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.
Stonewall Jackson
The year 1864 was shaping up to be a critical one in the American Civil War. During the previous year, Federal armies had gained control of the Mississippi River and consolidated their grip on Tennessee. Read more
Stonewall Jackson
As the Civil War continued in the spring of 1864, a Shenandoah Valley resident lamented, “Our prospects look gloomy, very gloomy.” Read more
Stonewall Jackson
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
The ground around Manassas, Virginia, was not auspicious for Union Army forces in the first two years of the Civil War. Read more
Stonewall Jackson
Watching his forces prepare to attack the Union Army at the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863, Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson commented to an aide, “The Institute will be heard from today.” Read more
Stonewall Jackson
Even in an army not lacking for larger-than-life figures, Confederate cavalry leader Turner Ashby stood out from the crowd. Read more
Stonewall Jackson
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 men who wore Confederate gray were notoriously high-strung and quick to anger—none more so than Stonewall Jackson and Ambrose Powell Hill. Read more
Stonewall Jackson
The city of New York provided more regiments than did many states during the Civil War, and the deeds of several of its regiments, such as the 9th New York “Hawkins’s Zouaves,” 39th New York “Garibaldi Guard,” and 42nd New York “Tammany Regiment” are well known. Read more
Stonewall Jackson
John Pope’s second campaign as an army commander went considerably better than his first. Not that it did his reputation—or Abraham Lincoln’s, for that matter—any particular good. Read more
Stonewall Jackson
Like the tall hills that surround it, the history of Harpers Ferry has many layers. While some of the nearby Civil War battlefields, most notably Antietam National Battlefield, are picturesque, they can’t compete with the grandeur of Harpers Ferry. Read more
Stonewall Jackson
Gray waves of infantry emerging from the dark woods on both sides of the Orange Turnpike stampeded startled Yankees on the Federal right flank on May 2, 1863. Read more
Stonewall Jackson
Dawn on July 1, 1862, ushered in a hot summer day. After having assumed the offensive five days earlier, General Robert E. Read more
Stonewall Jackson
Union Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside was prone to dithering. The vanguard of his 120,000-strong Union Army had arrived in Falmouth on the north bank of the Rappahannock River opposite Fredericksburg on November 14, 1862. Read more
Stonewall Jackson
The New Englanders crept forward through the thick woods toward the Rebel position at mid-afternoon. Trading volleys with the Confederates behind the natural trench afforded by the unfinished railroad line during the Battle of Second Manassas in summer 1862 had so far proved unsuccessful throughout the scorching hot summer day. Read more
Stonewall Jackson
The first thing that strikes a visitor to Henry Hill at Manassas National Battlefield Park is the spectacular view. Read more
Stonewall Jackson
In 1862, Confederate forces in Virginia were enjoying a number of campaign successes, but the decisive advantage in naval power enjoyed by the Union enabled it to advance down the Mississippi, capture river forts, and conduct many coastal attacks. Read more
