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THOMAS JONATHAN JACKSON (1824-1863)

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 111 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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THOMAS See also:JONATHAN See also:JACKSON (1824-1863)  , known as " Stonewall See also:Jackson," See also:American See also:general, was See also:born at Clarks-See also:burg, See also:Virginia (now See also:West Viginia), on the 21st of See also:January 1824, and was descended from an See also:Ulster See also:family . At an See also:early See also:age he was See also:left a penniless See also:orphan, and his See also:education was acquired in a small See also:country school until he procured, mainly by his own See also:energy, a nomination to the Military See also:Academy . Lack of social See also:graces and the deficiencies of his early education impeded him at first, but "in the end `Old See also:Jack,' as he was always called, with his desperate earnestness, his unflinching straightforwardness, and his high sense of See also:honour, came to be regarded with something like See also:affection." Such qualities he displayed not less amongst the See also:light-hearted cadets than afterwards at the See also:head of troops in See also:battle . After graduating he took See also:part, as second See also:lieutenant in the 1st U.S . See also:Artillery, in the Mexican See also:War . At See also:Vera Cruz he won the See also:rank of first lieutenant, and for gallant conduct at Contreras and Chapultepec respectively he was brevetted See also:captain and See also:major, a rank which he attained with less than one See also:year's service . During his stay in the See also:city of See also:Mexico his thoughts were seriously directed towards See also:religion, and, eventually entering the Presbyterian communion, he ruled every subsequent See also:action of his See also:life by his faith . In 1851 he applied for and obtained a professorship at the Virginia military See also:institute, See also:Lexington; and here, except for a See also:short visit to See also:Europe, he remained for ten years, teaching natural See also:science, the theory of gunnery and See also:battalion See also:drill . Though he was not a See also:good teacher, his See also:influence both on his pupils and on those few intimate See also:friends for whom alone he relaxed the gravity of his manner was profound, and, little as he was known to the See also:white inhabitants of Lexington, he was revered by the slaves, to whom he showed See also:uniform kindness, and for whose moral instruction he worked unceasingly . As to the See also:great question at issue in 1861, Major Jackson's ruling See also:motive was devotion to his See also:state, and when Virginia seceded, on the 17th of See also:April, and the Lexington cadets were ordered to See also:Richmond, Jackson went thither in command of the See also:corps . His intimate friend, See also:Governor Letcher, appreciating his gifts, sent him as a See also:colonel of See also:infantry to Harper's See also:Ferry, where the first collision with the See also:Union forces was hourly expected . In See also:June he received the command of a See also:brigade, and in See also:July promotion to the rank of brigadier-general .

He had well employed the short See also:

time at his disposal for training his men, and on the first See also:field of See also:Bull Run they won for themselves and their brigadier, by their rigid steadiness at the See also:critical moment of the battle, the historic name of " Stonewall." After the battle of Bull Run Jackson spent some time in the further training of his brigade which, to his See also:infinite regret, he was compelled to leave behind him when, in See also:October, he was assigned as a major-general to command in the See also:Shenandoah Valley . His See also:army had to be formed out of See also:local troops, and few See also:modern weapons were available, but the Valley regiments retained the impress of Jackson's training till the days of See also:Cedar See also:Creek . Discipline was not acquired at once, however, and the first ventures of the force were not very successful . At Kerns-See also:town, indeed, Jackson was tactically defeated by the Federals under See also:Shields (See also:March 23, 1862) . But the Stonewall brigade had been sent to its old See also:leader in See also:November, and by the time that the famous Valley See also:Campaign (see SHENANDOAH VALLEY See also:CAMPAIGNS) began, the forces under Jackson's command had acquired cohesion and See also:power of manoeuvre . On the 8th of May 1862 was fought the combat of McDowell, won by Jackson against the leading troops of See also:Fremont's command from West Virginia . Three See also:weeks later the forces under See also:Banks were being driven over the See also:Potomac at Harper's Ferry, and Jackson was See also:master of the Valley . Every other See also:plan of campaign in Virginia was at once subordinated to the See also:scheme of " trapping Jackson." But the Confederates, marching swiftly up the Valley, slipped between the converging columns of Fremont from the west and McDowell from the See also:east, and concluded a most daring campaign highly popular . His next publication, Six Sonatas for the See also:Harp-by the victorious actions of See also:Cross Keys and See also:Port See also:Republic (8th and 9th of June) . While the forces of the See also:North were still scattered, Jackson secretly left the Valley to take a decisive part in See also:Lee's campaign before Richmond . In the " Seven Days " Jackson was frequently at See also:fault, but his See also:driving energy See also:bore no small part in securing the defeat of McClellan's advance on Richmond . Here he passed for the first time under the See also:direct orders of See also:Robert Lee, and the See also:rest of his career was spent in command of the II. corps of the Army of See also:Northern Virginia .

As Lee's See also:

chief and most trusted subordinate he was throughout charged with the See also:execution of the more delicate and difficult operations of his See also:commander's hazardous See also:strategy . After his victory over Banks at Cedar See also:Mountain, near Culpeper, Virginia, Jackson led the daring march See also:round the flank of General See also:Pope's army, which against all theoretical rules ended in the great victory of second Bull Run . In the See also:Maryland campaign Lieut.-General Jackson was again detached from the See also:main army . Eleven thousand Federals, surrounded in Harper's Ferry, were forced to surrender, and Jackson rejoined Lee just in time to oppose McClellan's advance . At the See also:Antietam his corps bore the brunt of the battle, which was one of the most stubborn of modern warfare . At Fredericksburg his wing of Lee's See also:line of battle was heavily engaged, and his last battle, before See also:Chancellorsville, in the thickets of the See also:Wilderness, was his greatest See also:triumph . By one of his See also:swift and See also:secret flank See also:marches he placed his corps on the flank of the enemy, and on the 2nd of May flung them against the Federal XI. corps, which was utterly routed . At the See also:close of a See also:day of victory he was reconnoitring the hostile positions when suddenly the Confederate outposts opened See also:fire upon his See also:staff, whom they mistook in the dark and. tangled See also:forest for Federal See also:cavalry . Jackson See also:fell wounded, and on the loth of May he died at See also:Guinea's station . He was buried, according to his own wish, at Lexington, where a statue and a memorial See also:hall commemorate his connexion with the See also:place; and on the spot where he was mortally wounded stands a See also:plain See also:granite See also:pillar . The first contribution towards the See also:bronze statue at Richmond was made by the See also:negro Baptist See also:congregation for which Jackson had laboured so earnestly in his Lexington years . He was twice married, first to Eleanor (d .

1854), daughter of See also:

George Junkin, See also:president of See also:Washington See also:College, Virginia, and secondly in 1857 to See also:Mary See also:Anna See also:Morrison, daughter of a North Carolina clergyman . That Jackson's See also:death, at a critical moment of the fortunes of the Confederacy, was an irreparable loss was disputed by no one . Lee said that he had lost his right See also:arm, and, good soldiers as were the other generals, not one amongst them was comparable to Jackson, whose name was dreaded in the North like that of Lee himself . His military See also:character was the enlargement of his See also:personal character—" desperate earnestness, unflinching straightforwardness," and See also:absolute, almost fatalist, See also:trust in the guidance of See also:providence . At the head of his troops, who idolized him, he was a See also:Cromwell, adding to the zeal of a fanatic and the energy of the born leader the See also:special military skill and trained soldierly spirit which the See also:English commander had to gain by experience . His See also:Christianity was conspicuous, even amongst deeply religious men like Lee and See also:Stuart, and penetrated every part of his character and conduct . See lives by R . L . Dabney (New See also:York, 1883), J . E . See also:Cooke (New York, 1866), M . A .

Jackson (General Jackson's widow) (New York, 1892) ; and especially G . F . R . See also:

Henderson, Stonewall Jackson (See also:London, 1898), and H . A . White, Stonewall Jackson (See also:Philadelphia, 1909) .

End of Article: THOMAS JONATHAN JACKSON (1824-1863)
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