Thomas Jackson

Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson (b 1824) was a famous Confederate general in the War of Secession and the Second Mexican War.

Jackson attended the United States Military Academy at West Point and graduated in 1846; he was a classmate of George McClellan. Jackson served in the US artillery during the First Mexican War. Here Jackson had a religious experience that would lead to a deep and abiding Protestant faith throughout his lifetime.

In 1851 he accepted a teaching position at the Virginia Military Institute. He served there for ten years.

When the War of Secession began, Jackson threw in his lot with the Confederate States. He was given brigade command by the governor of Virginia. He earned the nickname "Stonewall" for both himself and his brigade at First Bull Run by standing firm in the face of battle, prompting another brigade commander to shout "There stands Jackson like a stone wall! Rally around the Virginians, boys!" After the battle Jackson was given command of a division.

He held independent command in the Shenendoah Valley in the spring of 1862, where he defeated a much larger Union force. It was here that he earned his reputation as a brilliant planner of tactical offensives as well as a general capable of moving large bodies of infantry at speeds close to that of cavalry.

Following this action he was transferred to the Peninsula, where his command was attached to the Army of Northern Virginia. It was here that Jackson met Robert E. Lee.

Jackson proved instrumental to the Army's efforts on the Peninsula as well as at Second Bull Run, where he turned John Pope's flank. Jackson took part in the final campaign of the war, helping to destroy the Army of the Potomac at Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, in the fall of 1862, then advancing on Philadelphia, ensuring the Confederate victory.

After the war, Jackson became General-in-Chief of the Confederate army. During the Second Mexican War, he personally commanded field armies: first a small army which beat back a small US invasion from West Virginia, then the Army of Kentucky in its defense of Louisville, Kentucky, that war's primary front. He easily defeated Orlando Wilcox's badly planned and executed offensives. He received Wilcox's formal surrender in the spring of 1882.

His army heavily entrenched at Lousiville, proving the effectiveness of the tactic and leading to its extensive use by all sides in the Great War thirty years later.

After his death, Jackson's likeness was minted onto Confederate five-dollar gold coins, called "Stonewalls".