Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

JACKSON, THOMAS JONATHAN (1824-1863)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 111 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

JACKSON, See also:THOMAS See also:JONATHAN (1824-1863) , known as " Stonewall 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: JACKSON, THOMAS JONATHAN (1824-1863)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
JACKSON, THOMAS (1579-1640) 		[next]
JACKSON, WILLIAM (1730-1803)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries