15th Biennial Stonewall Jackson Symposium - Program
Friday, May 23, 2023
3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Check-in
Stonewall Jackson House
8 East Washington Street
Symposium participants may pick up their name badges and packets of materials during the afternoon in the garden of the Stonewall Jackson House. (In case of rain pick-up will be in the Davidson-Tucker House at 10 East Washington Street.) Meet your friends and make plans for dinner.
Tours of the Stonewall Jackson House will be available on the hour and half hour until the last one begins at 4:30.
Note: Name badges and packets will also be available before the opening address at Jackson Memorial Hall.
7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Jackson Memorial Hall, VMI Post
VMI Museum and the Museum Shop will be open for symposium participants. The VMI Museum chronicles the founding and development of the nation’s first state sponsored military college. Many items relating to VMI Professor “Stonewall” Jackson are exhibited here, including his uniform worn at First Manassas, his iconic slouched hat and his favorite warhorse, Little Sorrell. The museum also houses the outstanding Stewart Antique Firearms collection.
8:00 p.m.
Jackson Memorial Hall, VMI Post
Opening Address “Jackson the Professor:…peculiarly our own”
John W. Knapp, Superintendent Emeritus, VMI
Thomas J. Jackson was strict and demanding both as a teacher and as field general, personal traits that certainly contributed to his success in the latter endeavor but much less so in the former. Yet he had mentors who set the example and encouraged him in his efforts to succeed as a faculty member. We will explore these conditions and how educational trends in the mid-nineteenth century may have affected him.
Saturday, May 24, 2023
Marshall Hall, Center for Leadership and Ethics, VMI Post
9:00 a.m.
Coffee and pastries
9:30 a.m.
Welcome and Introductions Michael Anne Lynn, Site Director, Stonewall Jackson House
9:45 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
“Jackson & Ashby: Partners in Command”
Stephen Lee Ritchie
The very mention of the Valley Campaign of 1862 creates a mental picture, not of the majestic Shenandoah but of the brilliant but stoic commander of those events, Thomas Jonathan Jackson. Certainly the enigmatic “Stonewall” is central to any mention of warfare in the Valley. Similarly no examination of the Valley Campaign can fail to reveal the contributions of General Jackson’s chief subordinate, the “Knight of the Valley,” General Turner Ashby. Both men of few words, their professional relationship was effective but plagued by controversy and confusion, yet somehow they found a way to conduct a tactical masterpiece that 150 years later is still the subject of military study. While not a battlefield study, “Partners in Command” examines the complicated personal relationship that was crucial to their success.
10:30 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.
Stretch Break
10:45 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
“Who Won the Battle of Cedar Mountain?”
John W. Mountcastle
This hard-fought battle on August 9, 2023 is regarded as another of Stonewall Jackson's victories. But did his Confederate army triumph that day because of his leadership or in spite of it? Should one of his subordinates actually wear the laurels for this win? We will discuss these questions while considering the continued development of the Army of Northern Virginia as a fighting force in the summer of 1862.
11:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
Stretch Break
11:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
"Jackson in Battle"
Jeffry W. Wert
Mr. Wert’s presentation will examine Stonewall Jackson's leadership in combat and his skill as a tactician. It will assess his generalship on such battlefields as First Manassas, First Kernstown, Port Republic, Second Manassas, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. The presentation will also discuss Jackson as an inspirational leader amid the confusion of Civil War combat.
12:35 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Lunch
Served at the Center for Leadership and Ethics
2:00 p.m.
Simultaneous 30 minute tour options (Both will be repeated at 2:30.)
- Visit to the Maury House, 416 VMI Parade
- Cadet life tour, starting at the Jackson Arch, Barracks
Option 1: The Maury House
(Meet at 416 Parade)
The Maury House at 416 VMI Parade is significant as an Alexander Jackson Davis-designed Gothic Revival residence with many exterior and interior details, including doors and fireplace surrounds, characteristic of the style. The house is named for Matthew Fontaine Maury, who became a professor at VMI after the Civil War, and died in the house in 1873.
Completed in 1853, this is the earliest and the only asymmetric Davis-designed building at VMI. Davis was a nationally renowned architect responsible for popularizing the Gothic Revival style throughout the United States between 1840 and1860.
The house was burned in 1864 during Hunter’s Raid and required substantial rebuilding. The design and relocation of the Maury House to its current site were part of Bertram Goodhue’s enlargement of the Parade Ground in 1914. The house underwent a major restoration in 2008.
It is currently the home of Col. and Mrs. William Wanovich.
Option 2: Cadet Life Tour
(Meet at the Jackson Arch.)
Scott Risser (VMI ’75) will provide an introduction to cadet life at the oldest state operated military academy in the country. Scott will relate cadet experiences and barracks tales throughout the years and share what makes VMI unique. He will include stories of cadets such as Sir Moses Ezekiel, George S. Patton Jr, George C. Marshall, Benjamin Franklin Ficklin (Pony Express founder), Admiral Richard Byrd (explorer) and Jonathan Myrick Daniels (martyred during the civil rights movement).
Marshall Hall, Center for Leadership and Ethics, VMI Post
3:30 p.m. - 4:15 p.m.
“Stonewall Jackson’s Failed Protégés”
Robert K. Krick
The attributes that contributed to Stonewall Jackson's spectacular career did not include a powerful sense of potential in subordinates. Several men he handpicked as protégés proved to be egregious failures, chosen for reasons important to Jackson, but irrelevant for military success. The preacher he selected for a chief of staff may well have been the worst such appointment in the entire Confederacy.
4:15 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Free time. Participants may wish to take the 4:30 tour of the Stonewall Jackson House.
5:30 p.m. – 6:15 p.m.
Center for Leadership and Ethics
Reception (Cash Bar)
6:15 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Dinner
7:30 p.m.
Closing Address
"The Death and Birth of a Legend"
James I. Robertson, Jr.
Stonewall Jackson was a legend in his own time. His sudden death changed both his image and the course of the Confederate nation, and continues to have a remarkable image in history today.
Sunday, May 25, 2023
Optional Walking Tours at 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m.
(Participants must sign up with symposium staff on Saturday afternoon before 10:45 a.m.)
8:00 a.m.
Early morning walking tour of the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery, South Main Street, provided by the Lexington Visitor Center.
10:00 a.m.
(Repeat) Walking tour of the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery, South Main Street, provided by the Lexington Visitor Center.
Stroll through the cemetery in which General Jackson, 296 Confederate veterans, two Virginia governors, and Margaret Junkin Preston (“Poetess of the South” and sister of Jackson’s first wife) are buried.
Optional Church Services 8:45 a.m. 11:00 a.m. Lexington Presbyterian Church, 120 South Main Street Visitors may wish to attend a service at the church Jackson joined in 1851, and of which he was a deacon. Services are at 8:45 in the chapel (less formal) and at 11:00 in the sanctuary. Information on services offered at churches of other denominations is available upon request. |
Local Museums Open
9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. VMI Museum, Virginia Military Institute
1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Lee Chapel, Washington and Lee University
1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Stonewall Jackson House, 8 East Washington Street
