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.
•September 9, 2014 • Be the First to Comment
This American Civil War timeline covers the events of 1862, in which Confederate forces in Virginia and the Union navy both experienced substantial success. More »
•August 12, 2014 • Read Comments (2)
This week, author and Civil War Quarterly editor Roy Morris Jr. shares with us his personal list of the main Civil War generals who defined the war and shaped its outcome for the North and the South. More »
•July 16, 2014 • Be the First to Comment
General Robert E. Lee led the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia during the Civil War and remains one of the conflict’s most revered figures. More »
•July 8, 2014 • Be the First to Comment
Determined to hold on to the Union’s crucial boarder states, President Abraham Lincoln clashed publicly with Maj. Gen. John. C. Frémont over Frémont’s hasty emancipation proclamation in Missouri. More »
•July 3, 2014 • Be the First to Comment
Lincoln’s moral leadership and political legacy, as well as Lee and Jackson’s expert command have never left our popular imagination. More »
•June 26, 2014 • Be the First to Comment
Did Confederate II Corps commander Richard Ewell make the right decision in hesitating to attack the enemy in the late hours of July 1? More »
•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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