In all honesty, he was not “Stonewall” Jackson yet. He was still the eccentric Thomas J. Jackson, professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy and Instructor of Artillery Tactics at the Virginia Military Institute. And the 12th Virginia Infantry wanted no part of him.
Parts of the 12th
Virginia predated the war. The Petersburg Old Grays were organized in 1828 and
fought in the Mexican War. The Petersburg City Guard was organized in 1852.
Those two companies served as a detail during the hanging of John Brown in
December 1859. Several of the other companies were also organized prior to the
war. Once the war came, these companies were organized into the 12th
Virginia Infantry.
Like every other
infantry or cavalry command, the new regiment needed a colonel. Virginia
Governor John Letcher was considering Professor Thomas J. Jackson for the post.
On one hand, Jackson was extremely qualified for the post. He was a graduate of
the United States Military Academy at West Point, and had seen service in the
Mexican-American War in an artillery battery, earning several brevets for his
actions. His tour in Mexico also saw him serving in the quartermaster’s and
commissary’s offices. Jackson was then posted at Fort Columbus, New York;
Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania (court-martial duty); then at Fort Hamilton,
New York. In December 1850, Jackson and his company were sent to Florida. He
then left the army to begin teaching at the Virginia Military Institute in
Lexington.[1]
Jackson was not
the most engaging teacher, and his rigid teaching style soon earned the enmity
of many of his young pupils. “[S]o difficult & taught by such a hell of
a fool,” wrote one student in an optics class. A fellow professor wrote
that “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 tact required in getting
along with his classes. He was a brave man, a conscientious man, and a good
man, but he was no professor.” That fellow professor would add “His genius
was in the Science and Art of War.” [2]
That view of
Jackson, a genius in the science and art of war, had yet to emerge when the 12th
Virginia was being formed. In April 1861, Jackson delivered the VMI cadets to
Richmond to serve as drillmasters for the many new companies and regiments in
the capital. Not having an assignment, Jackson volunteered to instruct artillery
companies. Jackson was then appointed a major in the topographical engineers.
Then Jackson was appointed colonel by Governor Letcher. But, what regiment to
assign him to? Word arrived at the camp of the forming 12th Virginia
Infantry that Letcher was considering Jackson to be their colonel. When his nomination
came up before the Virginia legislation, someone asked “Who is this Thomas J.
Jackson?” A post-war newspaper reported that, at the beginning of the war, Jackson “was
assigned by the Governor of Virginia to command of the Twelfth Virginia
Infantry, stationed at Norfolk, and composed of crack companies from different
parts of the State. The regimental officers had been told that Jackson was of ‘an
eccentric and ascetic disposition,’ and they protested against him so strongly
that the Governor assigned him to another field duty. He was soon heard from as
Stonewall Jackson, and the Twelfth Virginia kept very quiet about a certain
little matter.”[3]
Jackson was promoted to colonel, then sent to Harpers Ferry to take command of all the troops present. On June 17, 1861, he was promoted to brigadier general. The 12th Virginia “kept very quiet about a certain little matter.” If you would like to learn more about the 12th Virginia Infantry, check out John Horn’s The Petersburg Regiment in the Civil War (2019).
