Stonewall Jackson Suite

Who was Stonewall Jackson?

Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson is considered one of the great characters of the Civil War. He was profoundly religious, a deacon in the Presbyterian Church. He disliked fighting on Sunday, though that did not stop him from doing so. He loved his wife very much and sent her tender letters.

In command, Jackson was extremely secretive about his plans and extremely punctilious about military discipline. He generally wore old, worn-out clothes rather than a fancy uniform, and often looked more like a moth-eaten private than a corps commander. In contrast to Lee, he was not a striking figure, particularly since he was not a good horseman and, therefore, rode a staid, dependable horse, rather than a spirited stallion.

A recurring story concerns his love of lemons, which he allegedly gnawed whole to alleviate symptoms of dyspepsia. However, recent research has found that none of his contemporaries recorded any unusual lemon habits and Jackson thought of a lemon as a “rare treat … enjoyed greatly whenever it could be obtained from the enemy’s camp”. He was fond of all fruits, particularly peaches. He held a lifelong belief that one of his arms was longer than the other, and thus usually held the “longer” arm up to equalize his circulation. He was described as a “champion sleeper”, even falling asleep with food in his mouth occasionally. He also became noted throughout the Confederate Army for leading his troops in complete circles.

The South mourned his death; he was greatly admired there. Many theorists through the years have postulated that if Jackson had lived, Lee might have prevailed at Gettysburg. Certainly Jackson’s iron discipline and brilliant tactical sense were sorely missed, and might well have carried an extremely close-fought battle. He is buried at Lexington, Virginia, near VMI, in the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery. He is memorialized on Georgia’s Stone Mountain, in Richmond on historic Monument Avenue, and in many other places.

After the War, his wife and young daughter Julia moved from Lexington to North Carolina. Mary Anna Jackson wrote two books about her husband’s life, including some of his letters. She never remarried, and was known as the “Widow of the Confederacy”, living until 1915. His daughter Julia married and bore children, but she died of typhoid fever at the age of 26 years.