DoDMERB missed one!

[mtnman17]

So I found this while doing some general leisure reading on the Civil War. I guess that DoDMERB missed his file back in 1841, when he was applying .

General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson was one of the most gifted commanders in U.S. History. But he has a dubious distinction that had haunted his legacy since the 1850’s; Jackson has been accused of being a hypochondriac.

Jackson had some strange distinctions:

1 He thought he was “out of balance” in battle if he didn’t raise one arm while on his horse. He said he wanted to, “Keep the blood balanced.”

2.He refused to have pepper on his food, stating it made his left leg weak.

3.Despite wartime shortage, Jackson would constantly suck on lemons because he felt it helped his “dyspepsia.”

4.His staff noticed his strange diet, some of his meals consisted of only raspberries, bread, and milk.

5.Jackson was only comfortable when he was in an upright position, and I mean standing straight up. He felt it helped his organs stand “naturally” one atop each other. For this reason he had no chairs in his study at Lexington, Virginia. He spent long hours reading the Bible or memorizing Virginia’s laws.

6.While on honeymoon with his second wife (seeing how his first wife had died) he took her to Eastern America so he could bath in the mineral spas to “improve my sagging bad health.”

7.Even while he was a plebe West Point, first classman Ulysses S. Grant called him a “fanatic” whose “delusions took strange forms- hypochondria, fancies that evil spirits had taken possession of him.”

8.Jackson offered some dietary advice to his sister Laura, “If you commence on this diet, remember it is like a man joining a temperance society, if he afterwards tastes liquor he is gone.”

9.His complaints listed almost endlessly through his young manhood: rheumatism, chilblains, poor eyesight (witch he treated by dipping his head in a vat of cold water, eyes open, for as long as he could hold his breath), cold feet, nervousness, neuralgia, impaired hearing, tonsillitis (which required surgery), biliousness and “slight distortion of the spine” as Jackson stated in the late 1840’s.

Because of these things it is now said Jackson was a hypochondriac. But modern physicians have stated that Jackson may have suffered from the fairly common and most uncomfortable diaphragmatic hernia. This is the theory of Dr. E.R. MacLennan of Opp, Alabama. He states that this hernia caused Jackson to suffer from his many body ailments.

Ironically Jackson’s habit of draping his abdomen with cold towels to heal his “dyspepsia” may have caused his death. Soon after the amputation of his left arm at Chancellorsville, cold towels were laid on his abdomen as Jackson did everyday. This may have led to his contraction of pneumonia that killed him.

[patentesq]

Was this before the days of Mullen?

[LineInTheSand]

U.S.A. history or C.S.A.?

[AF6872]

A Fantastic winning Gerenal none the less. If He had not died after Chancellorsville there may have been a different outcome at Gettysburg. He and Longstreet would have made a difference with Lee. Longstreet alone could not convince him but with Jackson, who knows. There stands Jackson as a "Stone Wall" rally on the Virginians. VMI knows him well.

[sprog]

Yes, VMI knows Jackson well. He is buried in Lexington and people still leave lemons at his grave. A little weird, but he was kind of a weird dude. He was an awful teacher at VMI by the way. He would just memorize lectures and would not respond to questions from cadets who didn't get it. If a cadet didn't understand, he'd just go back to the earlier point in the lecture and repeat it verbatim. He was not a professor you wanted to have.

He may have taught at VMI and fought for the CSA, but he's also a West Pointer who fought in the Mexican War for the US Army.

[Luigi59]

(IMHO) Like Lee, Jackson is another traitor who should have been hanged for treason.

As a slave owner, he believed in the cause of defending slavery.

He wrote that he believed God created slavery, therefore man should not try to abolish it, and as long as he treated his slaves fairly, it was possible to be a "good" slave owner.

Originally Posted by AF6872

There stands Jackson as a "Stone Wall" rally on the Virginians.

Some historians believe the phrase "standing there a like a stonewall" an indictment of his ineptitude for failing to come to the aid of his other troops in need, rather than a rallying cry.

Other CSA generals were not that impressed with Jackson, most notably Joseph Jonston and Longstreet - neither of which had much confidence is Jackson's abilities.

You maybe over-rated him as a general.

[patentesq]

Oh boy, here we go!

[sprog]

Originally Posted by Luigi59

(IMHO) Like Lee, Jackson is another traitor who should have been hanged for treason.

.

Jackson was killed during the war, so the hanging may not have had much impact.

[Luigi59]

Originally Posted by sprog

Jackson was killed during the war, so the hanging may not have had much impact.

DOH! Of course you are correct! Hanging is my standard answer for every CSA traitor.

[flieger83]

Originally Posted by Luigi59

(IMHO) Like Lee, Jackson is another traitor who should have been hanged for treason.

As a slave owner, he believed in the cause of defending slavery.

He wrote that he believed God created slavery, therefore man should not try to abolish it, and as long as he treated his slaves fairly, it was possible to be a "good" slave owner.



Some historians believe the phrase "standing there a like a stonewall" an indictment of his ineptitude for failing to come to the aid of his other troops in need, rather than a rallying cry.

Other CSA generals were not that impressed with Jackson, most notably Joseph Jonston and Longstreet - neither of which had much confidence is Jackson's abilities.

You maybe over-rated him as a general.

Luigi,

Relax.

This is a discussion about the "quirks" of Gen'l Jackson; not an indictment of him, the CSA, the cause they fought for, the inclusion of slavery as an item of vilification of ANYONE that served the CSA, etc. It was/is simply a discussion (humorous to all historians) about TJ Jackson's quirks.

Your comment about his nickname being perhaps one of scorn was uttered by Gen'l Joe Johnston's Chief of Staff in relaying his OPINION of what General Bee (killed almost immediately afterward) said and has had some historians wondering forever: what did he (Gen Bee) mean? Regardless of what General Bee meant, Jackson's brigade turned the tide at Manassas when the Union forces were set to overrun the Confederates.

In my research of my familial ancestor, Joseph E. Johnston, I never found anything derogatory of Gen'l Jackson at all. I've NOT done such due diligence with Gen Longstreet so I can't comment there.

Anyway...let's get back on track about his "quirks" and such...he's a fascinating figure from a very ugly time of civil war. His profound Presbyterian faith (a deacon who tried not to fight on Sunday but would NOT shirk from it), his dislike of fancy uniforms and trappings of importance (he usually wore old clothes as a uniform) just make him all the more interesting.

And he's not the only one with "quirks..." from that war. There are many more that could be discussed in this topic.

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83