Thomas Jackson Biography

The creation of a legend involves an enduring struggle and a triumphant recovery from that struggle. On January 21, 1824, the legend of Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson was created in Clarksburg, Virginia. As early as two years old, his older sister died of typhoid fever. His father, Jonathan Jackson, died of that same disease a short amount of time after leaving his wife, Julia Neale Jackson. His death separated him from his wife and three children with immense amounts of debt to pay off. In 1830, Julia Jackson remarried a man who apparently disliked his stepchildren. Thomas Jackson and his siblings were then sent to live with another relative due to this mutual disliking between the children and their new stepfather. The future Civil War general

Initially Jackson struggled, because he was considered old for just starting at West Point. He also struggled with the curriculum and many other students shunned him and ridiculed him for his poor background and education prior. However, Jackson continued to push through this adversity and ended up graduating in 1846. Quickly earned a reputation for his toughness and bravery. In 1848, he held the rank of brevet major before the end of the war. He continued with his military service until he became a professor at the Virginia Military Institute in 1851. Jackson spent 10 years as a professor of artillery tactics at the institute in Lexington. Supposedly, Jackson was disliked by some of his cadets for his lack of sympathy and strictness. The younger years of Thomas Jackson’s life lay the foundation for the important man, general, leader that he became. The continuance of tragedies in Jackson’s life accounts for his “lack of sympathy” towards any problem. His unfortunate circumstances throughout his life created a drive that unearthed his bravery and courage that allowed him to become a general in the Civil War. In 1853, Jackson married Elinor Junkin, the daughter

Jackson was then charged with the task of defending the western part of Virginia from an invasion by Union forces. Jackson had an army with about 15,000 troops while the union forces had an army of upwards of 60,000. Clearly outmatched and outsized, Jackson would overcome the Union army by outmaneuvering them. Jackson, because of President Lincoln dividing the Union into three parts, used his squad’s quickness and mobility to attack the Union’s divided forces. Due to his leadership and his quickness in battle he was able to achieve several key victories over armies of larger size. By the campaign’s end, he became the South’s first war hero and he gained the admiration from the Union generals. Stonewall Jackson also stopped Union forces from seizing the capital of operations for the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia. His name continues to grow from his continuance of succeeding in battle and both sides acknowledge his