Thomas Stonewall Jackson - Essay Example

While he did not excel, he worked hard to complete his training and successfully graduated in 1846. His final grade placed him 17th among his class of 59 students, (Cooke, 1866) an indication of the potential that he was later to unlock. Following his graduation, Jackson transferred to Mexico where he received military training and served for five years. Within this time the Mexican war broke out, and he earned two brevets for his role in the war. In February 1852, he resigned from his designation in Army and accepted professorship at Virginia Military Institute.

Soon he was recognized as a professor of artillery tactics and natural philosophy at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington. He had a significant role in the Civil War, commanding the confederation army, and fought in a number of important battles such as the battle of Chancellorsville. Jackson lost an arm as a consequence of this battle, and while he survived the amputation, complications brought on by pneumonia meant that he died eight days later. Thomas Jackson married twice in his life, first to Elinor Junkin and later to Mary Anna Morrison.

He married Elinor Junkin in 1853 but she didn’t survive after giving a stillbirth and died due to postpartum hemorrhage on October 22, 1854, after just one year of marriage. Thomas Jackson married again in 1857 with Mary Anna and had two daughters, of these one survived, she was named Julia Laura. MILITARY CAREER Jackson is considered by many Military Historians to be the ‘most blessed’ tactical commander. He started his military career as a Second Lieutenant in United States Army in the artillery regiment.

Due to his excellent commanding personality and strong decisive powers, he was sent on Mexican War for two years where he served at different battles like Chapultepec, Contreras and Mexico City. As a consequence of the battles he fought and his determination he earned two brevets and was promoted as First Lieutenant. During war in Mexico, he met Robert Lee for the first time, this relationship would prove to be highly influential (Doak, 2005). One of Jackson’s key leadership traits was the ability to show strong decisive power, choosing a course and sticking to it, despite opposition.

An example of this was during the battle at Chapultepec, where Jackson refused to obey orders which he considered to be wrong. He later argued that his denial was justified, as he considered the withdrawal of the army would do more harm than good under the circumstances surrounding that battle. However, he learned later in his career to follow instructions of those senior to him even when he knew that the decisions that they made were incorrect. It was this aggressive attitude that earned him his second brevet, and his subsequent promotion to Major.

He was the only army officer to receive two promotions during the three year Mexico War. Jackson was complimented with a nickname”Stonewall” during first battle of Bull Run. Jackson resigned from his army service in February 1852 to follow up with his professorship. JACKSON AS A PROFESSOR After retiring from the Army, Jackson accepted a new career as a professor at Virginia Military Institute and taught Experimental Philosophy and was an Instructor of Artillery. The ideas and theories that he presented were unusual and many are still in use today.

Many of his concepts are considered to be military