Thomas J. Jackson (1824 to 1863), better known as Stonewall Jackson, was one of the most famous Confederate generals of the American Civil War (1861 to 1865). A veteran of the Mexican-American War and a former VMI instructor, he joined the Confederate army in 1861 and rose to prominence in his Shenandoah Valley Campaign (March to June 1862). He became the right-hand man of General Robert E. Lee (1807 to 1870) and led the Second Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia, which included his celebrated 'Stonewall Brigade'. On 2 May 1863, Jackson was wounded by friendly fire during the Battle of Chancellorsville and died of pneumonia eight days later. His loss was greatly lamented across the South.

Thomas Jonathan Jackson was born on 21 January 1824 in Clarksburg, Virginia (now West Virginia). He was the third child born to Jonathan Jackson, a lawyer of Scotch-Irish descent, and his wife, Julia Beckwith Neale Jackson. His early years were marred by tragedy. On 6 March 1826, when he was only two years old, he was at the bedside of his older sister Elizabeth as she died of typhoid fever. His father, having nursed Elizabeth in her dying days, caught the same fever and died a few weeks later. Julia Jackson gave birth to another daughter, Laura Ann, the day after her husband's death; widowed at only 28 and with three young children to feed, she was forced to sell the family's possessions to get enough money to scrape by. She remarried in 1830, but her health was fragile, and she died the following year, leaving her children orphaned. Jackson and his little sister, Laura, were sent to live with their uncle, Cummins E. Jackson. Their older brother, Warren, went to live with other relatives and died of tuberculosis at age 20.

Growing up, Jackson often helped Cummins around the farm, tending sheep and harvesting crops. With little time for formal education, he had to educate himself and could often be found with his nose buried in a book. During these years, he formed a close bond with his sister Laura, and their devotion to one another would last until their estrangement during the Civil War – a staunch Unionist, Laura would become disgusted by Jackson's leadership role in the Confederate army. In 1842, Jackson was accepted as a cadet at the US Military Academy at West Point, New York. Due to his lack of schooling, he soon fell behind the other students and had to work extra hard to catch up. He graduated in June 1846, ranking 17th in a class of 59 students. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant and assigned to Company K of the 1st US Artillery Regiment.

At the outbreak of the Mexican-American War (1846 to 1848), Jackson's unit went south and was eventually assigned to the army of Major General Winfield Scott (1786 to 1866), which was gearing up for an invasion of the Mexican heartland. In March 1847, Scott's army conducted an amphibious landing just outside the port city of Veracruz, which quickly fell to an American artillery bombardment. Over the course of the next several months, Scott's army made its way to Mexico City, fighting several battles with Mexican armies along the way. Jackson fought in the Battle of Contreras (19 to 20 Aug 1847) and the Battle of Chapultepec (13 Sept). In the latter engagement, Jackson refused to obey what he considered to be a 'bad order' to withdraw his troops, believing that such a withdrawal would expose his men to worse fire than if they stayed put. His judgment proved correct – by holding his ground, he was able to create a breach in the enemy lines that was then exploited by a relieving US brigade. For this action, he was promoted, earning the brevet rank of major.

After the fall of Mexico City and the end of the war, Jackson was assigned to Florida, during a lull in the ongoing Seminole Wars (1816 to 1858). He was ill-suited to peacetime soldiering, however, and constantly feuded with his commanding officer, leading him to resign from the US Army in 1851. He returned to Virginia, where he accepted a position at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in Lexington as a professor of natural and experimental philosophy (aka physics). As it turned out, Jackson made for a terrible teacher. A naturally shy and awkward man, his lectures consisted of memorizing lines from textbooks and reciting them verbatim to his students; if a student came to him after class to ask for clarification, he would simply repeat the lesson in a slower way. Frustrated students took to calling him 'Tom Fool' and sometimes pulled pranks on him, and in 1856, a group of alumni petitioned the institute to have him removed. Jackson, however, continued at the institute right up until the start of the Civil War.

While teaching at VMI, Jackson courted Elinor Junkin, whose father was president of nearby Washington College. They married on 4 August 1853, though their union would soon end in tragedy; on 22 October 1854, Elinor suffered a fatal hemorrhage after giving birth to a stillborn baby and died an hour later. In July 1857, Jackson married Mary Anna Morrison of North Carolina, whose sister was married to another future Confederate general, D. H. Hill. Their marriage seems to have been a loving one; according to William Garrett Piston, their marriage was presented in Anna Jackson's memoirs as being both "tender and passionate, their home life providing the only realm in which the highly self-conscious Jackson was completely relaxed and informal" (Encyclopedia Virginia). In 1858, Anna gave birth to a stillborn daughter, Mary Graham. Their second daughter, born in November 1862, was named Julia Laura after Jackson's mother and sister.

During his time at VMI, Jackson began to suffer from a series of physical ailments, leading to his reputation as a hypochondriac. He had chronically poor digestion and bad eyesight and believed that one arm was longer than the other, leading him to hold it up in the air for long periods of time to encourage blood circulation. He sought to alleviate these discomforts through methods such as hydrotherapy and by consuming large amounts of fruit – Jackson was particularly fond of lemons, though he was not obsessed with lemons as later stories would assert, only enjoying them as an occasional treat. Jackson was a deeply devoted Presbyterian who enjoyed discussing theology. During the Civil War, he did his best to avoid marching on Sundays – though he often had to violate this rule – and some of his contemporaries accused him of being so fanatical that he preferred promoting good Presbyterians to good soldiers.

As Jackson navigated his second marriage and did his best to keep his troublesome students in line, the United States was drifting closer to civil war. For decades, the question of slavery had split the country along sectional lines, pitting the 'free states' of the North against the 'slave states' of the South; the issue of slavery spawned several other existential questions, such as that of states' rights versus centralized federal authority, as well as the conflicting 'way of life' between the industrializing North against the agricultural South. Jackson never offered his thoughts on the South's 'peculiar institution', neither endorsing nor condemning slavery with words. He was, however, a slaveholder himself, owning six enslaved people by the late 1850s. Three of them had been part of Anna's dowry, one requested that Jackson purchase him so that he could work for his freedom, and the other two were acquired during his marriage.

In 1859, Jackson was instructed to lead his VMI cadets to Charles Town, Virginia, to provide extra security for the public execution of the abolitionist John Brown (1800 to 1859), whose raid on Harpers Ferry had just been thwarted. The following year, tensions worsened during the US Presidential Election of 1860, with several Southern states threatening to secede from the Union if the anti-slavery Republican Party won the election. When the Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln (1809 to 1865) did indeed win the presidency, South Carolina seceded and was ultimately followed by ten other Southern states during the spring of 1861, forming the Confederate States of America. Jackson opposed secession until his native Virginia left the Union in April 1861, at which point he chose loyalty to his state over loyalty to the nation. He was commissioned as a colonel in the new Confederate Army and was tasked with overseeing the defenses at Harpers Ferry.

In May, he was promoted to brigadier general and was sent to bolster the Confederate Army at Manassas Junction. In the ensuing Battle of First Manassas (21 July 1861; aka First Battle of Bull Run), his brigade arrived just as the battered Confederate lines were beginning to crumble, taking up a position on the Henry House Hill. For hours, Jackson's brigade stood steadfast, absorbing heavy fire from the enemy. Noticing this, Confederate General Barnard Bee shouted to his weary South Carolinian troops: "There stands Jackson like a stonewall! Rally behind the Virginians!" Bee was struck dead by a bullet shortly thereafter, but he had unknowingly given Jackson his famous nickname. Jackson himself stood with his men, suffering a wound to the middle finger of his left hand. When an officer came up to him crying, "General! The day is going against us," the stern Jackson simply responded, "If you think so, sir, you had better not say anything about it" (quoted in Foote, 79).

By midafternoon, the Confederate line had regrouped and was ready to counterattack. Jackson rode up and down his own line, telling them, "Hold your fire until they're on you. Then fire and give them the bayonet. And when you charge, yell like furies!" (quoted in Foote, 80). The yell that protruded from Jackson's brigade as it surged forward was – according to tradition at least – the basis for the famous 'rebel yell' that would echo across scores of other Civil War battlefields. Thanks in part to the resoluteness of Jackson and his Virginians, the Confederates won the battle, sending the Union troops running back to Washington. That autumn, Jackson was promoted to major general and given command of the military district of the Shenandoah Valley.

In the spring of 1862, the Southern Confederacy was in a dire position. Union Major General George B. McClellan (1826 to 1885) was slowly advancing toward the Confederate capital of Richmond from the Virginia Peninsula, at the head of the mighty Army of the Potomac. An overly cautious commander, McClellan refused to assault Richmond until he had more men – there were several Union detachments in the Shenandoah Valley which President Lincoln reluctantly diverted to support McClellan's attack. Jackson knew that he had to act to prevent these forces from linking up with McClellan. On 23 March 1862, he attacked a Union force at the Battle of Kernstown but was repulsed, having underestimated the size of the enemy army. Although Kernstown was a Confederate defeat, Jackson's aggression unnerved Lincoln, who opted to keep 50,000 men in the Shenandoah Valley who otherwise would have been sent to reinforce McClellan.

General Robert E. Lee, who at this time was acting as a military advisor to Confederate President Jefferson Davis in the defense of Richmond, realized that Jackson could take further pressure off the capital by wreaking havoc in the valley. He authorized Jackson to link up with another large division under Maj. Gen. Richard S. Ewell, increasing his numbers to 17,000 men. Jackson then embarked on one of the most brilliant campaigns of the war; utilizing speed and surprise, Jackson attacked the Union forces and defeated them piecemeal in five engagements: the Battle of McDowell (8 May), Battle of Front Royal (23 May), Battle of Winchester (25 May), Battle of Cross Keys (8 June), and Battle of Port Republic (9 June). His men moved so swiftly that they earned the nickname 'Foot Cavalry', covering 646 miles (1040 km) in 48 days and beating back a force nearly three times its size. Jackson's celebrated Valley Campaign turned him into a war hero in the South and greatly demoralized the North by threatening the safety of Washington.

On 1 June 1862, Lee took command of the Army of Northern Virginia and prepared to drive McClellan away from Richmond. He ordered Jackson to join him in preparation for the attack, but Stonewall arrived late to the ensuing Seven Days' Battles (25 June to 1 July). Indeed, Jackson performed poorly during this entire campaign; his troops were lethargic and were often slow to move, while Jackson himself was clearly fatigued to the point that he was barely fit to command. The most likely explanation for this sluggishness was simply that Jackson and his men were still exhausted from their continuous marching and fighting in the valley, although Jackson's brother-in-law, D. H. Hill, would claim that Jackson never did well under the command of another. Despite this hiccup, Lee's confidence in Jackson was not shaken. After successfully driving off McClellan, Lee divided his army into two wings: Maj. Gen. James Longstreet (1821 to 1904) was given command of the first wing, and Jackson the second.

Jackson redeemed himself in the days leading up to the Battle of Second Manassas (28 to 31 Aug 1862). In a daring move, his troops maneuvered around a Union army led by Maj. Gen. John Pope, destroying its supply base. Jackson lured Pope to Manassas Junction, pinning him there until Longstreet's men arrived and slammed into the Union flank, sending the Yankees running. Buoyed by this victory, Lee decided to launch an invasion of Maryland, hoping that a victory on Northern soil would demoralize the North and convince Britain to recognize Southern independence. To clear the way, Lee sent Jackson to neutralize the Federal garrison at Harpers Ferry. On 15 September, the 12,000-man garrison surrendered to Jackson, becoming the largest Union army to surrender during the war. Jackson's men linked back up with Lee in time to participate in the Battle of Antietam (17 Sept), the bloodiest single-day battle in US history. Jackson's men bore the brunt of the Yankee assaults but held their ground. Nevertheless, the sheer number of casualties sustained by Lee's army meant he could not continue his invasion. The Army of Northern Virginia limped back across the Potomac River into Virginia.

In November, Jackson was promoted to lieutenant general and given official command of the newly organized Second Corps (Longstreet was put in charge of the First Corps). At the Battle of Fredericksburg (11 to 15 December 1862), his corps once again played the defensive, holding the right of the Confederate line. For whatever reason, Jackson left a gap in his line that the Union troops were quick to exploit; however, he quickly made up for the mistake, plugging the gap and repulsing the attackers. After the Yankees were defeated at Fredericksburg, the Army of Northern Virginia settled in for the winter, looking ahead to the campaigns of the next spring.

In early 1863, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker (1814 to 1879) was put in command of the Union Army of the Potomac. Known as 'Fighting Joe', Hooker had a reputation for aggression, leading Lee to decide to strike first. Greatly outnumbered, he decided to once again divide his forces. Leaving only 10,000 men to demonstrate against Hooker's center, Lee ordered Jackson to discreetly move around the Union right flank with his whole corps. This maneuver was brilliantly executed on 2 May. Jackson's men completed a difficult 12-mile (19 km) march through a section of thick woods known as 'the Wilderness' before pouncing on the right flank of Hooker's army in the early evening. The Federal soldiers were taken by surprise, and Jackson's men rolled up the Union flank. Following the success of his attack, Jackson rode forward with his staff officers to assess the situation. When he returned to the Confederate lines, it was past sunset; sentries of the 18th North Carolina regiment mistook his group for Yankee cavalry and opened fire.

By the time the sentries realized their mistake, Jackson had been hit three times. Several of his staff officers had been killed, and, in the chaos of the moment, Jackson was dropped from his stretcher as he was being evacuated. His wounds were serious, and his left arm was amputated; upon learning of this, General Lee lamented that "he has lost his left arm, but I my right". After the amputation, the surgeons were convinced that Jackson would recover. However, pneumonia set in, and his condition quickly worsened. At 1:30 p.m. on 10 May, doctors told him he had only hours to live. In his last minutes, he became delirious, shouting out commands as if he were on a battlefield: "Order A. P. Hill to prepare for action! Pass the infantry to the front…Tell Major Hawks-" at this, he abruptly stopped, staring off into the distance. A smile slowly spread across his face as he spoke his final words: "Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees" (quoted in Foote, 319). Stonewall Jackson then took his last breath, dying on 10 May 1863 at the age of 39. He was mourned throughout the South, his death considered a major blow to the Confederate cause.