JACKSON, THOMAS JONATHAN

(1824-63), American Confederate commander; b. Clarksburg, W.Va. His early youth was a severe struggle with poverty. He graduated at the U.S. Military Academy, in 1846; served in the Mexican War, 1846-47, and won the brevet of major at Chapultepec. He resigned from the army, in 1852, and until the outbreak of the Civil War taught natural and experimental philosophy and artillery tactics at the Lexington, Va., Military Institute. He went with Virginia when it seceded, entering the service as a colonel and being commi ioned as a brigadier general in July, 1861. The stubborn defence put up by the troops under his leadership in the first battle of Bull Run gave him the name of ‘Stonewall,’ by which he he was afterward commonly known. His services earned him a major generalship in September of 1861, and in the following year he did brilliant work in defeating Banks in the Shenandoah Valley, and thwarting the plans of McClellan in the Peninsula campaign. As a corps commander he played a prominent part in the battle of Gaines’ Mill, Malvern Hill, Cedar Mountain, the second battle of Bull Run, and at Antietam. By this time his military prowe had demonstrated to the Confederates and Unionists alike that he was the ablest leader in the Confederate army, with the po ible single exception of Lee himself. He He moved with bewildering rapidity, struck like a thunderbolt, and, like Napoleon, was always at the point where the enemy least expected him to be. He combined the tenacity of Grant with the dash of Sheridan, and was the idol of the Confederate army. He commanded the Confederate right at Fred ericks burg, Dec. 138, 1862; was raised to the rank of lieutenant general, and made a famous flanking march against Hooker's right that practically decided the battle of Chancellorsville in favor of the Confederates. It was a costly victory, however, for Jackson was shot accidentally by his own men, May 2, 1862, while making a reconnai ance. His death was the deadliest military blow dealt to the South. Jackson was a man of deeply religious nature. His usual announcement of a triumph was: ‘God this day ble ed our arms with victory.’ In his personal traits and military characteristics he has. often, and justly, been compared to Oliver Cromwell.