21 January 1824 A.D. LTGEN Thomas “Old Jack Stonewall” Jackson Born
Editors. “1824 – Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, Confederate General, is born..” This Day in U.S. Military
History. N.d. https://thisdayinusmilhist.wordpress.com/2014/01/21/january-21/. Accessed 20 Jan 2015.
1824 – Thomas “Stonewall”
Jackson, Confederate General, is born. Next to Robert E. Lee himself, Thomas
J. Jackson is the most revered of all Confederate commanders. A graduate of
West Point (1846), he had served in the artillery in the Mexican War, earning
two brevets, before resigning to accept a professorship at the Virginia
Military Institute. Thought strange by the cadets, he earned “Tom Fool Jackson”
and “Old Blue Light” as nicknames. Upon the outbreak of the Civil War he was
commissioned a colonel in the Virginia forces and dispatched to Harpers Ferry
where he was active in organizing the raw recruits until relieved by Joe
Johnston. Leaving Harpers Ferry, his brigade moved with Johnston to join
Beauregard at Manassas. In the fight at 1st Bull Run they were so distinguished
that both the brigade and its commander were dubbed “Stonewall” by General Barnard
Bee. (However, Bee may have been complaining that Jackson was not coming to his
support). The 1st Brigade was the only Confederate brigade to have its nickname
become its official designation. That fall Jackson was given command of the
Valley with a promotion to major general. That winter he launched a dismal
campaign into the western part of the state that resulted in a long feud with
General William Loring and caused Jackson to submit his resignation, which he
was talked out of. In March he launched an attack on what he thought was a
Union rear guard at Kernstown. Faulty intelligence from his cavalry chief,
Turner Ashby, led to a defeat. A religious man, Jackson always regretted having
fought on a Sunday. But the defeat had the desired result, halting reinforcements
being sent to McClellan’s army from the Valley. In May Jackson defeated
Fremont’s advance at McDowell and later that month launched a brilliant
campaign that kept several Union commanders in the area off balance. He won
victories at Front Royal, 1st Winchester, Cross Keys, and Port Republic. He
then joined Lee in the defense of Richmond but displayed a lack of vigor during
the Seven Days. Detached from Lee, he swung off to the north to face John
Pope’s army and after a slipshod battle at Cedar Mountain, slipped behind Pope
and captured his Manassas junction supply base. He then hid along an incomplete
branch railroad and awaited Lee and Longstreet. Attacked before they arrived,
he held on until Longstreet could launch a devastating attack which brought a
second Bull Run victory. In the invasion of Maryland, Jackson was detached to
capture Harpers Ferry and was afterwards distinguished at Antietam with Lee. He
was promoted after this and given command of the now-official 2nd Corps. It had
been known as a wing or command before this. He was disappointed with the
victory at Fredericksburg because it could not be followed up. In his greatest
day he led his corps around the Union right flank at Chancellorsville and
routed the 11th Corps. Reconnoitering that night, he was returning to his own
lines when he was mortally wounded by some of his own men. Following the
amputation of his arm, he died eight days later on May 10, 1863, from
pneumonia. Lee wrote of him with deep feeling: ” He has lost his left arm; but
I have lost my right arm.” A superb commander, he had several faults. Personnel
problems haunted him, as in the feuds with Loring and with Garnett after
Kernstown. His choices for promotion were often not first rate. He did not give
his subordinates enough latitude, which denied them the training for higher
positions under Lee’s loose command style. This was especially devastating in
the case of his immediate successor, Richard Ewell. Although he was sometimes
balky when in a subordinate position, Jackson was supreme on his own hook.
Stonewall Jackson is buried in Lexington, Virginia.
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