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Brigadier General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson
Facts and Events
About Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson
Thomas Jonathan Jackson was born on January 21, 1824 in Clarksburg, Virginia. He entered West Point in July 1842 and, in spite of his poor childhood education, worked hard to graduate seventeenth in his class in 1846. Upon graduation, Jackson was sent on military duty to Mexico, and continued his service in the United States Army in positions in New York and Florida. In 1851, Jackson became professor of artillery tactics and natural philosophy at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. He resigned from the army as of February 29, 1852.
Jackson's summer vacations from teaching were often spent vacationing in the North and in Europe where his interests were aroused in art and culture rather than military or political aspects. This somewhat calm, domestic period in his life came to a close on April 21, 1861 when he was ordered to go to Richmond as part of the cadet corps. Since military aspirations had faded from his life, he was virtually unknown in this sphere.
It was during the Battle of Bull Run in the Civil War when Jackson assumed his nickname. Amidst the tumult of battle, Brigadeer-General Barnard E. Bee stated, "There is Jackson standing like a stone wall." As the war continued, Jackson continually impressed his Confederate compatriots with his skill on the battlefield and in planning conferences. He distinguished himself in the Valley campaign of early 1862, the Battle of second Manassas in August 1862, and the Battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862. Jackson was a Southern hero, and in spite of his eccentricities, he was loved and respected by his soldiers. He strictly observed the Sabbath, and his religiousity was constant in all facets of his life.
On May 2, 1863, in his last march of the Civil War, Jackson was wounded by friendly fire. He died of pneumonia several days later on May 10 at Guiney's Station, Virginia. His body was taken to Richmond, placed in a casket and then by packet boat to Virginia Military Institute where Cadets met and carried the remains to his old classroom where it lay in state. A battery fired salutes from sunrise to sunset. The body enveloped in the Confederate Flag was borne on a caisson to Lexington Presbyterian, the family church for services, and then completed with burial in the family plot at Lexington Cemetery. The body was disinterred later and reburied beneath a statue in the cemetery center which was also renamed for him.
It is said that The Army of Northern Virginia never fully recovered from the loss of Stonewall Jackson's leadership in battle. General Robert E. Lee believed Jackson was irreplacable.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Thomas Jonathan (Stonewall) Jackson, in Stonewall Jackson Ancestors.
"THOMAS JONATHAN (Stonewall) JACKSON, b. 21 January 1824, Clarksburg, West Virginia; d. 10 May 1863, Near Guiney's Station, Virginia."
Major "Stonewall" Jackson (1851) 
- ↑ Stonewall Jackson, in Guiney's Station: The Death of Stonewall Jackson
1998.
"After Stonewall was shot. He had his left arm amputated. He seemed to be recovering here at Guiney's Station. Guiney's Station is about 18 miles south of Fredricksburg on the rail line leading to Richmond, VA. This was thought to be a safe distance from the battle for the great Stonewall to recover."
- ↑ Stonewall Jackson, in Chancellorsville
2011.
"Stonewall Jackson's military feats had elevated him to near-mythical proportions in both North and South, when in the midst of one of his most brilliant maneuvers he was mistakenly shot by his own men on the night of May 2, 1863, at the Battle of Chancellorsville. Confederate army commander Robert E. Lee decided that his indispensable and most capable subordinate should recuperate at a safe place well behind friendly lines. Doctors moved Jackson to Guinea Station, intending to evacuate him to Richmond by railroad. Union cavalry, however, had cut the rail line, compelling Jackson and his party to wait near Guinea Station until the line was restored. The "Stonewall Jackson" Shrine is the plantation office building where General Jackson spent the final six days of his life. The office was one of several outbuildings on Thomas C. Chandler's 740-acre plantation, "Fairfield." The Chandler family used the unpretentious frame structure for recreation as well as for work. Chandler kept records in the office, and one of his sons once practiced medicine there, but with three of the Chandler boys away serving in the Confederate army, the building no longer witnessed its antebellum level of activity. The office stood bare, except for a few items in storage, when Jackson's ambulance arrived. Chandler offered his house to Jackson and other Confederate wounded, but Jackson's attendants chose instead the quiet privacy of the outbuilding as the best place for the general to rest. Once Confederate authorities regained control of the rail line, Jackson would board a train at Guinea Station and resume his trip to Richmond. Today the office is the only plantation building remaining. The Chandler house burned after the Civil War, and its shell was dismantled in the early 1900's. Established as an historic "shrine," the office underwent restorations in the 1920's and 1960's. It still retains 45% of its original fabric. The National Park Service has augmented some of the items used during Jackson's stay with other pieces from the era, along with a few reproductions, to recreate the scene of those tragic last days of his life. (Courtesy of NPS "Stonewall" Jackson Shrine tour guide.)"
- ↑ Stonewall Jackson, in Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park: Stonewall Jackson Shrine
December 02, 2011.
"Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson died in an outbuilding on the Chandler plantation in the rural community of Guinea Station. Today, the Jackson Shrine is part of Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park. The building is open 9-5 on Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays only through the end of April. It will be open daily from May 1 through October 27 The grounds are open daily from dawn to dusk.
Born in the town of Clarksburg in what is now the state of West Virginia, Thomas Jonathan Jackson possessed a strong military background at the outbreak of the Civil War. His training in the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, recognition as a hero in the Mexican War, and his experience as an instructor at the Virginia Military Institute justified Jackson's rank of brigadier general at the first major battle of the Civil War near Manassas, Virginia. Upon that field, General Bernard E. Bee proclaimed, "There is Jackson standing like a stone wall," and a legend as well as a nickname was born.
Jackson's military feats had elevated him to near mythical proportions, in both North and South, when in the midst of one of his most brilliant maneuvers, he was mistakenly shot by his own men on the night of May 2, 1863 at the The Battle of Chancellorsville. Confederate army commander Robert E. Lee decided that his indispensable and most capable subordinate should recuperate in a safe place well behind friendly lines. He selected this area, Guinea Station, as the best location for Jackson because of its proximity to the railroad to Richmond and its familiarity to the wounded general."
- Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, in Stonewall Jackson Biography.
- ↑ Find A Grave
Memorial# 7765736.
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