Lieutenant General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, CSA

Lt. General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson (CSA)

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_Jackson
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/536
• https://www.nps.gov/people/thomas-j-stonewall-jackson.htm
• https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/thomas-j-stonewall-j...
• https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/jackson-thomas-j-stonewall...
• https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/stonewall-jackson
• https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-civil-war/thomas-stonewall-jackson

Stonewall Jackson (Major USA 1846-51 & Lt. General CSA 1861-63) was a Confederate Lt. General. during the American Civil War and probably the most well-know CSA Commander after General Robert E Lee. His military career includes the Valley Campaign of 1862 and his service as a Corps Commander in the Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E Lee.

Civil War Confederate Lieutenant General. Born in what is now the state of West Virginia, in the town of Clarksburg to parents who unable to secure medical attention died literally as the result of extreme poverty. Orphaned, he was taken in and raised by an uncle.

Desiring an education, he applied to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, realizing acceptance meant a free education. Though, ill-prepared, he applied himself and his grades improved each year resulting graduating in 1849 17th in a Class of 59.

He performed stellar service in the Mexican War, then resigned from the Army to accept a professorship at Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Virginia. His summer vacations from teaching were spent traveling to the North and in Europe where his interests were aroused in art and culture. His peaceful life ended with the start of the Civil War. He was ordered to Richmond as part of the cadet corps. The South believed his experience as a teacher merited making him a Brigadier General.

He did not disappoint: After receiving his nickname "Stonewall" at Bull Run because of his battlefield demeanor, he continually impressed the Confederacy with his skill on the battlefield distinguishing himself in the Valley campaign, the Battle of Second Manassas and the Battle of Fredericksburg to become a Southern hero. During the Chancellorsville battle, Jackson rode forward to scout with a party. As darkness descended, they returned in the direction of their lines coming upon posted Confederates, who mistaking them for Union combatants, opened fire killing two staff members outright while three bullets struck General Jackson. He was transported some 28 miles by horse ambulance to Chandler plantation at Guinea Station to an outbuilding. His left arm was amputated at the shoulder. Recovery was unsuccessful and he succumbed to fever and pneumonia after languishing for eight days with his wife by his bedside.

His body was taken to Richmond, placed in a casket and then by packet boat to Virginia Military Institute (VMI) where Cadets met and carried the remains to his old classroom where it lay in state. A battery fired salutes from sunrise to sunset. The body, enveloped in the Confederate flag, was borne on a caisson to Lexington Presbyterian, the family church for services, and then completed with burial in the family plot at Lexington Cemetery. The body was disinterred later and reburied beneath a statue in the cemetery center which was also renamed for him.

Much remains of the life of General Jackson: A granite monument marks the actual spot of his wounding and stands on the grounds of the Chancellorsville Battlefield Visitor Center. The office building where Jackson was taken has been restored and is part of the Fredricksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. Many items used during the General's stay are still there and other pieces from the era along with a few reproductions recreate a scene reminiscent of the last days of his life.

The Stonewall Jackson House located in Lexington is the only home that was ever owned by the General and his wife. He lived in the house while he taught at the V.M.I. It is on the National Register and furnished with period pieces including many of Jackson's personal possessions. The V.M.I. museum is the ultimate repository. It holds a large collection of his personal paper and images and artifacts such as his favorite hat, two uniforms, the raincoat worn when shot and many items from the his former classroom, and above all, his mounted steed Little Sorrel. (bio by: Donald Greyfield)

There's an amusing story about Jackson and a photograph. He had a set of two taken during one of his occupations of Winchester, Virginia, by the resident photographer, Nathaniel Routzahn. The photographer persuaded Jackson to do a sitting, only to find that the General's uniform had lost a button. Rather than reschedule or trouble someone else, Jackson sewed the button back on - out of line. His wife always liked that one best, because it gave a rare glimpse of the man behind the warrior.

=================================================================================

Lieutenant General Thomas Jonathan Jackson, passed from wounds received in action May 10, 1863 • In General Lee’s battle report on Chancellorsville, he pays this tribute to his memory:

The movement by which the enemy’s position was turned and the future of the day decided was conducted by the lamented Lieutenant-General Jackson, who, as has already been stated, was severely wounded near the close of the engagement Saturday evening. I do not propose here to speak of the character of the illustrious man since removed from the scene of his eminent usefulness by the hand of an inscrutable but all wise Providence. I nevertheless desire to pay the tribute of my admiration to the matchless energy and skill that marked this last act of his life, forming, as it did, a worthy conclusion of that long series of splendid achievements which won for him the lasting love and gratitude of his country.

R.E. Lee
General

Lee wrote to Jackson after learning of his injuries, stating "Could I have directed events, I would have chosen for the good of the country to be disabled in your stead." Jackson died of complications from pneumonia on May 10, 1863. On his deathbed, though he became weaker, he remained spiritually strong. Jackson's words were "It is the Lord's Day; my wish is fulfilled. I have always desired to die on Sunday." Dr. McGuire wrote an account of his final hours and his last words:

A few moments before he died he cried out in his delirium, "Order A.P. Hill to prepare for action! Pass the infantry to the front rapidly! Tell Major Hawks"—then stopped, leaving the sentence unfinished. Presently a smile of ineffable sweetness spread itself over his pale face, and he said quietly, and with an expression, as if of relief, "Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees."
He crossed over on May 10, 1863
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SHOOTING OF JACKSON

The 18th Regiment, North Carolina Troops, was responsible for the accidental shooting of General Stonewall Jackson at Chancellorsville, Va., on May 2, 1863. Though the General survived, albeit with the loss of an arm to amputation. However, he died of complications of pneumonia eight days later. His death was a severe setback for the Confederacy, affecting not only its military prospects, but also the morale of its army and of the general public.

Military historians consider Jackson to be one of the most gifted tactical commanders in United States history. His Valley Campaign and his envelopment of the Union Army 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 Manassas (where he received his famous nickname "Stonewall"), the Second Battle of Manassas, Antietam and Fredericksburg.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Colonel Walter H. Taylor, CSA (General Lee p45 -46)

Occasionally we hear mention in some quarter of a comparison of the relative merit, as soldiers, of generals Lee and Jackson. I always have expressed it. “If I such comparison, preferring to think of each as peerless of his kind. Each excelled in his own sphere of action: for quickness of perception, boldness in planning, and skill in directing, General Lee had no superior; for celerity in his movement, audacity in execution of bold designs, and impetuosity in attacking, General Jackson had not his peer. As another as expressed it. “If Lee was the Jove of the War, Stonewall Jackson was his thunderbolt. For the execution of the hazardous plans of Lee, just such a lieutenant was indispensable

Jackson had many talents that served him well.

Jackson was an intensely religious man. He believed he was serving God and that God was in control of his life or death and there was nothing he could do about it. So he didn’t worry and was fearless in battle.

He believed the Southern cause was sacred. He was totally fearless in battle. He would drive troops to the point of total exhaustion, seemingly insensitive to their hardship and suffering. He pushed himself as hard as his troops and suffered the same deprivations.

He recognized the value and advantage of fighting on your home territory and took every advantage of it.

He developed a new strategy for war that would be implemented by Germany in WWII. This was the mobile army engaging in quick strikes. Jackson realized that if one army was more mobile than the other, it could compete with a bigger, more equipped opponent. Jackson did much better employing this strategy than fighting in the traditional manner.

“Captain, my religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in 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.”

“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 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.“

“My religious beliefs teach me to feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time of my death. I do not concern myself with that, but to be always ready whenever it may overtake me. That is the way all men should live, and all men would be equally brave.”

After Jackson won five battles in one month, an aura of invincibility surrounded him. It lasted until his death, in the spring of 1863, during one of his most dramatic victories, the BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE