan B. Forrest, he prevented the capture of John B. Hood’s army and assisted in the retreat from Nashville. Although Jackson was considered for promotion, he never reached the rank of major general because of his feud with the Jefferson Davis family. Jackson never surrendered.
From 1865 to 1868, William lived in Jackson, Tennessee, where his father had given him two cotton plantations. When he married, he moved to "Belle Meade," a plantation near Nashville which had been in his wife’s family since 1800. He became the largest stock farmer in Tennessee.
Jackson also edited the journal Rural Sun during the 1880s and at one time served as president of the State Association of Farmers.
In 1883, Jackson became president of the Safe Deposit, Trust, and Banking Company of Nashville, and in 1894, he became president of the Nashville Gaslight Company.
Jackson is best remembered for his service as general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He commanded the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Mississippi, led his division through the Nashville, Murfreesboro campaigns and was assigned command of all Tennessee Cavalry until the close of the war.
William was a Whig before the war and became a Democrat after the war.
In December 1868 Jackson married Selene Harding, daughter of General William G. Harding, of Belle Meade near Nashville. The couple had four children.
1805-1879
1811-1841
1832-1895
1846-1892
1869-1869
1871-1901
1874-1903
1876-1913
