Originally aired on January 20, 1995 - In part 21 of our Civil War series, Virginia Tech history professor James Robertson profiles General Thomas Jonathan (Stonewall) Jackson.
#21 – General Stonewall Jackson
History calls him “Stonewall,” but his soldiers knew him affectionately as “Old Jack.” In April, 1862, he was barely known even in his own South. Three months later, after his campaign in the Shenandoah Valley, he was arguably the most famous general on earth. He died after only two years in the field. Many of his followers have insisted for the past 130 years that had he lived, the Civil War might have turned out differently.
Webster’s Dictionary defines “charisma” as “a special quality of leadership that… inspires allegiance and devotion.” Few field commanders in history possessed that quality more clearly than Thomas Jonathan Jackson. That is why the site of his death at Guiney’s Station, his home and grave in Lexington, his birthday in January, all have become national monuments.
Born in 1824 in the northern western Virginia Mountains, Jackson was an orphan by the age of six. An uncle raised him on the family farm. There young Jackson knew security but not the love that children expect and need. He entered West Point poorly prepared. By tireless study and inflexible determination, Jackson graduated. 17th among 59 cadets in the famous Class 1846.
Three promotions for gallantry came to him in the Mexican War. In 1851 Jackson left the Army to accept a professorship at the Virginia Military Institute. For ten years he taught difficult course combining physics, astronomy, and applied mathematics. He was not a good teacher, he was plagued by bad health, and he seemed to be a bundle of oddities and peculiarities. In addition, personal loss overshadowed many of the Lexington years. Jackson’s first wife died in childbirth. (The baby was still born). His second wife gave birth to a daughter who lived but three weeks.
That Jackson did not succumb to self-pity is attributable to the fact that shortly after settling in Lexington, he had found the faith he had sought. He joined the Presbyterian Church, pledged himself to God, and spent the rest of his life proving it.
In 1861 civil war swept across the land. Jackson was a Virginian. Where the Old Dominion went, he went. But in Jackson’s eyes there was another, even deeper factor at work. He saw divine intercession in the breakup of the Union. The Almighty had levied a curse on the land. The war was to be a test of faith, with victory to go to the side that most obeyed the teachings of Holy Scripture.
Combining Old Testament ferocity with New Testament faith, Jackson led his men to victory after victory. At first Manassas, McDowell, Front Royal, Winchester, Cross Keys, Port Republic, Cedar Mountain, and Second Manassas, he was in the forefront of battle and the architect of success. He demonstrated the nickname “Stonewall” with gallant defenses at Antietam and Fredericksburg. Secret marches, swift movements, heavy assaults against superior forces - - these became his trademark. And always he gave thanks to God for allowing him to be the instrument of conquest.
Jackson was but thirty-nine when he was accidentally shot by his own men in the confusion of the battle of Chancellorsville. The amputation of his left arm, plus a 27 – mile journey in a springless wagon to the railhead at Guiney’s Station, were too much for a weakened constitution. This Christian soldier had always voiced the desire to die on the Sabbath. On Sunday afternoon, May 10, 1863, Jackson succumbed to pneumonia. His passing was the deepest personal loss suffered by the Confederacy in the Civil War.
We are not likely to see his kind again. War change; personal leadership is not so important in this age of high technology. Jackson was more than a splendid soldier. He was a man who firmly believed that faith in God was the avenue to any achievement. Etched in marble today over one of the VMI portals is a Jackson quotation that, for him, was a commandment: “You may be whatever you resolve to be.”
