StoneWall Jackson Essay, Research Paper
General ?Stonewall? Jackson was one of the
most widely well known leaders in the American Civil
War. He was second best only to the famous General
Lee, who also greatly admired him. His tactics are
still studied today in Military Institutes around the
world.
On January 21, 1824, Thomas Jonathan Jackson
was born in Clarksburg, Virginia to Jonathan
Jackson, an attorney and Julia Beckwith Neale. They
had three other children; Elizabeth, Warren, and
Laura Ann. When Jackson was two years old his
father and his sister, Elizabeth died of typhoid fever.
Julia gave birth to Laura the next day. In 1830 Julia
was remarried to Blake Woodson. He disliked his new
stepchildren and was financially unstable. A little
while after the marriage, Thomas and Laura were
sent to live with their Uncle Cummins Jackson at
Jackson Mill. While there he helped around his
uncle?s farm, tending sheep with help from a
sheepdog, driving teams of oxen and helped harvest
the fields of wheat and corn. ( Gilchrist-Internet )
Most of Jackson?s education was self-taught. He
would sit up at night reading by the flickering light
of burning pine knots. There is a story that says
Thomas once made a deal with one of his uncle?s
slaves to provide him with pine knots in exchange for
reading lessons. This was in violation of a Virginian
law at the time that forbade teaching a slave to read
or write. Jackson taught the slave as promised and
the slave wrote himself a traveling pass and escaped
to freedom in the north. Jackson attended school
whenever possible. In 1837 he attended classes in the
community of Westfield for only 39 days. Two years
later he attended a school in the assembly room of
the first Lewis County courthouse in Weston. Thomas
lived at his uncle?s house until the summer of 1842
when he was appointed to the United States Military
Academy at Westpoint. Jackson graduated in June
1846 standing 17th out of 59 graduates. ( VMI-
Internet)
While at Jackson Mill, Thomas served as a
schoolteacher for four months during the winter of
1840- 1841 then he was elected a Lewis County
constable. He was only seventeen at the time, a year
to young of the legal age of 18 necessary to hold the
position. It is believed that his uncle?s influence in the
county helped bend the age requirement. After
serving in the Mexican War, Jackson resigned from
the army to take a teaching job at the Virginia
Military Institute in lexington to become a professor
of Natural and Experimental Philosophy and
Artillery Tactics. ( Gilchrist-internet) Jackson was a
horrible teacher. He just couldn?t get the ideas he
was trying to teach into the heads of his students. His
students ridiculed and disliked him very much. In 1856,
members of the VMI Society of Alumni presented to
the board of visitors a petition to have Jackson
removed from office, which was unsuccessful.
Jackson was unaware of the controversy until a full
year later. He was also the subject to many cadet
pranks such as throwing spitballs, making noises
when his back was turned, dropping a brick as he
passed underneath a barracks window (ouch), and
pulling linchpins from canon wheels during artillery
drills. ( VMI- Internet)
After his graduation from Westpoint, Jackson
served as a lieutenant in the Mexican War. He was
commended twice for bravery and received more
promotions than any other officer during the war. He
then took the teaching job at VMI for 10 years before
returning to the army once again as general to fight
on the confederate side in the Civil War.
(VMI-internet) On July 21, 1861, Jackson was in
command of a brigade during the Battle of Bull Run,
when Confederate General Bernard Bee was trying
to rally his own troops and he saw Jackson holding
his own brigade then he shouted,? There stands
Jackson?s brigade like a stonewall! Rally behind the
Virginians!? From then on Jackson was known
worldwide as ?Stonewall? Jackson. During the
Shenandoah Valley campaign in 1862, Jackson with no
more than 16000 troops defeated 60,000 Union
Troopers in a series of marches and battles. Then
Jackson raced to the aid of General Robert E Lee at
Richmond. He also fought in the seven days battles
and at Cedar Mountain, the second Battle of Bull
Run, Antietan, and Fredrcksburg. In May1863,
Jackson and his troops struck from behind and drove
the enemy back near Chancellorsville. At nightfall
Jackson scouted ahead and some of his own troops
shot him mistakenly. Doctors amputated his left arm
and eight days later, May 10 1863 General Thomas J
(Stonewall) Jackson died of pneumonia. His last
words were ? Let us cross over the river, and rest
under the shade of the trees.? ( World Book-
Enclycopedia)
In conclusion, General Stonewall Jackson is the
one of the most famous confederate generals
because of his skilled tactics. (Collier?s-
Encyclopedia) He is still an idol all throughout the
south, and he will be remembered forever as the
legendary Stonewall Jackson.