[upbeat music] the right hand man to Robert
E lee, feared by Union troops, undefeated in all his many
battles, and finally-- ironically-- cut
down by his own men in a tragic case
of friendly fire. [dramatic music] NARRATOR: May 2, 1863,
Chancellorsville, Virginia-- it was a time and a place
that marked more than just another battle between
Confederate and northern forces. During the confusion that
often accompanies war, the day gained a
certain distinction. It was there that the South's
foremost general fell. In an instant, the
man who protected the Confederate guards
the legendary war hero, the mighty
Stonewall, was shattered. And along with him, went the
hopes and hearts of the people from his homeland. ACTOR AS FWM HOLLIDAY: Most of
the actors in the world's drama are those who come and
go and perform their work without enchaining our highest
attention and admiration. Now and then an individual
appears, marking his advent and stay with evidences
of marvelous superiority to his contemporaries in some
high spirit of human action. We cannot always define by
name his splendid traits. And, for want of
a better term, we say he is gifted among
mortals with genius. Such was "Stonewall" Jackson. He was the very genius of war. NARRATOR: Colonel FWM Holliday,
Commander, 33rd Virginia Infantry. Stonewall Jackson was a
quiet, cautious, thoughtful, family man, of whom almost no
one had heard or ever would have heard except for the
fact that the American Civil War came along and
gave him an arena in which he became one
of the leading actors. [gunfire] JAMES ROBERTSON: He became, of
course, the greatest Lieutenant Robert E Lee ever had in
the South's foremost army. That, in itself, would
give him a certain status, a certain station, in the
affairs of the Southern Confederacy. But his campaigns
in the field just created this myth and
this legend of a man who was in 100 places at one time. WILLIAM DAVIS: This is a man
who defeats three Yankee armies single-handedly. And all of them
combined outnumbered him by about two to one. There is no way something
like this cannot have a catastrophic-- more likely cataclysmic--
effect on the course of a war. Just the fear that
Jackson's name came to inspire in
some Yankee soldiers gave him that much
of an edge on them to begin with, if they
knew they were going up against the mighty Stonewall. BRIAN POHANKA: All you had to
do was mention Stonewall Jackson and there were immediate fears
for the safety of Washington. And those earthen forts
that ring the city and safeguarded it would be
manned to the fullest by Union troops. Jackson was truly a
legend in his own time. And the inscrutable nature
of Jackson, I think, furthered the myth. JAMES ROBERTSON: Jackson
is a complicated man because he looked at things
with such incredible simplicity. You obey or you disobey. You are a god fearing man or
you are not a god fearing man. And his whole life, I think,
was a rather simple life of a man who had very
complicated workings. ROBERT KRICK: Stonewall
Jackson genuinely believed that god was
watching his every step. God was on his side. And he was guiding every
one of those steps. And before the Civil War-- and
particularly during the war because his steps were
so often successful-- he absolutely believed
that he owed that to god and that he was god's
instrument on Earth. BRIAN POHANKA: In his
style and his persona, Jackson was certainly not the
Napoleonic ideal of a dashing soldier. He was rather rumpled
in his appearance, certainly eccentric
in his mannerisms. Would be missing a button on his
coat and not think much of it, rode a rather sorry looking
horse, not a prancing stallion. And yet, the very fact that he
wasn't given to that frou-frou and foppery enabled him
to establish a rapport with a common soldier, with
a man in the ranks, that's perhaps the most important bond
that can be formed in warfare. JAMES ROBERTSON: As Jackson led
them to success after success, getting all the credit
for god, asking them to do the impossible, but
leading them to success, and at the same time
leading them to fame, it was a respect, a
high esteem, which they felt for General Jackson. WILLIAM DAVIS: Jackson's
the necessary Greek hero of the war. He does all the right things. He has just enough
oddity of character to make him personally
interesting. He's brilliant at what he does. And he dies at exactly
the right time. He sets up the beginning
of the creation of myth and speculation of all
the "might have beens." NARRATOR: Long before he would
become the mighty Stonewall, long before he would
gain legendary status, and long before he would
become the physical embodiment of Confederate patriotism,
Thomas Jonathan Jackson lived a life almost foreshadowing
what was to come. For 37 years, he would hone
the tools he would ultimately need to help shape history. He was born in 1824 in
what is now West Virginia. By the age of five, both
his parents were dead. By the time he
reached adolescence, all his siblings, but
one, had died, as well. He had been placed with a
relative, Cummins Jackson, who then became responsible
for his upbringing. JAMES ROBERTSON: He was
raised on a large estate that contained a grist
mill, saw mill, [inaudible] tracts, fields, herds. It was a diverse
agricultural enterprise. So he learned to do many
things and to do them well. Like most farm boys
in that era, he went to school
three months a year in the short period between
planting and harvesting and picked up the rudiments of
arithmetic, English grammar, and composition. And armed with that
minimum education, he goes to West Point. MICHAEL ANNE LYNN: In many
ways, that was an entree into the world of gentlemen,
of respectability. And he made the most
of that opportunity. And he was somewhat
self-conscious, I think, in his efforts
at self-improvement. JAMES ROBERTSON: You would
not have thought at West Point that he could ever have
been a military genius. He went in a poor
orphan, deficient even in social amenities, even
knowing which knifes or forks to use at a meal. In the first year
at West Point, he was ranked solidly in what West
Point is today still called the Immortals. He was at the very
bottom of his class. ROBERT KRICK: His
experience at West Point was almost his life in
microcosm-- starting out a little bit behind and catching
up, and then forging onward. There was not so
much brilliance, an intuitive learning ability,
as there was determination. JAMES ROBERTSON:
At West Point, he began keeping a book of maxims. And he would jot down
these little one liners he heard which impressed him. And one of his
favorite, of course, was, "You may be whatever
you resolve to be." And he lived by that axiom. ACTOR AS FELLOW WEST
POINT CADET: "All lights were put out at taps. And just before the signal,
he would pile up his grate with coal. And lying prone before
it on the floor, he would work away
at his lessons by the glare of the fire,
which scorched his very brain till a late hour of the night. This evident
determination to succeed not only aided his own efforts
directly, but impressed his instructors in his favor. And he rose steadily year
by year till we used to say, if we had to stay
here another year, old Jack would be at
the head of the class." Fellow West Point cadet. NARRATOR: When Thomas Jackson
graduated from West Point in 1846, he was 17th
in a class of 59. A combination of persistence,
perseverance, and determination became the driving force
behind the steady climb that landed him within
the top third of students. These same characteristics would
later turn the ordinary man into a legendary general. But in 1846, a hero's reputation
was still over a decade away. War, however, was not. Fighting in Mexico
had already begun. And Jackson, along
with his classmates, was ordered to proceed
to the scene of action. [sound of battle] The character of the man
was fortified in combat. It was in Mexico he
first established himself as Thomas Jonathan
Jackson, the fighting man. JAMES ROBERTSON: From the
moment he got to Mexico, he was anxious to fight. There was no hesitation,
no fear, in him. He wanted to get into a battle
to find out if he could fight, if he did well at it. And, of course,
within a year, he had been in three major
engagements, been brevetted for gallantry three times. ROBERT KRICK: Out where the
bullets really were flying, Jackson was very much
distinguished in the assault upon Mexico City
in September, 1847. He'd been second in
command of a battery that was on one of the causeways
that approached the city-- a bad place to be, raised up
above the surrounding ground. And the Mexican army was
sweeping that causeway with fire from muskets
and from cannon, too. There were his guns
exposed on that causeway. And he just stood out to
them and ignored the danger. Later marveled to someone
that he hadn't really noticed the danger. He wasn't ignoring it so
much as he was unaware of it. JAMES ROBERTSON: Jackson was
certainly the most celebrated member of the class of '46. And he came out of the
Mexican War a brevet major. Jackson learned many
things in the Mexican War. He learned, of course,
many military things. He learned the value
of flanking movements, the value of staff work, the
value of concentrated attacks. At the same time, he learn
orderliness, and discipline, and devotion to
duty, and suddenly realized he liked those
kinds of things very much. And he comes out of the Mexican
War fairly well committed to the military. NARRATOR: By the end of the
war, Jackson's experience had given him recognition
for the first time as a celebrated soldier. But, more importantly,
he had armed himself with more of the necessary
characteristics for which he would later become famous. Along with perseverance
and determination, there was now obedience
and devotion to duty. But the Civil War was not yet
even a spark on the horizon. However, Jackson's
battle experience still became a valuable asset, winning
him more than brevets to major. In 1851, he was
offered a position at the prestigious Virginia
Military Institute, better known as VMI. ACTOR AS STONEWALL
JACKSON: "Colonel-- Your letter the
28th, informing me that I have been elected
Professor of Natural and Experimental
Philosophy in Artillery Tactics in the Virginia Military
Institute, has been received. The high honor conferred
by the Board of Visitors and selected me unanimously
to fill such a professorship gratified me exceedingly. I am, Colonel,
very respectfully, your obedient servant." Thomas Jonathan Jackson, 1851. ROBERT KRICK: He was
admired because of successes during the Mexican War and
this was a military school. But by and large, they viewed
him as no more than moderately successful teacher and he was
not a big fish in their ocean. WILLIAM DAVIS: He did not have
the instincts of a teacher. Jackson saw teaching the
way he saw everything else-- as a case of white or
black, right or wrong. Everything was very rigid. There are no shades of gray
in Jackson's intellect. And teaching, I'm sure for him,
was exactly the same thing. And it was teaching,
in his case, by rote. JAMES ROBERTSON: He
had poor eyesight. And, as a result of this,
he could not or would not study at night. So on the afternoon before
the next day's classes, he would memorize his lectures. And then the next morning, he
would go into class and reel off-- literally reel off this
memorized lecture, which was fine for the A students. But if the C and D students
asked for elaboration or expansion, this was
beyond Jackson's ability. All he could do is back up,
like he would reverse a reel or tape, and then run the
same thing again verbatim. The student had better not ask
a second time for elaboration because Jackson only took
this as insubordination and might put the
student on report. ACTOR AS FENTON STEVE SMITH:
"As a Professor of Natural and Experimental
Philosophy, Major Jackson was not a success. He had not the
qualifications needed for so important a chair. He was no teacher, and he lacked
the tack required in getting along with his classes. Every officer and every
cadet respected him for his many sterling qualities. He was a brave man,
a conscientious man, and a good man. But he was no professor." Colonel Francis H. Smith,
Superintendent, VMI. KEITH GIBSON: It was
in his other capacity, as a Professor of Artillery
Tactics, in which he not only was more comfortable,
but had the undeniable respect and attention of
his cadet corps. JAMES ROBERTSON:
Over and over again, you will find these graduating
cadets or these high ranking cadets in their final year at
VMI making statements like, well, he's-- he's a hell of a man in class. But if I ever had
to go into battle, I would want to go in with him. NARRATOR: Again,
the foreshadowing that marked his life continued. Many of these same boys
would later become his men. They would also become
the backbone of artillery in the Confederate army. They followed him
in command at VMI like they followed him in war. ACTOR AS LEGH WILBER
REID: "There is something in his very mode of life So accurate, steady,
void of care or strife That fills my heart with
love for him who bears His honors meekly & who wears The laurels of a hero-- this is fact So here's a heart &
hand of mine for Jack" Legh Wilber Reid,
VMI cadet, 1858. NARRATOR: The cadets had
placed their faith in Jackson, while he placed his with god. JAMES ROBERTSON: It was only
after he came to Lexington that he finally found the
denomination that he'd been seeking for the
past four or five years. And this was the
Presbyterian church. And it's almost incorrect to
say he became a Presbyterian. Jackson became a
Calvinist really, in the old line, a hard
shell kind of faith. WILLIAM DAVIS: His was
a religion of the book. And the book taken literally. Jackson would have
been a fanatic probably at any religion he happened
to adopt because it was the way his turn of
mind worked-- again, this single-minded
dedication to a goal. NARRATOR: Jackson became
known for his strong beliefs. But it was not his faith that
caused the people of Lexington to single him out. Jackson had the kind of a
personality that would attract people to hone in on his quirks
because he was an odd duck anyhow. Certainly not unique, but
amongst the general run of Southern men of his class,
he was still a little peculiar. ROBERT KRICK: He was very
much the hypochondriac. One of the most frequently
told stories about him-- and it apparently is true--
is that he rode around with one hand in the
air because he thought that one side of his body,
the limbs on one side, were larger than the other. And the blood needed
to drain out of one. And he attributed this
or some of his other woes to eating pepper
and therefore quit. JAMES ROBERTSON: He tended
to eat things he did not like under the premise
that that would be better for him than to eat
things that he did enjoy, the earthly
pleasures, you see. He once ate bread
with butter on it and decided he liked it so
much that he ate the bread without butter from thereon. And he feasted on
this spartan diet. NARRATOR: Despite his oddities,
Jackson was an accepted member of the community. In Lexington, he
had found his faith. In Lexington, he had
become a gentleman. And in Lexington, he
learned about love. In the early 1850s, he met
Elinor Junkin, the daughter of Presbyterian minister
and president of Washington College, Dr. George Junkin. Once again, he was faced
with a new experience. JAMES ROBERTSON: He was not even
sure what was happening to him in the early 1850s when he
and Ellie, as he called her, became very close friends. And it was up to a colleague
of his who taught math at Washington College who
laughingly told Jackson that he was in love. That all these pains and strange
feelings he had was romance. NARRATOR: In 1853, Jackson
and Ellie were married. They lived happily in Lexington. Then, after only 15
months, the marriage ended. Ellie and their unborn baby
died during childbirth. And Jackson was devastated. He relied on his faith
to overcome his grief. ACTOR AS STONEWALL
JACKSON: "I frequently go to the grave of her who
was so pure and lovely. But she is not there. When I stand over the grave, I
do not fancy that she is thus confined, but I think of her as
having a glorified existence." Thomas Jonathan Jackson. JAMES ROBERTSON: Finally,
in 1856, two years later, he took a summer tour of Europe. He came back early, fascinated
by all the things he had seen. But also Jackson had the idea
that life might be much more satisfactory if he
had a companion. And so he contacted another
minister's daughter-- Mary Anna Morrison-- and
renewed a friendship with Anna. And then in July, 1857,
they were married. NARRATOR: It looked as if
Jackson would spend his life living in Lexington. But by the beginning of the
1860s, the dark clouds of war were looming over the nation. ACTOR AS STONEWALL JACKSON:
"I'm anxious to hear from the native
part of my state. "I am strong for the
union at present. And if things would come to
worse, I hope to continue so." Thomas Jonathan Jackson, 1860. WILLIAM DAVIS: Jackson has very
much the Virginian's attitude or the border state attitude,
which is that the Union was the Union. He was loyal to it as
long as it was together. And if Virginia happens to
join with the Confederacy, then that's where
Jackson's allegiance is by. NARRATOR: By 1861, the
country was tearing in two, and Jackson believed
it was not only his duty to defend
his home state, but a necessary fight of faith. JAMES ROBERTSON: Jackson
believed that God had ordained a civil war on this
country for reasons he nor any other mortal
had a right to question. But this was a scourge, Old
Testament fashion, of the land. He believed that the side that
displayed the most confidence in and respect for the
Almighty would ultimately win and triumph in this war. NARRATOR: In April of 1861,
Jackson marched into war, and soon, the country
would be introduced to the legendary Stonewall. of a new era. For 37 years, he had
unknowingly prepared himself for his final 23 months. By the end of April, 1861,
Thomas Jonathan Jackson, the fighting man, had returned. And by the end of July, 1861,
Thomas Jonathan Jackson, the mighty Stonewall,
would emerge. Stonewall Jackson
was a Colonel at the beginning of the war. He was still Thomas Jackson. No one had given him his nom
de guerre of "Stonewall" yet. And he was posted to the
frontier of Virginia, which was Harper's Ferry. Fought a little battle the
first week of July, 1861, at Falling Waters-- really
not much of an affair at all. And then, commanding
five Virginia regiments, he led them as a brigade off
to the first Battle of Bull Run or Manassas, as the
Southerners called it. JAMES ROBERTSON: At
Manassas, it was not so much a battle between armies as it
was a collision between two armed mobs with inexperience
being the prevailing sentiment. ACTOR AS HENRY KYD DOUGLAS:
"Wavering had been the fortunes of the day, and the hours
pass slowly to men who'd never tasted battle before." Henry Kyd Douglas, aide
on Jackson's staff. JAMES ROBERTSON:
The key position on the whole battlefield
was Henry House Hill. And Jackson and his brigade,
with an artillery battery, were positioned on that hill. NARRATOR: Jackson,
obeying orders, stood his ground,
while a brigade of the Confederate soldiers,
under the command of General Bernard Bee, fought part
of the bloody battle below. WILLIAM DAVIS: Bee's brigade
is just being kicked to pieces by the Federals at this point. Jackson's brigade is up on
Henry House Hill in position, but not really doing anything. These men are in
advance of the line and are about to be
virtually disintegrated. And Bee says something
to the effect of, look, there stands Jackson
like a stone wall. Let us resolve to die
here, and we shall conquer. NARRATOR: Shortly
after, Bee was wounded, finally dying a day later. But his words lived on,
and the legend was born. It was in that instant that
Thomas Jonathan Jackson became Stonewall. Over a century later, there's
no question as to where and when Jackson was renamed,
but the moment is not without controversy. There still remains the question
of the meaning of these words. Was Jackson standing
strong as a stone wall? Or was he merely
frozen on the hillside, while his fellow countrymen
were being killed? There are writers
today, who will say, well, Bee didn't really mean
that in a positive note. He meant that Jackson was
dragging his feet at Manassas. Now the evidence is too strong
for that kind of argument to have any validity whatsoever. Jackson was holding the
position he was ordered to hold. ROBERT KRICK: When the Federals
finally got close to these five regiments standing like a
stone wall, Jackson, in fact, held them and proved to
be a pivot on the day. He was the bulwark on which
the Federal advance stopped and eventually was broken as
more Confederates came up. NARRATOR: It was a
Confederate victory, but more than a
battle had been won. The South now had
their first war hero. Jackson and the
men he had trained left the field symbolic of the
courage behind the rebel cause. Together, they represented
the strength and protection of a stone wall. It became part and parcel
of him and of the brigade. The brigade that had
stood there was promptly called the Stonewall Brigade. And eventually, it was the only
unit in Confederate service that had a formal nickname. The rest were all numbered. WILLIAM DAVIS: Jackson had a
tremendously motivated command under him. They were all Virginians. They were all fighting
for their homeland. Virginia had been invaded. The invader's heel
was on their hearts. So they had a-- they had the
best motivation any man can have to go to war. JAMES ROBERTSON: He
did an incredible job taking a bunch of militia men,
old veterans, young recruits, and welding them together
into a reasonably efficient military machine. He drilled them in the
typical Jackson fashion. He paid no attention to
time, no attention to need, no attention to meals and rest. WILLIAM DAVIS: On an average,
they did about 20 miles a day of hard marching. The average person can
easily walk 20 miles a day if you're in good shape, but
not carrying 40 or 50 pounds of pack, an eight-pound rifle,
wearing, perhaps, wool or even heavy cotton uniforms
on a hot summer sun. ACTOR AS MAJOR
GENERAL MC BUTLER: "There was a tone
about general Jackson which inspired all private
soldiers under his command with a sublime, unquestioned
confidence in his leadership, an indescribable something,
amounting almost to fascination on the part of his
soldiers that induced them to do uncomplainingly
whatever he would order." Major General MC Butler,
Division Commander Calvary Army of Northern Virginia. Now when you
thought of Jackson, you thought of
long, hard marches, and his men became
accustomed to them. They took them as a challenge. Many of them thought that what
he was asking was impossible, but they said, by
damn, we can do it. And they did it. ACTOR AS MAJOR
GENERAL MC BUTLER: "It was not the
inspiration of fear, but a deep and abiding
devotion to his person, to his character, to his
matchless and unerring leadership in self-sacrifice." Major General MC Butler. NARRATOR: To the South, they
were known as the Stonewall Brigade. But to each other, they
were Jackson's Foot Cavalry. As for Stonewall, in
1861, he was promoted. He was now General Jackson. ROBERT KRICK: During
the Civil War, the legend was not only
growing, but alive then. And people took hold of it
and made themselves part of it and basked in its reflected
glory, which, of course, redounded to the military good
of the Confederate States, because the more
aligned the units had, the better they would--
they would fight. Success breeds success
in all human endeavors and most especially, it seems
to me, in military ones. NARRATOR: In the spring
of 1862, the legend grew when General Stonewall
Jackson, his famous foot cavalry, and a small army
all fought for their homeland in the Shenandoah Valley. The Shenandoah Valley was
a lifeline to the south. It was a source of provisions
and a Northern invasion route. The Union wanted the territory,
and Jackson and his men were sent to help stop them. In battle after
battle, Stonewall led a small contingent
of Confederate soldiers in defeating massive
numbers of Federal troops. ROBERT KRICK: The
climax of the campaign, Jackson had slightly
more than 15,000 men, still a very small army
considering the fact that the Federals got
well up toward 80,000 men, first and last chasing him
from one point or another in a variety of
armies, at least three of them who came after him. And so he darted about,
using his men's legs and using his grasp
of the ground, and confused those people and
beat them again and again. ARMSTEAD ROBINSON: He would
attack in the morning, attack in the evening,
attack at night. People kept thinking, there
have to be more soldiers here. This can't possibly be the same
people striking here, striking here, striking there. The result was that the
Northern side kept large numbers of troops in a vain effort to
defend against a group that was much smaller
than it actually was. In about 48 days, his men
marched almost 700 miles. They fought a dozen
different battles. They defeated
three Union armies. He was going up
against 4 to 1 odds, coming at him from
north, east, and west. And he just continued guarding
here, jabbing there, probing here, stabbing there. And he was arguably the most
famous general in the world coming out of that campaign. BRIAN POHANKA: All of these
generals essentially worship the memory and the tactics
and the legacy of Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleonic tactics,
Napoleonic strategy was what they sought to
emulate, the ability to keep your opponent off balance
to strike him at one point, and then move rapidly and
strike him at another. And Jackson lived up to
the Napoleonic ideal. And he was recognized as being
the first Confederate general to flummox a succession
of Union opponents. And his genius was
recognized at the time. I don't know that Stonewall
Jackson was doing things differently than other generals. He was doing it with more
determination and better. People looked at the whole
war, and Jackson had stood it on its ear. This fellow with the euphonious
nickname and the fellow who had done so much in
the valley, and he was on the threshold of fame. He built on that with
tremendous successes. ARMSTEAD ROBINSON: And here,
you have this mythic figure, who was alledged to sleep on
the field with his soldiers. They'd eat soldiers' rations. They'd be able to stay
in the saddle for days on end to get men, to march as
rapidly as cavalry could move, and to get them to
fight with ferocity? Of course, he'd be
a feared person. How do you defeat him? How do you defeat a myth? ROBERT KRICK:
Jackson's reputation was worth a battalion or two. The Federals knew who he was. They were scared about him. Nannies in the North would
try to shush crying children and say, Stonewall
will come get you. Part of being
larger than life was that you were a bit of a
bogey man to the enemy. And when Stonewall
Jackson arrived, it was time to start worrying. MICHAEL ANNE LYNN:
Stonewall Jackson became a household word. He was well known both in the
North as well as the South. He was a fearsome
figure, and he won. And his-- his great fame
had to do with the fact that he was giving the
Confederacy a great sense of hope at a time
when there might not have been that much to
feel-- feel hopeful about. NARRATOR: The mighty Stonewall
had become the foundation of strength behind the
wall of Southern beliefs. But for Jackson himself,
it was fate, not fame, that fueled the fire
behind his success. WILLIAM DAVIS: He was a
man, among other things, who regarded modesty
as a great virtue and practiced it very hard. Every victory he achieved,
he ascribed to the indulgence of a kind God Almighty. The Almighty gave him victories,
not Stonewall Jackson. ACTOR AS STONEWALL JACKSON:
"It chills my heart to think that many
of God's people are praying to our ever
kind Heavenly Father for the success of the
Armor to which I belong. Without God helping, I
look for no such success. My prayers and all the glory may
be given unto him, to whom it is properly due." Stonewall Jackson. NARRATOR: And during the war,
it was as if Jackson's life's lessons had finally
joined together. Over three decades
of preparation had given him the dedication,
determination, and devotion needed to win the battle. And although the combination
may have been the ingredients in the recipe for
success, they may also be credited with
creating the darker side of the mighty Stonewall. ROBERT KRICK: Jackson's
salient military shortcoming is his inability to get
along with his subordinates. Subordinate after
subordinate came under arrest for violating just the
most minor infractions. The men who answered
directly to him or maybe just one
layer below him, they all had a very
uncomfortable time. NARRATOR: Despite his
failings, Jackson was still a leader among Southern men. But even the mighty
Stonewall had to obey orders. And beginning with
the spring of 1862, the commands came from
General Robert E Lee. JAMES ROBERTSON:
Between Lee and Jackson developed the ingredients of
a military team, which I think has no equal in the
history of warfare. They became a model partnership. There is nothing in the Civil
War that can compare with it. Lee had the vision of
a great quarterback to see the game as a
whole and what would work. And Jackson is his great
running back with the ability to put that call into execution. NARRATOR: Together, they were
a locomotive of destruction. In June of 1862, during the
campaign of Second Bull Run, Lee released Jackson,
and the mighty Stonewall struck the Union's supply
line, forcing the Federals under the command of General
John Pope to pull back. Then in the fall of 1862,
during the Antietam campaign, the pair once again
proved their power. Lee split his forces in two, and
Jackson was in command of one. For three hours,
the mighty Stonewall resisted concentrated
union assaults, while continuing to hold
the Confederate line. In battle after battle, they
took the country by storm. Then in May of 1863,
they began their most famous and what would be
their last fight together during the campaign
of Chancellorsville. JAMES ROBERTSON: At
Chancellorsville, the Lee-Jackson partnership
came to its apex. It was a battle that, on paper,
Robert E Lee could not win. But he wins it, and he wins
it in great part because of Jackson. NARRATOR: Lee and Jackson had
their final meeting the evening of May 1st. Together, they devised
the plan that is still considered a masterpiece. The Confederate army was
outnumbered over two to one, but typical of the
Lee-Jackson style, they were willing
to make a bold move. By May 2nd, with
their small force, they were ready to
take on the Federals. ROBERT KRICK: Jackson,
with about 30,000 men, marched a bit more than a dozen
miles on a set of wagon roads that were just so primitive
that pioneer corps had to go out front and cut the
stumps low enough that the axles of the
artillery and the trains, the ambulance trains
and ordnance trains, could get over the stumps. And at the end of all of
that risk and endeavor, he had crossed the
T of the Federals. They were facing one way. He was facing 90
degrees different, overlapping them a
mile on either side. NARRATOR: By approximately 6:00
PM, Jackson was in position. Then in the final moments
before the attack, Jackson looked at
his men, many of whom he had known long
before the war. JAMES ROBERTSON: At the
moment of ordering his men into action, Jackson
made the famous statement that the institute will be heard
from today, because a number of the high ranking officers of
his corps were VMI graduates. Undoubtedly, many of them had
lambasted him as young cadets, and now they were
going to their deaths to follow old Jack
in the bottom. [shots] WILLIAM DAVIS: He's in the
midst of the greatest victory of his career-- indeed,
the biggest victory in the Civil War in the east, a
tremendous, crushing blow that sent almost half of
the army of the Potomac scurrying back towards safety. JAMES ROBERTSON: Jackson
did not want to stop. He's got this fury,
this ferocity going. Let's vie for the kill. Jackson, in a totally
unrealistic move on his part, [inaudible] out personally
through the woods to try and ascertain exactly
where the Federal line is trying to stabilize. WILLIAM DAVIS: He's out
actually between the lines in a time when it's dark, the
battlefield's full of smoke. Jackson's own people
are badly disorganized, because they've been
running and pursuing the fleeing Yankees all day. So their own organization
is tremendously torn up. They don't know friend from foe. JAMES ROBERTSON: Jackson
had issued orders. The orders were there to
the Confederate soldiers that Union troops were
in the woods somewhere. And so all these
Confederate soldiers saw or heard first word-- was riders coming
through the woods, coming from the direction
of the Union lines. It was Jackson and his staff,
but the Confederate soldiers logically concluded that these
are Union horsemen galloping toward them, and so
they opened fire. [gunshots] NARRATOR: The fog of war
was upon the battlefield, and Jackson was caught
in the confusion. With a volley of friendly
fire came a pivotal moment in the war. The bullet from the
gun of a rebel soldier became the blow that would
ultimately help shatter the mighty but mortal Stonewall. It was on May 2, 1863, that
fire from Confederate arms not only shot away
many of their own men, but gave away the rebel
position to the Federal forces. ACTOR AS HENRY KYD DOUGLAS:
"Suddenly, the enemy's artillery opened on the scene
and added to the confusion and horror of it. And verily, in the language
of General Sherman, war was hell that night." Henry Kyd Douglas, aide
on Jackson's staff. NARRATOR: Several
in Jackson's staff were dead, while the
general himself lay suffering from various wounds. His most serious injury-- a severed artery
in his left arm. In 1863, amputation
was the only option. Dr. Hunter McGuire
performed the operation, and when it was over, Jackson's
old friend, Beverly Tucker Lacy, took the hero's
limb, and a quarter of a mile from the
field hospital, gave it a proper burial. The limb lay buried, but
the general lived on. The word had spread quickly,
but along with the battle came a break in communication. The forces of Lee and Jackson
had been split for the fight, so it was six hours before the
information reached Jackson's superior. Through the darkness, a
couple of staff officers rode to find Lee. And in the early morning
hours of the 3rd of May, they gave him that message. And he, of course,
was very upset at it. And one of them
started to describe the nature of the wounds,
and Lee said, stop, stop. Don't go on. I don't want to hear
any more about that. It's too painful. Lee writes back to Jackson
a very brief note, saying, you have lost your left arm. I have lost my right. Lee symbolically
losing that thing that he exercised so well,
Stonewall Jackson, Robert E Lee's right arm. NARRATOR: Fearing
a Union assault, orders were sent from Lee to
remove Jackson from the area. After a 27-mile
rocky wagon ride, Jackson arrived at his final
destination, Guinea Station. In a small structure, the
general was left to recuperate. His wife joined him,
while a team of men kept a careful watch
on his condition. It was soon clear the
wounds were healing, but Jackson was not. Within days, the general was
diagnosed with what was then a deadly case of pneumonia. Physicians of that day were
familiar enough with pneumonia that they could predict
almost the hour of death. And so that morning,
Jackson's personal physician informed Mrs. Jackson that
the general would surely expire that day. ROBERT KRICK: A group of his
most intimate staff members and his wife was there,
and the physicians in the room, and his breathing
got shorter and shorter and more and more labored, as-- as his lungs filled up
and ceased to function. And finally, at about 3:15, the
clock ticking, the clock that's still there ticking, in the
delirium, which had had him more and more under
its control, he said, let us cross
over the river and rest under the
shade of the trees. And then as he had done so
many times, he led the way. ACTOR AS HENRY KYD DOUGLAS:
"This afternoon, my watch stopped at a quarter
past 3 o'clock. At that moment, the heart of
Stonewall Jackson ceased to be, and his soul
departed for heaven." Henry Kyd Douglas, aide
on Jackson's staff. NARRATOR: On May 10,
1863, at the age of 39, the mighty Stonewall died. And with him went the
high hopes of the South. ACTOR AS JEFFERSON DAVIS:
"He fell like the eagle, his own feather
on the [inaudible] that was dripping with
his own life blood. In his death, the Confederacy
lost an eye and an arm, our only consolation being that
his summons could have reached no soldier more prepared
to accept it joyfully." Jefferson Davis, president,
Confederate States of America. The pall of misery that
went across the South when Jackson died was
one of the major blows to Confederate civilian morale. They had regarded
Jackson as invincible, just as they regarded
Lee as invincible. ACTOR AS CHARLESTON
COURIER: "Everyone feels as though he'd sustained
a personal bereavement. In the agony of this
overwhelming sorrow, we exclaimed, would, God,
I had died for thee." Charleston Courier. As soon as Jackson
dies, the South starts looking for another one. And all future potential
heroes are measured by the standard of Jackson. All failed to measure
up, of course. But now and then,
when some general is successful in
a small campaign, he begins to be called
the new Jackson. But only briefly. ACTOR AS BRIGADIER GENERAL
JAMES H LANE: "Jackson died, but his memory lived in
the hearts of his soldiers, and on many a subsequent
hard fought freedom, I heard them exclaim,
oh, for another Jackson." Brigadier General James H Lane. MICHAEL ANNE LYNN: He became an
embodiment of all the virtues, all of the hopes, all
of the aspirations for the Confederate cause. In the years following
the war, there-- there rose up an enormous sort
of cult of the Lost Cause. And Jackson was very
central to that. ACTOR AS GENERAL HENRY HETH:
"I consider General Stonewall Jackson the most
extraordinary man as a soldier that I ever met. Never excited, he was
as cool under fire as he would have been of
a tenant to his devotions in his church. Had he been spared
to the Confederacy, during the years of
1863, '64, and '65, it is my belief
that matters would have resulted differently." Major General Henry Heth. [music playing] (SINGING) A gracious deal,
my dream [inaudible].. [inaudible] I first believe. I once was lost. I am found, was blind.
