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T.J. Jackson

T.J. Jackson

Confederate (CSA)

Major General

Thomas Jonathan Jackson

"Stonewall"

(1824 - 1863)

Home State: Virginia

Education: US Military Academy, West Point, NY, Class of 1846;Class Rank: 17/59

Command Billet: Wing (Corps) Commander

Branch of Service: Artillery

Unit: Jackson's Command

 

see his Battle Report

Before Sharpsburg

He graduated from West Point in 1846, served with distinction in the Mexican War, and resigned from the US Army in 1851. He was then a professor at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI). In 1861 he was a Major in the Virginia militia, then appointed Colonel of Confederate infantry, serving at Harpers Ferry. In June 1861 he was appointed Brigadier General and commanded the 1st Brigade in the Army of the Shenandoah at First Manassas. It was there that he earned his "Stonewall" nickname for standing firm under tremendous attack (his Brigade thereafter was known as the Stonewall Brigade). In October 1861 he was promoted to Major General and conducted his brilliant Shenandoah Valley campaign. He was also at the Seven Days, where he is considered to have fought poorly at times, probably due to exhaustion. He commanded the Confederate Left Wing at Second Manassas in August 1862.

On the Campaign

He led his Wing of the Army of Northern Virginia at Harpers Ferry and Sharpsburg. For further details about his activities you might also like to see Jackson's Official Report about the campaign.

The rest of the War

In October 1862 he was appointed Lieutenant General and commanded the Second (II) Corps at Fredericksburg (December 1862) and Chancellorsville (May 1863). He was shot by his own troops when returning from a scouting foray on the evening after his great triumph at Chancellorsville, had his left arm amputated, and died from the effects of his wounds near there on 10 May 1863.

References & notes

Personal and US Army service data from Cullum1. Jackson's Cullum Number is 1288. Further details from the VMI Archives2, source also of his picture, from the "Winchester photograph" of November 1862.

He was considered a great commander and is the subject of continued speculation as to how the Confederacy might have fared had he not been killed.

More on the Web

See an excellent presentation of Jackson resources from the VMI Archives.

Birth

01/21/1824; Clarksburg, VA

Death

05/10/1863; Guinea Station, VA; burial in Stonewall Jackson Cemetery, Lexington, VA

Notes

1   Cullum, George Washington, Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the US Military Academy, 2nd Edition, 3 vols., New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1868-79, Vol. II, pp. 268-269  [AotW citation 16660]

2   Virginia Military Institute, and Diane B. Jacob, Head, Archives & Records Management, Virginia Military Institute Archives, Published c.2000, first accessed 01 January 2003, <http://www.vmi.edu/archives/>  [AotW citation 16661]