Lecture: Jackson's rise to prominence

By Neil McCabe | 11:56 AM | March 31, 2014

As part of the Pentagon’s regular program of historical lectures, Robert Krick, retired chief historian for the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, gave a June 15, 2012 presentation focusing on Confederate Maj. Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s initial operations in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley in 1862 and explain how his success there catapulted him to national and international prominence.

Krick said Jackson’s highly drilled infantrymen covered ground so fast in moving from one battle to the next that they soon were dubbed “foot cavalry.”

Despite being outnumbered 3 to 1, he maneuvered his forces skillfully and made them appear to be numerically much stronger, he said. Jackson proved to be one of the most effective commanders for the South until he died in action at the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863.

Neil W. McCabe is the editor of HE's "Guns & Patriots" e-letter and was a senior reporter at the Human Events newspaper. McCabe deployed with the Army Reserve to Iraq for 15 months as a combat historian. For many years, he was a reporter and photographer for "The Pilot," Boston's Catholic paper. He was also the editor of the free community papers "The Somerville (Mass.) News and "The Alewife (North Cambridge, Mass.)." Email him: [email protected] Follow him on Twitter: @neilwmccabe.