at New Orleans, in the Winter of 1814, ’15 (Philadelphia:
Davis, Porter & Coates, 1866); Owsley, Frank Lawrence,
Struggle for the Gulf Borderlands, the Creek War, and the
Battle of New Orleans (Gainesville: University Presses of
Florida, 1981); Albright, Harry, New Orleans: Battle of the
Bayous (New Orleans: Hippocrene Books, 1990); Bruce,
George, “New Orleans I,” in Collins Dictionary of Wars
(Glasgow, Scotland: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995),
176–177; Dusenbery, B. M., comp., Monument to the
Memory of General Andrew Jackson: Containing Twenty-
Five Eulogies and Sermons Delivered on Occasion of His
Death.... (Philadelphia: Walker & Gillis, 1846).
Jackson, Thomas Jonathan (“Stonewall”
Jackson) (1824–1863) Confederate general
Thomas Jackson was born in Clarksburg, Virginia (now
in West Virginia), on 21 January 1824. Because of his
father’s early death, he was forced to forego an education
in order to support his family. In 1842, he received an
appointment to the United States Military Academy at
West Point, New York, graduating in 1846 and receiving
a commission as a second lieutenant of artillery. When
he graduated, the United States was already at war with
Mexico, and Jackson rushed south to join his regiment.
He served in the Mexican War (1846–48) with great
distinction, and in 1851 he was appointed professor of
artillery tactics and of natural philosophy at the Virginia
Military Institute (VMI). Here he taught military strat-
egy to many men whom he later faced on the battlefield
in the Civil War.
When the Civil War erupted in April 1861, Jack-
son, a Southern sympathizer, resigned his post at VMI
and offered his services to his home state. Appointed as a
colonel of Virginia volunteers, he was posted to the com-
mand of Harper’s Ferry, Virginia (now in West Virginia),
in the Shenandoah Valley. His unit was merged with that
of General Joseph Johnston, and the Confederate forces
under General P. G. T. Beaugard attacked the Union
forces under General Irvin McDowell at Manassas, or
First Bull Run, on 21 July 1861. During the battle,
Confederate general Barnard Bee allegedly rode up to
Jackson and yelled, “General, they are beating us back!”
Jackson’s reply was: “Then, sir, we will give them the
bayonet.” Revitalized by Jackson’s strength in the face of
withering fire, Bee allegedly went back to his men and
shouted, “Look, there is Jackson standing like a stone
wall! Rally behind the Virginians!” With this lead, the
Confederates beat back the Union forces, and the name
of Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson became symbolic with
heroism overnight.
It was not until early 1862 that Union and Con-
federate forces again clashed in the East. When Union
general George B. mcclellan marched his troops to
the Yorktown peninsula to move on the Confederate
capital of Richmond, Jackson, with 3,000 men, marched
to Kernstown, Virginia, to divert Union reinforcements
marching to join McClellan. Although Jackson’s troops
were decisively beaten, his tactical skill on the battlefield
forced the Union to deal with him on a different level.
McClellan and several other Union armies converged
on Richmond, intending to take the rebel capital and
end the war quickly. The Southern armies’ commander,
General Robert E. lee, saw that Richmond’s defense lay
in Jackson’s hands. Jackson marched up the Shenandoah
and defeated one section of the Union army, driving
them back into western Virginia on 8 May 1862. He
then turned his attention to forces of the Union army
headed by General Nathaniel Banks. Attacking and de-
feating troops under Banks’s command, headed by Gen-
eral John R. Kenly, Jackson forced Banks’s withdrawal,
then fell on his army at Winchester and pushed him
back to the Potomac River.
Hitting at Union forces at Cross Keys (8 June 1862)
and Port Republic (9 June 1862), Jackson was able to
draw Union reinforcements away from Richmond. Lee
and Jackson then attacked McClellan’s main army, ini-
tiating the clash known as the Seven Days Battles (26
June–2 July 1862), which left approximately 20,000
Confederate and 15,000 Union soldiers dead. Although
historians mark this engagement as a loss for the South,
it relieved Richmond and ended any chance for a quick
Union victory.
Quickly following up the battles around Rich-
mond, Lee and Jackson struck at Union forces around
Manassas Junction, Virginia, commanded by General
John Pope. This battle, known as Second Manassas or
Second Bull Run (28 August 1862), led to a complete
and total victory for the Southern forces. Jackson moved
north, crossing the Potomac River and attacking the fed-
eral garrison at Harper’s Ferry, which was forced to sur-
render on 15 September after a two-day siege. He then
turned to support Lee’s forces under attack at Antietam,
Maryland (17 September 1862), an engagement that
ended in a draw. Although Lee and Jackson were forced
to withdraw back over the Potomac River into Virginia, JA ckSon, thomAS JonAthAn