Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson (1824-63) was a war hero and one of the South's most winning generals through the American Civil War (1861-65). After a complex childhood, he modify from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, in time to fight in the Mexican War (1846-48).
He then left the military to follow a teaching career. After his home state of Virginia separate from the Union in 1861, Jackson joined the associate army and quickly artificial his standing for courage and determination through the Shenandoah Valley Campaign later that same year.
Jackson left West Point just as the Mexican War was opening and he was sent to Mexico as a deputy with the 1st U.S. Artillery. He quickly earned a standing for hardiness and courage, and by the war's end in 1848 he held the rank of brevet foremost. Jackson sustained his military service awaiting he conventional a professorship at the Virginia Military Institute in 1851.
Jackson spent 10 years as a professor of weaponry strategy and natural philosophy (similar to modern-day physics) at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington. He was improved at teaching artillery than normal attitude, and was disliked by some cadet for his roughness, lack of consideration and unusual behavior.
Jackson joined Lee's army in June 1862, and Lee was unwavering to keep him in the deep of the fighting in Virginia. Chosen for his planned prowess and bravery, Jackson did not dissatisfy. From August 1862 waiting May 1863, he and his crowd played key roles at the Second Battle of Bull Run, the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Fredericksburg and the fight of Chancellorsville.
Lee and Jackson's most famous conquest took place near a crossroads at the combat of Chancellorsville in Virginia in May 1863. Facing a numerically better Union force of 130,000 men to 60,000 of their own, Lee and Jackson devised and accomplish a plan to rout the army of Union General Joseph Hooker (1814-79).
