Thomas Jonathan Jackson was the third of five children born to Jonathan Jackson and Julia Beckwith Neale Jackson, on the 21st day of January, 1824. Jackson graduated 17th, in his class at West Point despite a hard and poor childhood, and the loss of both his parents at an early age. Shortly thereafter, as a commissioned second lieutenant he met General Lee during the Mexican war. Lee would later become Jackson’s commanding officer. By the end of the Mexican war Jackson had been promoted to first lieutenant.

As a professor of artillery tactics and natural philosophy at Virginia Military Institute, in 1851, Jackson found some relief from the boredom of civilian life. He earned the nickname “Deacon Jackson” because of his strong sense of duty and religiosity coupled with his students finding him a bit odd. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Jackson volunteered to fight for Virginia. As a commissioned colonel he would gain fame for his organization of volunteers and his path seemed set for rapid rise through the ranks.

His first Confederate assignment was at Harper’s Ferry, in Virginia. By July of 1861, he would join Johnston’s army and General Beauregard at the battle of Bill Run. It was during the battle of Bull Run that Brigadier-General Barnard E. Bee would exclaim, “There is Jackson standing like a stone wall.” In a bold move, Lee and Jackson would leave a detachment on the Rappahannock River and take the main body to the woods of Chancellorsville. Jackson was instructed by Lee to flank General Hooker’s men from the right. With the taste of success fresh, Jackson road in-advance and was accidentally shot by his own soldiers on the 2nd of May, 1863. He died a mere week later of pneumonia, having lost his life and his left arm. General Robert E. Lee felt that Stonewall Jackson was irreplaceable.