An 1846 graduate of the United States Military Academy, Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson was one of the most capable and best known general officers of the Civil War. Jackson was serving as a professor at the Virginia Military Institute on the eve of the Civil War and earned his nickname at the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861. He went on to command the Second Corps of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and became General Robert E. Lee’s most trusted subordinate. Although his eccentricities were well known, Jackson skillfully conducted the Valley Campaign in 1862 and carried out Lee’s orders for a successful flanking march and assault against the Union line at Chancellorsville in May 1863. Jackson seemed to intuitively interpret Lee’s orders. Tragically, Jackson was mortally wounded by friendly fire at Chancellorsville on May 2. His left arm was amputated, and he died of pneumonia 10 days later. Lee was grief stricken and said, “…He has lost his left arm, but I my right.” Lionized throughout the South, Jackson was 39 at the time of his death.
•June 18, 2014 • Be the First to Comment
Chancellorsville is often touted as Robert E. Lee’s ‘greatest victory,’ but cost the Army of Northern Virginia 13,000 men plus the irreplaceable Stonewall Jackson. More »
•June 10, 2014 • Be the First to Comment
The proud Regulars of Company H made a gallant stand in the bload-soaked Wheatfield on day two of the Battle of Gettysburg. Read all about it inside. More »
•May 27, 2014 • Be the First to Comment
Stonewall Jackson’s II Corps engaged Brig. Gen. John Gibbon’s Iron Brigade in a fierce confrontation at the tiny of hamlet of Groveton. More »
•April 28, 2014 • Be the First to Comment
Although Stonewall Jackson’s death was unpreventable, given the state of medicine at the time, it is more likely that he died from thromboembolism than from the indirect cause of pneumonia.
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•April 28, 2014 • Be the First to Comment
As Robert E. Lee’s “right hand”, the death of Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson was a crushing blow to the Confederate army. But was it pneumonia? More »
•April 25, 2014 • Be the First to Comment
Arguably the most celebrated campaign feat of arms of the American Civil War is that of Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley in May and early June 1862. More »
•April 25, 2014 • Be the First to Comment
Although Stonewall Jackson lost 400 men fighting from Front Royal to Winchester, he lost thousands to straggling in the retreat from the Potomac to Strasburg. More »
•April 23, 2014 • 1 Comment
“But for you, there would have been no Battle of Bull Run.” – Confederate President Jefferson Davis to D.C. widow Rose Greenhow. But just who was she? More »
