Stonewall Jackson the Failed Teacher

[Rebforever]

What would that be? The curveball?

Jackson's wins and high point were when he was commanding a couple brigades at the Shenandoah Valley as a rogue commander who had horrible relationships with his soldiers and generals.

After he joined Lee's Army he was exposed. In Antietam he was saved by Hill's bell, in Chancellorsville not that much so.

He is part of the Lost Cause Trinity, because he died before the Confederacy fell apart. Horrible human being and a hypocrite

Sounds like a little jealousy to me because he didn't work for y'all.

 

[E_just_E]

Sounds like a little jealousy to me because he didn't work for y'all.

Define "y'all" please
(hint: my ancestors were on the other side of the pond when he was alive...)

 

[Northern Light]

Winter of '62. Winchester, VA. Horrible winter. He (and his staff) spent it in town, well fed by the locals, while he ordered his soldiers not to come into town (not even for Christmas,) but stay in camps around town, wet, starving and frozen, and used local militia to enforce that.

Fact.

Really. I didn't know that. I guess it must have been what God had ordained to happen, at least in his eyes, allow it seems to me that more often that translates to what that person wants to happen, and leaves God out of the equation. I will have to read some more on this strange and unpredictable man.

 

[Rebforever]

Y'all = 2 or more people above the mason-dixson line.

 

[diane]

Well, that was a pretty lousy winter and Loring took it personally he was stuck in Romney - which resulted in considerable drama for a short time. However, it's not entirely accurate that Jackson was warm and cozy while his men were not. One morning some mighty grumpy, fairly well frozen soldiers crawled out from under their snow covered blankets cussing a storm against their general until he crawled out from under his snow covered blanket which was right next to them!

 

[CSA Today]

Define "y'all" please
(hint: my ancestors were on the other side of the pond when he was alive...)

You guys or in parts of up yonder -- Youse guys.

 

[JoeWheeler]

Regardless of how he may have treated his men it is quite evident that they loved and admired him a great deal. As I am reading the book "Rebel Yell" I get the impression that his eye condition may have contributed to his awkward teaching manner. It was said that when preparing for his lessons in his study he would commit them to memory while sitting in the dimly lit room. I think when one looks at his record at West Point it is plain he had command of his subject of study but he was no public speaker even in his church duties.

 

[JOHN42768]

Gentlemen and Ladies, The War ended a long time ago. "Let there be Peace"

 

[Viper21]

Regardless of how he may have treated his men it is quite evident that they loved and admired him a great deal. As I am reading the book "Rebel Yell" I get the impression that his eye condition may have contributed to his awkward teaching manner. It was said that when preparing for his lessons in his study he would commit them to memory while sitting in the dimly lit room. I think when one looks at his record at West Point it is plain he had command of his subject of study but he was no public speaker even in his church duties.

A good book, & a fine read.

While, perhaps what we would call today, a little... socially awkward, I don't find Jackson that odd. I know several brilliant people, who have superior intellect on some subjects yet, really struggle conveying that to others.

To use a sports analogy, I know, & knew some incredibly gifted athletes when I was involved in football (as a player, & as a coach). Yet, even as masters of the craft, they couldn't teach it well, & for some, not at all.

Knowledge, & teaching, or conveying that knowledge, are two totally separate things. On the flip, I know some great teachers, that couldn't perform even the most basic practical application themselves yet, could teach the concept/s better than some expert craftsmen.

 

[diane]

It might be Jackson was just trying to teach the wrong group of people. He did seem to have better success teaching folks who had impairments, whether physical or social, but wanted to learn - like the slaves, or a little girl with a learning disability. Amazingly patient, too!

 

[James N.]

... Knowledge, & teaching, or conveying that knowledge, are two totally separate things. On the flip, I know some great teachers, that couldn't perform even the most basic practical application themselves yet, could teach the concept/s better than some expert craftsmen.

As a product of what had been a former Teacher's College and myself a grad with a degree in Secondary Education, I heard expressed, "Those who can't, teach; and those who can't teach, teach teachers!"

 

[diane]

I wonder what his Sunday School classes were like? Maybe he had a better grasp on the Bible than he did on physics.

His method was very different - in fact, could be some of his problems with teaching was the format he had to use at VMI. With the Sunday school pupils, he would write a scripture on the blackboard, which they would read in the Bibles he gave them. He wasn't teaching them to read exactly, but they were doping it out when they followed along with the printed word and repeated with the spoken word. Jackson was a big one for memorization. Since he'd write it out in front of them, they'd go off and practice it themselves, what they'd seen him do. So, when he was berated by people for teaching slaves to read and write he could quite truthfully deny he was doing it! Besides, he had an unassailable logic - when the elders of his church wondered if he should still be a deacon since he was teaching slaves to read, he replied, "Only the Bible. You want them to be Christian, don't you?" That was such a weird reply they decided to just let Jackson alone!

 

[BlueandGrayl]

To be honest, I wonder if Stonewall Jackson lived during the Battle of Chancellorsville. Assuming nothing else changes and the Civil War ends in the manner we recognize how would Jackson reacted to Reconstruction? Considering Jackson educated his slaves in Virginia despite being illegal would he have been Reconstruction-friendly and if so how would this affect Reconstruction as a whole if a prominent Confederate general like Jackson endorsed it.

 

[Rebforever]

To be honest, I wonder if Stonewall Jackson lived during the Battle of Chancellorsville. Assuming nothing else changes and the Civil War ends in the manner we recognize how would Jackson reacted to Reconstruction? Considering Jackson educated his slaves in Virginia despite being illegal would he have been Reconstruction-friendly and if so how would this affect Reconstruction as a whole if a prominent Confederate general like Jackson endorsed it.

I would really be afraid to make an assumption on the hilited line. Based on what I think, with people he new turning into radical republicans scalawags, officers he went to West Point turning into Carpetbaggers and turning into thieves, may have been a little more than he could stand. Making Death a blessing. SALUTE!

 

[Northern Light]

I would really be afraid to make an assumption on the hilited line. Based on what I think, with people he new turning into radical republicans scalawags, officers he went to West Point turning into Carpetbaggers and turning into thieves, may have been a little more than he could stand. Making Death a blessing. SALUTE!

I was thinking he might have packed up Julia and Mary Anna, and headed for South America. On the other hand, he might have decreed that it was God's will and become a model citizen, but hopefully not a teacher again.

 

[CSA Today]

To be honest, I wonder if Stonewall Jackson lived during the Battle of Chancellorsville. Assuming nothing else changes and the Civil War ends in the manner we recognize how would Jackson reacted to Reconstruction? Considering Jackson educated his slaves in Virginia despite being illegal would he have been Reconstruction-friendly and if so how would this affect Reconstruction as a whole if a prominent Confederate general like Jackson endorsed it.

I doubt it, there was more to be upset by than teaching blacks to read during Radical Reconstruction.

 

[diane]

To me, what made Jackson fighting mad was the call-up of troops by the federal government. If he had survived the war, I think he would have simply called it God's will. He certainly wouldn't have missed slavery but Reconstruction might have been considered a trial he was supposed to get through. Everything with Jackson revolved around God.

 

[Ainatari]

I was thinking he might have packed up Julia and Mary Anna, and headed for South America. On the other hand, he might have decreed that it was God's will and become a model citizen, but hopefully not a teacher again.

Especially since he knew Spanish fluently and liked Mexico...

 

[JonnyReb_In_MI]

Horrible human being and a hypocrite

I'm completely flabbergasted that anyone would use these words in reference to Thomas Jonathan Jackson.

Winter of '62. Winchester, VA. Horrible winter. He (and his staff) spent it in town, well fed by the locals, while he ordered his soldiers not to come into town (not even for Christmas,) but stay in camps around town, wet, starving and frozen, and used local militia to enforce that.

Fact.

Yes, it is a fact, and it is also a fact that he was leading a volunteer army that was undisciplined and had never experienced the hardships of war. His treatment might seem harsh on the face of it, but men at war must be molded to deny themselves and virtuously all else for the good of the service. Jackson would have experienced such molding during his professional military training; the men he had to lead had to get a crash course in such discipline. By no stretch of the imagination was he a horrible human being or a hypocrite.

 

[Ainatari]

Jackson was the first Civil War general I got interested in and liked. Also one of my top favorites is Sherman...
Jackson was trying to mold soldiers, like it says above. McClellan always seemed to me really annoying for the opposite reason -for God's sake, attack!(He cared about his men but his results...) Look at guys like Grant, Sherman and Jackson who actually were doing something for their respective side.
I mean, it was a war...
"I don't want to die!"
"Then you should have stayed at home and sold cookies!"(Studio C)