The Civil War
- See main article for details regarding Stonewall Jackson's Civil War career
On April 17, 1861, Virginia seceded from the United States of America and Jackson was ordered to mobilize the VMI Corps of Cadets to Richmond. Upon arriving at Richmond, Jackson presented himself to the state governor and requested a formal military assignment. To Jackson's disappointment, he was appointed to his former rank in the U.S. Army (Major) and assigned to what he saw as unimportant duties with military engineers.
After a second conversation with the governor, in which Jackson made his displeasure of his previous appointment known, Jackson was approved by the Virginia General Assembly as a Colonel in the new "Provisional Army of Virginia" (also known as the "Citizens Army of Virginia") to which Robert E. Lee was the supreme commander.
When Virginia formally joined the Confederacy in May 1861, Jackson's Virginia appointments were converted to the Provisional Army of Confederacy and he became a Colonel in the Confederates Army. For administrative reasons, Jackson's appointment as a Confederate Colonel was backdated to March 16, 1861 (the date that the Virginia Assembly first began debating formal succession). Thus, Jackson has the distinction of being a Confederate Colonel (at least on paper) a full month before his state actually joined the Confederacy.
The Confederate Army also had a permanent Regular Army, this known as the Army of the Confederate States of America. In October 1862, after Jackson was already a Major General in the Confederate Provisional Army, he was appointed to the permanent rank of Major of Artillery in the Army of the Confederate States.
While in Harpers Ferry as a Virginia States Forces colonel, Jackson was also placed in command of the entire Virginia Militia, making him by default a militia general. Jackson never referred to himself in this sense and quickly petitioned the Governor of Virginia to fold militia forces into the regular state army.
The earliest use of Jackson wearing a gray Confederate Army uniform was in Winchester, Virginia, in the early spring of 1862. Prior to this time, although a serving officer in the Confederacy, Jackson wore his blue VMI officer uniform with various insignia.
Dates of Rank
- April 25, 1861: Major of Topographic Engineers, Virginia Militia
- April 27, 1861: Colonel, Provisional Army of Virginia
- May 23, 1861: Colonel of Infantry, Provisional Army of the Confederacy
- June 17, 1861: Brigadier General, Provisional Army of the Confederacy
- October 7, 1861: Major General, Provisional Army of the Confederacy
- October 31, 1861: Major of Artillery (Permanent), Confederate States Army
- October 10, 1862: Lieutenant General, Provisional Army of the Confederacy
Read more about this topic: Military Career Of Stonewall Jackson
Famous quotes containing the words civil war, civil and/or war:
“The principle of majority rule is the mildest form in which the force of numbers can be exercised. It is a pacific substitute for civil war in which the opposing armies are counted and the victory is awarded to the larger before any blood is shed. Except in the sacred tests of democracy and in the incantations of the orators, we hardly take the trouble to pretend that the rule of the majority is not at bottom a rule of force.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)
“[Rutherford B. Hayes] was a patriotic citizen, a lover of the flag and of our free institutions, an industrious and conscientious civil officer, a soldier of dauntless courage, a loyal comrade and friend, a sympathetic and helpful neighbor, and the honored head of a happy Christian home. He has steadily grown in the public esteem, and the impartial historian will not fail to recognize the conscientiousness, the manliness, and the courage that so strongly characterized his whole public career.”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)
“Physical nature lies at our feet shackled with a hundred chains. What of the control of human nature? Do not point to the triumphs of psychiatry, social services or the war against crime. Domination of human nature can only mean the domination of every man by himself.”
—Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)