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Main overview of Stonewall Jackson Thomas Jonathon Jackson (1824-1863), He was an American soldier, and considered an outstanding leader, a great tactician, and one of the best Confederate commanders. He was born on Jan. 21, 1824, in Clarksburg, Va. (now W.Va.). Having lost his mother early, he was raised by a selfish bachelor uncle who provided security but no love or emotional nourishment. A mountain boy who went to West Point, Jackson realized his lack of knowledge and spent every waking hour studying, at the expense of having friends. His favorite maxim, then and throughout his life, was "You can be whatever you resolve to be." He married and, 14 months later, his wife and unborn child died. Three years later, he married again, and their first child died when only a few days old. When civil war exploded, the only close relative left was a sister-and she was a staunch Unionist. Her stand created a painful schism between them. He went to school at the U.S. Military Academy. Following his graduation from West Point he was in the Mexican War until 1848. He became an instructor at the Virginia Military Institute in 1851, and the next year he resigned from the army. At the start of the Civil War he was commissioned as a colo