Won at First Bull Run, 'standing like a stone wall'
Died
Of wounds after Chancellorsville, shot by his own men
Stonewall Jackson was Robert E. Lee's most trusted lieutenant and the most feared marching general of the Confederacy. He won his name standing firm at the first battle of the war and lost his life at the height of his greatest victory. Like Lee, his fame is inseparable from the Confederate cause he served, the defence of slavery.
The stone wall
A former teacher at the Virginia Military Institute1, Jackson earned his nickname at the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861, where his brigade held its ground2 and a fellow officer cried that Jackson was standing1 "like a stone wall." The name stuck to a general who would become known for speed, secrecy and relentless marching.
Stonewall Jackson photographed by Nathaniel Routzahn in Winchester, Virginia, in November 1862. Public domain
The Valley Campaign
In the spring of 1862 Jackson fought the Shenandoah Valley Campaign, still studied as a model of maneuver. With a small force he marched hundreds of miles, struck several larger Union armies in turn2 and kept tens of thousands of enemy troops tied up far from the main front. It made his reputation.
Map of the Shenandoah Valley by Jedediah Hotchkiss, the base map for William Allan's 1880 history of Jackson's 1862 Valley Campaign (Library of Congress). Public domain
Lee's right arm
Joining Lee's army, Jackson became his hammer. He held the Confederate left through the terrible day at3Antietam in 1862, and at Chancellorsville in May 1863 he made the march that defined him: a long, hidden move around the Union flank2, then a surprise attack at dusk that rolled up the enemy line.
Death by friendly fire
That evening, riding forward in the dark to press the attack, Jackson was shot by his own nervous pickets.4 His arm was amputated and he died of pneumonia eight days later.1 Lee said he had lost his right arm3, and many believe the Confederacy lost more; two months later, without him, Lee was beaten at Gettysburg.
The Battle of Chancellorsville, a chromolithograph published by Kurz and Allison in 1889, which shows Jackson mortally wounded. Public domain
James I. Robertson Jr., Stonewall Jackson: The Man, the Soldier, the Legend (Macmillan Publishing USA, 1997). ↩ ab
Robert K. Krick, The Smoothbore Volley That Doomed the Confederacy: The Death of Stonewall Jackson and Other Chapters on the Army of Northern Virginia (Louisiana State University Press, 2002). ↩
Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson (1824 to 1863) was a Confederate general in the American Civil War, Robert E. Lee's ablest lieutenant, famous for fast marching and bold flank attacks.
How did Stonewall Jackson get his nickname?
At the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861 his brigade held firm under fire, and a fellow officer rallied his men by shouting that Jackson was standing 'like a stone wall.'
What was the Valley Campaign?
In spring 1862 Jackson marched a small army rapidly around the Shenandoah Valley, defeating several larger Union forces in turn and tying down tens of thousands of enemy troops; it is still taught as a model of maneuver.
How did Stonewall Jackson die?
After his great flank attack at Chancellorsville in May 1863 he was accidentally shot by his own men in the dark, lost an arm, and died of pneumonia eight days later.
What did Jackson fight for?
He was a Confederate general, so he fought for the South's rebellion, a cause founded on the defence of slavery, despite his personal reputation for skill and piety.
Why was Jackson's death important?
Lee called him his right arm; without Jackson's driving attacks, Lee's army was beaten two months later at Gettysburg, and many see the loss as a turning point for the Confederacy.
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