Stonewall The Five Flaws of the Brilliant Civil War General “Stonewall” Jackson

Could his poor social skills have been an issue? Jackson apparently from what I've read could not always communicate well with his generals, secretive, often keeping information from them(telling Ewell just what he needed to know for that moment, much to his frustration) and assuming that they all knew what he was talking about, just because his plans were clear in his own mind. Unlike Lee, Jackson seems to have held no council meetings with his generals.
 
Hard to say whether Jackson's secretiveness was a product of poor social skills, or was done intentionally to maintain security. But whatever the case, I do think that Jackson went a little too far in not divulging his plans to his key commanders.
 
Could his poor social skills have been an issue? Jackson apparently from what I've read could not always communicate well with his generals, secretive, often keeping information from them(telling Ewell just what he needed to know for that moment, much to his frustration) and assuming that they all knew what he was talking about, just because his plans were clear in his own mind. Unlike Lee, Jackson seems to have held no council meetings with his generals.

Welcome to the forums and in particular the Stonewall Jackson Forum! Here's a summation I wrote in my thread on Jackson's very first and unsuccessful battle in his Shenandoah Valley Campaign at Kernstown that forever poisoned his attitude towards councils of war:

The evening of March 11, 1862 was a gloomy one indeed at the Winchester headquarters of Major General Thomas J. Jackson as he announced his plans to attack the advance Union force of Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks which threatened the town from the north, east, and possibly west. There is no record of that meeting between Jackson and his regimental and brigade commanders, but it's likely they tried to discourage him, seeing as how for the past several days their men had been marching to and fro, occasionally skirmishing with the enemy, and were then scattered in small groups around town. The deciding moment came when Jackson was informed the bulk of his infantry had marched seven miles south in search of their supply wagons, too far to return for the risky night assault Jackson contemplated. The meeting broke up, the officers ordered to head their units south away from the Federals. As he rode in silence with his medical officer, Dr. Hunter McGuire, a Winchester native who was weeping at the thought of abandoning his home, Jackson suddenly exploded, "That's the last council of war I'll ever hold!" And so it was.

For the rest of the story: https://www.civilwartalk.com/threads/jacksons-valley-campaign-begins-the-battle-of-kernstown.122430/
 
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