Thomas Jackson, more affectionately called “Stonewall” Jackson, was born in 1824 in Clarkson, Virginia. He had a tough childhood as his older sister died of typhoid fever at the age of 6 as well as his father soon after. This left Jackson along with 2 siblings and his mother. His mom remarried, and, since his stepfather didn’t like his stepchildren, sent them off to live with relatives. Consequently, Jackson grew up in what is now West Virginia.
Although Jackson had a confusing upbringing, he was still able to have a successful military career. In 1842, he enrolled in West Point Academy, an elite military school. Soon after graduating, he put his skills to the test when he served as a lieutenant during the Mexican War. The war helped him earn a military reputation as he was able to hold the brevet major rank.
Even with his renowned military skills, Jackson went back to being a civilian after the Mexican War. He served as a professor of artillery tactics and physics (back then it was called natural philosophy) at the Virginia Military Institute. He later got married, had his wife die of childbirth, and then married again, which then followed his daughter dying after one month. After all this, he was finally able to have a surviving child, to later then have his father die. Even though this may seem like a traumatic experience, deaths like these weren’t too uncommon back in a time where modern medicine and techniques didn’t exist.
Jackson was only able to get through a decade of his life before his military expertise would be needed again. 11 states seceded from the United States in 1860 soon after Lincoln was elected as the 16th president. Consequently, a civil war began between the Union and the Confederacy, the nation formed by the rebellious states. As a result, Jackson served under General Robert E. Lee in the Confederate Army.
Even though many remember him by his nickname “Stonewall”, he didn’t pick up this nickname until the First Battle of Bull Run in July of 1861. This was fought over a railroad junction, Manassas Junction, in Virginia--a state where many battles were fought during the Civil War. Jackson had led the Virginia brigade into the battle at a crucial moment and helped the Confederates hold a high-ground position at Henry House Hill. Jackson held a firm position at the hill by leading his troops. After seeing this, General Barnard Bee remarked to his troops to look at Jackson, who was standing “like a stone wall.”
Unfortunately for Jackson, his Civil War campaign had to come to close a week after he was shot at by his troops. These troops accidentally fired at him during the Battle of Chancellorsville. He was hit three times, which resulted in his left arm to be amputated the next day. However, within a week, he contracted pneumonia and died leaving the South without a key general.
Sources:
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/thomas-j-stonewall-jackson-dies
https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/confederate-states-of-america
https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/first-battle-of-bull-run
https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/stonewall-jackson
I really liked your concision and clarity in reviewing the life of Thomas Jackson. Given that the First Battle of Bull Run is considered to be the first major battle in the American Civil War, I decided to look into the last major battle. Known as the the Battle of Appomattox Courthouse of April 9, 1965, this battle was the final standoff between General Robert E. Lee of the Confederacy and General Robert E. Lee of the Union. In hopes of moving south to reunite with other Confederate armies, Lee's forces were quickly surrounded by Grant's army at the Appomattox Courthouse and ultimately forced to surrender. Lee's surrender then "triggered a wave of surrenders across remaining Confederacy territory," officially concluding the war.
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https://guides.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/c.php?g=288398&p=4496547
I really liked your blog post about Stonewall Jackson. I was particularly interested about the fact that he died from friendly fire and led me to wonder about other cases of dying by friendly fire. It turns out there were many cases of friendly fire in U.S. history, especially during the World Wars. The Civil War also had other notable cases of friendly fire, including Confederate general Albert Johnson dying to a shot in the knee at the Battle of Shiloh. Even worse, at the Battle of Sharpsburg at Antietam, two Union regiments started to fire at each other in confusion when Confederates launched a surprise attack on them. According to some counts, around 1150 people were killed or wounded at Antietam due to friendly fire.
ReplyDeleteSources:
http://trrcobb.blogspot.com/2011/05/who-killed-albert-sidney-johnston.html
Gray, Michael P. Review of Friendly Fire in the Civil War: More than 100 True Stories of Comrade Killing Comrade. Civil War History, vol. 46 no. 1, 2000, p. 66-67. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/cwh.2000.0050.
"Stonewall" Jackson was a great military mind, and it must have been a tragedy for the Confederacy when he died. It is interesting to think that even though he fought through countless battles in two wars, he did not die from enemy fire, but by his own side. Even with his brave actions, not moving his troops at the Battle of Chancellorsville, earning him the nickname that stuck with him, "Stonewall," he was still killed by friendly fire, which struck a hard blow to the south.
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