Stonewall Jackson

General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson was a corps commander in General Robert E. Lee’s Confederate Army of Northern Virginia during the American Civil War.  Noted for eccentric behavior, the former instructor at the Virginia Military Institute proved himself a brilliant tactician in several battles, including Second Manassas and Chancellorsville.  General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson earned his nickname at the Battle of First Manassas when another Confederate general observed his troops standing “like a stone wall” against the enemy.  General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson was wounded by friendly fire at Chancellorsville and died of pneumonia at age 39 on May 10, 1863.

Lincoln's moral leadership and political legacy, as well as Lee and Jackson's expert command have never left our popular imagination.

Stonewall Jackson

Looking Back on the Vicksburg Campaign

Brooke C. Stoddard

When the sun set on the Confederacy, the stars began to rise and shine, none more brightly for Northerners than that of Abraham Lincoln, and for Southerners than those of Robert E. Read more

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.

Stonewall Jackson

Robert E. Lee’s “Right Arm”

Following his greatest victory, at the Battle of Chancellorsville on May 2, 1863, Confederate Lt. Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson was scouting ahead of the lines with members of his staff when tragedy struck. Read more

Stonewall Jackson

A Murderous Order at Culp’s Hill

By Joshua Sheperd

Although Union Colonel Silas Colgrove had previously led his men through some of the most horrific fighting in the eastern theater of the Civil War, the order he received on the morning of July 3, 1863, in the woods near Culp’s Hill at Gettysburg, was the most unnerving he had ever received. Read more

Abraham Lincoln clashed publicly with Maj. Gen. John C. Fremont over his hasty emancipation proclamation in Missouri.

Stonewall Jackson

The Frémont Emancipation Proclamation

By Lawrence Weber

As the early days of the Civil  War were unfolding and the destiny of the republic was beginning to be contested on the battlefield, Abraham Lincoln was engaged in a no less perilous type of battle. Read more

Stonewall Jackson

Stalemate at Seven Pines

By David Norris

On the last day of May 1862, heavy gunfire rumbled and thundered in the distance beyond the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. Read more

Stonewall Jackson

The Disastrous Red River Campaign

By Michael E. Haskew

Nathaniel Banks was a political creature, and with his country in the throes of civil war, he now held the politically obtained rank of major general in the Union Army. Read more

Stonewall Jackson

Battle of Antietam: Clash in the Cornfield

By Michael E. Haskew

The White House was a somber place in the summer of 1862. The Civil War was in the midst of its second costly year, and the Union armies had yet to win a significant victory in the eastern theater. Read more

Stonewall Jackson

Return to Manassas

By John Walker

Sent into north-central Virginia to threaten Richmond on a second front, McDowell had managed to get lost in the woods near Gainesville and lost touch with his command for 12 full hours. Read more

Stonewall Jackson

The Dade Battle: Ambush in Florida

By Donald J. Roberts II

The road that stretched through the pine and palmetto woodlands of central Florida was void of the usual animal chitter-chatter on the cool morning of December 28, 1835. Read more