Stonewall Jackson: General Lee's Lieutenant

Thomas J. Jackson (1824-1863), better known as Stonewall Jackson, was one of the most famous Confederate generals of the American Civil War (1861-1865). A veteran of the Mexican-American War and a former VMI instructor, he joined the Confederate army in 1861 and rose to prominence in his Shenandoah Valley Campaign (March to June 1862). He became the right-hand man of General Robert E. Lee (1807-1870) and led the Second Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia, which included his celebrated 'Stonewall Brigade'. On 2 May 1863, Jackson was wounded by friendly fire during the Battle of Chancellorsville and died of pneumonia eight days later. His loss was greatly lamented across the South.

Early Life

Thomas Jonathan Jackson was born on 21 January 1824 in Clarksburg, Virginia (now West Virginia). He was the third child born to Jonathan Jackson, a lawyer of Scotch-Irish descent, and his wife, Julia Beckwith Neale Jackson. His early years were marred by tragedy. On 6 March 1826, when he was only two years old, he was at the bedside of his older sister Elizabeth as she died of typhoid fever. His father, having nursed Elizabeth in her dying days, caught the same fever and died a few weeks later. Julia Jackson gave birth to another daughter, Laura Ann, the day after her husband's death; widowed at only 28 and with three young children to feed, she was forced to sell the family's possessions to get enough money to scrape by. She remarried in 1830, but her health was fragile, and she died the following year, leaving her children orphaned. Jackson and his little sister, Laura, were sent to live with their uncle, Cummins E. Jackson. Their older brother, Warren, went to live with other relatives and died of tuberculosis at age 20.

Growing up, Jackson often helped Cummins around the farm, tending sheep and harvesting crops. With little time for formal education, he had to educate himself and could often be found with his nose buried in a book. During these years, he formed a close bond with his sister Laura, and their devotion to one another would last until their estrangement during the Civil War – a staunch Unionist, Laura would become disgusted by Jackson's leadership role in the Confederate army. In 1842, Jackson was accepted as a cadet at the US Military Academy at West Point, New York. Due to his lack of schooling, he soon fell behind the other students and had to work extra hard to catch up. He graduated in June 1846, ranking 17th in a class of 59 students. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant and assigned to Company K of the 1st US Artillery Regiment.

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