What was stonewall jackson famous for

Jackson fought in the Seven Days' Battles which secured the Confederate capital from an advancing Union army under Maj. George B. During the Second Manassas Campaign , Lee utilized Jackson's regiments in a flanking movement that helped bring the defeat of Maj. John Pope 's Army of Virginia. Jackson fought in the Maryland Campaign and in the fall of was promoted to Lieutenant General.

Jackson came from what is now West Virginia, a part of the country where slavery was not really very common. He had slaves when he grew up, his uncles had slaves and he had slaves of his own, but he acquired three to help them avoid worse fates. As a physics professor, he founded and ran a successful Sunday school for slaves.

This was what he did in his spare time. Q: The Civil War is remarkable because so many high-profile men were wretched generals. At the same time, men who failed or nearly failed in life before the war, like Jackson and Ulysses Grant , became unlikely heroes.

What do you make of that? The political generals, these great wealthy men who were powerful before the war, are exposed as incompetent and cowards. Q: How did this fussy, odd man — a guy who was mocked by his physics students — transform so quickly? Jackson was a hero in the Mexican War, but afterward he was kind of miserable.

A lot of other generals wanted power, but they were scared of the responsibility. By year three of the war, most of the real incompetence had been weeded out. He had his eccentricities. At one point, all of his principal generals were under arrest. But he was good at deception, he was decisive, and he had an astounding ability to understand the terrain and maneuver his army to the right place at the right time.

The decision-making was crisp and thorough, and there was going to be no second-guessing. In the early war, there was hardly anyone who was as decisive as Jackson. He also believed that he could get more out of his men than anyone thought possible. He was ahead of everyone else in understanding how cruel the war would be. He had an whole army in mutiny against him, but it worked. He understood very early that the war was going to be a lot harder and crueler than anyone thought it would be.

He wanted to take an army north and burn Baltimore and Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and march to the Great Lakes. His war department thought he was flat crazy and dangerous for advocating this. But look what happens to General Robert E. In Julia remarried to Blake Woodson. In , Jackson lost his mother to complications during childbirth. After attending local schools, in Jackson enrolled in the U. Although he was older than most of his classmates, Jackson at first struggled terribly with his course load.

To make matters worse, his fellow students often teased him about his poor family and modest education. In , he graduated from West Point, 17th in a class of 59 students.

In Mexico, he joined the 1st U. Artillery as a 2nd lieutenant. Jackson quickly proved his bravery and resilience on the field, serving with distinction under General Winfield Scott. It was during the war in Mexico that Jackson met Robert E. Lee, with whom he would one day join military forces during the American Civil War. By the time the Mexican-American War ended in , Jackson had been promoted to the rank of brevet major and was considered a war hero.

After the war, he continued to serve in the military in New York and Florida. Jackson retired from the military and returned to civilian life in , when he was offered a professorship at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. Hunter McGuire in an effort to save his life. Jackson was then removed to Guiney Station to convalesce. What happened to the Washington Street house after Jackson died? Mary Anna then rented the house out for a period before selling it to a chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in the early 20th century.

For nearly fifty years, the house—with many additions—served as the only hospital for Rockbridge County. When the hospital moved to its current location, the house was operated as a shrine to Jackson. In , the house was restored to its appearance during the period of Jackson occupancy and reopened to the public. Ellwood was located about one mile from the field hospital where Jackson was treated. The arm was buried in the family cemetery.

The site is currently operated by the National Park Service. Mary Anna Jackson never remarried. Mary Anna and Julia then moved to Charlotte for six years and subsequently spent two years in Baltimore while Julia attended school.

After Julia completed her formal education, the two women generally spent winters in Richmond and summers visiting Lexington, though they never stayed in the Washington Street house. Julia married William Christian in