Civil war generals born in virginia

"Stonewall" Jackson went from being an orphan to one of the most valued generals in the Confederate Army.

He was born Thomas Jonathan Jackson on January 21, , in Clarksburg, West Virginia. Self-educated, Jackson went to West Point Military Academy and graduated 17th in his class. As a US Army officer he fought in the Mexican War. He had some quiet years after that, teaching military tactics and physical science at the Virginia Military Institute. He spent summers enjoying art and culture.

Then in , the Civil War started, and Jackson led troops to battle for the Confederacy. He got his nickname at the Battle of Bull Run in Virginia. During the gunfire and confusion of the battle, Confederate Gen. Barnard E. Bee said, "There is Jackson standing like a stone wall." The soldiers under his command came to admire his stubborn courage and started calling him "Stonewall" Jackson. As a general, he fought in many battles, until he was wounded by friendly fire at the Battle of Chancellorsvil

•

Commander of Confederate Department of Western Virginia 

Born:  

Where: usa, Kentucky 

Field of Study: Law

Military Service: He was appointed as major in the 3rd Kentucky Infantry with the opening of hostilities with Mexico. He marched with the 3rd to Mexico City in but saw no combat there. 

Political Career: He won a seat in the Kentucky legislature in and beat General Leslie Combs for a congressional seat in Breckinridge, a Democrat, was re-elected to a second term in He retired from politics two years later with many friends in Washington. He was nominated in as James Buchanan's running mate at thirty-five years of age. The election won made him the youngest vice president in US history.

His politics were moderate and did not favor secession. He reluctantly accepted a bid for President in the Election of Breckinridge came in second in the Electoral College to Lincoln. He was a senator until well after the guns of Sumter had sounded. In Septem

•

1. George Thomas

According to some historians, the greatest and most skilled Union general may have been a Southerner. A native of Southampton County, Virginia, George Thomas was a career soldier who had served with distinction in the Mexican-American War and later taught at West Point. But despite his strong southern roots—he’d grown up on a plantation and even owned slaves—Thomas refused to break his oath to the U.S. Army and remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War. The decision sent shock waves through the South. J.E.B. Stuart, a former pupil of Thomas’ at West Point, said he deserved to be hanged as a traitor. Even his own sister disowned him, writing that he had been, “false to his state, his family, and to his friends.”

Thomas nevertheless went on to become one of the Union’s most successful generals in the war’s Western theater. After winning a crucial early victory at the Battle of Mill Springs, he led a heroic defensive stand at the Battle of Chickamauga in Septe