That it certainly is, all 762 pages of text buttressed by 188 additional pages of notes and indices. Yet with all this heft and obvious scholarship, "Stonewall Jackson" is a bit much. It's too long! To be concise, there is FAR too much detail here. Whole sections of pages could have been truncated by that proverbial stern editor with a sharp blue pencil. (Most of those guys were laid off long ago). One gets the distinct impression self-indulgence emanating from author Robertson. Even some great battle action is drowned out in details-details-details. The formatting of pages and paragraphs is also difficult here, though perhaps the publisher had few alternatives. This admitted mapophile was satisfied with the mapping in "Stonewall". A nice touch is the placement of a map index, allowing readers to bookmark. An interesting turn here is Professor Robertson's apparent attitude toward Jackson. The General was a difficult, stiff-necked guy. He was secretive and single-minded, a harsh disciplinarian and critical of colleagues. If there was a Stonewall Fan Club, would the good professor join up? This reviewer was reminded of another author of lengthy tomes: Robert Caro. RC has produced 3 bios of President Lyndon Johnson, none of them highly complimentary. The final call here is that "Stonewall Jackson" is not recommended for anyone but the most avid Stonewall or Civil War aficionados. Others may wish to choose another Stonewall offering-or wait for the paperback. Why the 4 stars above? This is a case of "A" for effort. Imagine the effort Professor Robertson put forth here. For that alone, the man should take a bow.

If it were possible, I would give this wonderful book twelve stars. Not only is it the best book on the Civil War that I have ever read, but outside of the Holy Scriptures it is the best biography I have ever read period. The work of writing a good biography requires an author of extraordinary gifts. He or she must not only be a painstaking researcher who does not mind wading through the minutia of an endless sea of details, but they must also be able to take those details and weave them into a fluid and interesting story that is vivid while not getting bogged down in the small stuff. To put it another way, the author must give enough detail to be clear and sharp, but he must not lose the forest for the trees. On all of these levels James I. Robertson's landmark work "Stonewall Jackson: The Man, The Soldier, The Legend" triumphs and succeeds marvelously. But what makes this biography so astounding is that Robertson has given us far more than a narrative set of true facts about a heroic man named Thomas Jonathan Jackson, he has given us the man himself. I knew nothing about General Jackson until I saw the film "Gods and Generals", but after viewing that movie I knew I had a new hero (Robertson himself was a historical consultant on that film, by the way). When I read Robertson's biography I realized that, like the queen of Sheba when she met King Solomon, not the half had been told. Robertson hits the nail on the head by recognizing that if you would understand Stonewall Jackson, you must discern that he was first and foremost a soldier of the cross of Jesus Christ. Robertson himself is a professing Christian and so has unique insight into Jackson that many other biographers' lack. I will never have the privilege of meeting Jackson in this present age, but as I read this book I felt that I came as close to knowing Jackson personally as I ever can in this lifetime. I saw in him a kindred spirit. Having lost an infant of my own I could relate to his pain in the loss of two infants and his first wife, but I could also relate to the grace of God and the faith in Christ that sustained him through it all. Jackson and I share the same Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, Stonewall is my brother in the Lord across the sands of time. We share the same Calvinism as well. I found myself relating to his sense of social awkwardness and wanting to emulate his devotion to duty in many ways. Like all of us Jackson was a sinner, a man with large warts and gaping flaws. Forgiveness of others did not come easy to him; he placed loyalty to state above loyalty to family, sometimes not allowing men under his command to go home to bury dead wives and children. You will not find near as much of the noble patience that Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain demonstrated towards his men residing in Jackson. Yet, under his tough and well-disciplined exterior beat the heart of a man who was tender and affectionate towards his wife and baby, who loved to play with children, and whose tender prayers to his God were not soon forgotten. When I came to the chapter that describes Jackson's death following on the heels of his victory at Chancellorsville, I literally began to weep with tears spilling down my cheeks. The image of all those Confederate soldiers pulling off their hats and holding them over their hearts in honor of Jackson's widow when she first stepped away from his death bed is indelibly stamped on my mind. Why did I weep? Because through Robertson's biography, I had found a dear friend and brother in Christ. And when I read of his death, I felt that I was losing a personal friend. Thank you, Professor Robertson, for your eight and a half years of research and for all of your labors. Thank you for introducing me to a friend and hero, Thomas Jonathan Jackson. Our fourth son is named "Thomas Jackson", but we call him "Jackson". And in regards to General Jackson, we have never met, but we shall meet by and by when our Lord and Savior comes again to take His people home. Thomas Jackson, "Bud" Robertson, and myself shall spend eternity side by side with all of God's people throughout all of time worshiping our crucified and risen Savior.

This may be the best book I have ever read. It's detailed, thorough, yet very readable. You will know virtually everything there is to know about Stonewall Jackson by the time you finish reading this book.

I have several relatives who fought under Jackson and was a bit reluctant to read this book. Robertson is the premier historian of the Army of Northern Virginia and I thought this would be deification of Jackson. I was so wrong. Robertson has written THE definative work on Stonewall Jackson. Going back in his family history had my interest from the start.
Robertson does a wonderful job of looking at Jackson-warts and all. He brings out all of Jackson and explains so many aspects of him and is certaintly not an apoligist. Without a doubt, Jackson was one of the most complex people to don an American uniform, next to Patton. When he was one his game he was briliant-such as The Valley Campaign, Second Bull Run or Chancellorsville. But When he was cold he was horrible-such was First Kernstown or the Pennicula Campaign. Robertson tells the story as it was, without excuses. If you want to really know the great Stonewall-read Robertsons book.

This is a great book that helps its readers understand how a poor orphan from Virginia became arguably the greatest general in American history.

It is clear that this book was a labor of love to its author. Robertson presents Jackson in a fair light that draws out all his eccentricities and quirks while also presenting his military genius and moral fortitude. The book is well written and thoroughly researched. Upon completion of reading this book you will feel that you knew the man.

He may have had humble beginnings in rural western Virginia, but Thomas Jonathan Jackson was destined for greatness. Caring, fearless and compassionate, but also hard, ruthless and cunning, Jackson became one of the greatest leaders in American and world history, and would forever be known as "the Mighty Stonewall."
Dr. James I. Robertson, Jr., one of the country's leading Civil War historians, give us a fascinating look at one of the greatest leaders in American military history. This fascinating account sifts through the legends and myths to present the real Jackson, a man full of paradoxes; a man who could be ruthless and cruel on the battlefield, but was also a devout Christian, and a loving husband and father. Robertson also presents exciting accounts of the battles that made him famous, while also putting us on an emotional level with the man, something that even the best of fiction fails to do sometimes.
Without a doubt, Robertson has written the definitive history of the life of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. Historians and non-historians will find much to appreciate. Don't let the epic length scare you away; it's a great read that all should enjoy!
Grade: A+

If you want a thorough and highly readable book on Jackson, this is the one. The prose of its 700+ pages read like a good novel and keep you interested. My only comlaint is with the quality and quantity of maps. There are too few and those that exist lack details. Trying to follow Jackson's travels using the maps is well nigh impossible because most of the places mentioned in the text are not on the few maps present.

"Yell like Furies!" Stonewall commanded and the most raw and famous, yet to be recorded, most dreaded and terrible battle cry was born.

Robertson's monumental work on Stonewall Jackson will stand the test of time as the most accurate account of this strange, enigmatic, but charismatic VMI professor. His whole life is lovingly told, his character accurately analyzed. His "Bibliography" is 25 pages long, his "Notes" 135 pages. I cried the last two chapters. Do they make men like this anymore? Maybe at West Point where he went to college, but nowhere I've been looking. I cried and cried.

"Shh. The general is praying," one of his barefoot, beloved soldiers would exclaim. And everyone would be still and silent.

I'll always remember the silent, beautiful valley I beheld at Blacksburg, from my motel room early in the morning, before I moved up north to Massachusetts. Little did I know that 15 years later, these silent towns would be terrorized by a lone, crazed college killer at the very college where Professor Robertson teaches Civil War history at Virginia Tech. He is a well decorated Civil War scholar who's received numerous awards for his research. I've read elsewhere that he decided to become a civil war historian during his Air Force tour during the Korean War. "You may be what ever you will resolve to be", is an oft quoted Jackson phrase which can be found in Robertson's "Stonewall Jackson's Book of Maxims". And so Robertson followed this prescription.

Stonewall Jackson had the most christian command of anyone in the civil war. He hand picked his commanders, many of whom were either ministers themselves or were ministers' sons. "Rejoice in that day when they cast out your name as evil", Christ foretold. I don't think there was ever a more Christ-led soldier that has EVER lived on the face of this earth. Everything Jackson did was accepted by him as G-d's will. G-d's will was sought through daily prayer. Thomas Jonathan Jackson's life was a testimony to His great G-d. He was unassuming in character and dress. He never became arrogant, nor basked in any of his accomplishments, he was simply doing G-d's will. Anyone would have mistaken Jackson as a simple farmer by his bearing as Robertson reveals from soldiers' written descriptions of him. (What a hothead he was in combat though with all that artillery knowledge inside that Scots-Irish noggin). Who in their last hours would talk about the Amalekites in the bible and talk about how soldiers ought to observe the sabbath??!!

I learned in my 7 grade history class that the South had the best commanders on the field. Poor guys. They learned to do much more with much less and manage to scrape by every time while they sent tens of thousands of yankees scrambling for home. I loved J.E.B. Stuart and the contrast so obvious between Stonewall Jackson and himself that Robertson reveals. The colorful cavalryman was the only person who could make Stonewall Jackson laugh when he was about his field command. Stonewall was usually very quiet, focussed, and stern at those times. In Robertson's "Acknowledgments", he mentions that he, Emory Thomas, a J.E.B. Stuart biographer, and several other Civil War historians, meet yearly on the banks of the New River in southwest Virginiia to share their research. Sounds like a grand time to me.

A Union soldier spoke of the problems of command within their ranks. Following their Port Republic fiasco, he wrote that they had 5 commanders all of whom were "equal in rank and envious of each other's reputation. Neither will do anything which would reflect credit on the other. Each one desires all the glory himself." As the union army retreated, Maj. Gen. Freemont cast his last parting shots on the make shift hospitals. Later when Maj. Gen. Shields asked that they be allowed to attend their wounded and bury their dead. Stonewall "tartly refused. The wounded were already receiving care... the dead buried." Jackson then considered it proper to follow with a strong reprimand. "Your wounded were permitted to lay on the field longer than they otherwise would have been had not General Freemont's artillery, hours after the termination of the engagement, not only so fired upon the ambulances and their parties as to drive them from the field. The hospital was also fired upon, notwithstanding it as well as the ambulances were marked by hospital flags.""

What was somewhat new to me was that noone, at least on the southern side, expected a war, if it developed, to last. Most people, like Jackson and Lee, did not like slavery, and what they really fought for was the preservation of their homes. They felt they were invaded and that their self-liberties were being infringed upon in violation of the constitution. Many people did not have slaves, most had a few. Thomas Jackson as a child, being orphaned at a young age, congregated with slave children and even taught one to read who escaped through the underground railroad. I think that of any lies that are propagated by my government the greatest lies revolve around what really happened during the civil war and immediately afterwards. Supposedly, on my father's side I am somehow related to Stonewall Jackson and related to Alexander Hamilton on my mother's side. What's interesting about Hamilton, is that not only did he have southern relatives, but that he predicted, he prophesied that there would probably be a civil war and he was killed in 1804. Jackson predicted a few years before Fort Sumpter that he feared there would be a war and that properties would be taken away. Sound familiar to any of you history buffs? So the civil war is very near and dear to me because these people who marched barefoot for years through snow and sleet and rain fighting a desperate, losing battle are my people.

I love this book. Unfortunately, it was borrowed from a family member's friend who I'm sure would like it back. However, this book would be the premier civil war book within my collection. I loved this book, wish I could keep it.

Colonel John Patton of the 21st Virginia within Jackson's sphere would have a grandson who would follow in Stonewallian marches liberating the beleagured Bastogne and quote the Frenchman Bosuet: "Hands lifted up smash more battalions than hands that strike...And if we go from bad to worse it is simply because we have not prayed".

THE TRUTH HAS BEEN TOLD!!!

Thank you so much Professor Robertson.

"Yell like Furies!" Stonewall commanded and the most raw and famous, yet to be recorded, most dreaded and terrible battle cry was born.

Robertson's monumental work on Stonewall Jackson will stand the test of time as the most accurate account of this strange, enigmatic, but charismatic VMI professor. His whole life is lovingly told, his character accurately analyzed. His "Bibliography" is 25 pages long, his "Notes" 135 pages. I cried the last two chapters. Do they make men like this anymore? Maybe at West Point where he went to college, but nowhere I've been looking. I cried and cried.

"Shh. The general is praying," one of his barefoot, beloved soldiers would exclaim. And everyone would be still and silent.

I'll always remember the silent, beautiful valley I beheld at Blacksburg, from my motel room early in the morning, before I moved up north to Massachusetts. Little did I know that 15 years later, these silent towns would be terrorized by a lone, crazed college killer at the very college where Professor Robertson teaches Civil War history at Virginia Tech. He is a well decorated Civil War scholar who's received numerous awards for his research. I've read elsewhere that he decided to become a civil war historian during his Air Force tour during the Korean War. "You may be what ever you will resolve to be", is an oft quoted Jackson phrase which can be found in Robertson's "Stonewall Jackson's Book of Maxims". And so Robertson followed this prescription.

I love this book. Unfortunately, it was borrowed from a family member's friend who I'm sure would like it back. However, this book would be the premier civil war book within my collection. I loved this book, wish I could keep it.

"Rejoice in that day when they cast out your name as evil", Christ foretold. I don't think there was ever a more Christ-led soldier that has EVER lived on the face of this earth. Everything Jackson did was accepted by him as G-d's will. G-d's will was sought through daily prayer. Thomas Jonathan Jackson's life was a testimony to His great G-d. He was unassuming in character and dress. He never became arrogant, nor basked in any of his accomplishments, he was simply doing G-d's will. Anyone would have mistaken Jackson as a simple farmer by his bearing as Robertson reveals from soldiers' written descriptions of him. (What a hothead he was in combat though with all that artillery knowledge inside that Scots-Irish noggin). Who in their last hours would talk about the Amalekites in the bible and talk about how soldiers ought to observe the sabbath??!!

What was somewhat new to me was that noone, at least on the southern side, expected a war, if it developed, to last. Most people, like Jackson and Lee, did not like slavery, and what they really fought for was the preservation of their homes. They felt they were invaded and that their self-liberties were being infringed upon in violation of the constitution. Many people did not have slaves, most had a few. Thomas Jackson as a child, being orphaned at a young age, congregated with slave children and even taught one to read who escaped through the underground railroad. I think that of any lies that are propagated by my government the greatest lies revolve around what really happened during the civil war and immediately afterwards. Supposedly, on my father's side I am somehow related to Stonewall Jackson and related to Alexander Hamilton on my mother's side. What's interesting about Hamilton, is that not only did he have southern relatives, but that he predicted, he prophesied that there would probably be a civil war and he was killed in 1804. Jackson predicted a few years before Fort Sumpter that he feared there would be a war and that properties would be taken away. Sound familiar to any of you history buffs? So the civil war is very near and dear to me because these people who marched barefoot for years through snow and sleet and rain fighting a desperate, losing battle are my people.

Colonel John Patton of the 21st Virginia within Jackson's sphere would have a grandson who would follow in Stonewallian marches liberating the beleagured Bastogne and quote Bosuet: "Hands lifted up smash more battalions than hands that strike...And if we go from bad to worse it is simply because we have not prayed".

James Robertson is a terrific writer, and this book is exceptional in its detail about Jackson's early life. The background of Jackson's childhood, what little is known about him then, plus his determination to always serve his Lord in the best way he could, helps the reader to understand why his men followed him with such respect. His abilities as a general are examined and his strengths noted as well as his weaknesses. This is a great book.

James Robertson has written a biography for the ages, of a man for the ages. Thomas J. Jackson was one of the great commanders in the military history of America. Dr. Robertson has managed to peel away the myths and the stories so often associated with "Stonewall" Jackson to reveal a man who, while complex, was a man of great thought and compassion. This is not strictly a retelling of the many battles and campaigns of Jackson's military career. In my opinion the best part of the book is the telling of Jackson's domestic life in Lexington prior to the war. This a man who knew sorry and death many times. James Robertson has written one of the great biographies of the American Civil War, and a work that can stand with Freeman's Lee.

James Robertson has written a biography for the ages, of a man for the ages. Thomas J. Jackson was one of the great commanders in the military history of America. Dr. Robertson has managed to peel away the myths and the stories so often associated with "Stonewall" Jackson to reveal a man who, while complex, was a man of great thought and compassion. This is not strictly a retelling of the many battles and campaigns of Jackson's military career. In my opinion the best part of the book is the telling of Jackson's domestic life in Lexington prior to the war. This a man who knew sorry and death many times. James Robertson has written one of the great biographies of the American Civil War, and a work that can stand with Freeman's Lee.

I do not think another biography of Stonewall has captured the passion and humanity of the man since Dr. Dabney's initial biography a century ago. Mr. Robertson has gotten inside the story and given human form to a character in history many have failed to animate. He is not the starched lifeless robot or God's puppet as some have portrayed him but a real loving, working, and dying human being. When I ended the book I felt as though I had lost a dear brother - melancholy as one would expect from a well-done biography.

Robertson's bio on Jackson is interesting as American history, but what I most remember from reading the book is the character of the man, and the fire in the belly. No one could have predicted that an artillery professor from VMI would become the stuff of legend. When he marched out of town to war, never to return, he found his calling, and pursued it to the end.

It is hard to believe that someone like Jackson was alive 150 years ago--he reminds me of an old testament warrior-king, like David. When under fire, his eyes gleamed and his men marvelled at his self-possession. This is no modern general, reviewing battles from the safety of an armchair in Washington--if our generals today were half the man that SJ was, this country would be much better off. Stonewall Jackson was a Christian, warrior, teacher, husband, Sunday School teacher (of black children) and more.

We need more like him.

This bio is the best yet published on General Jackson. Very pro-Jackson and well researched, yet relatively free of the Lost Cause mythos that is so common in books on the Great Rebellion. Jackson was a very competent general, a good man, and probably the most ardent Christian military leader the nation has yet produced. All in all, a warrior worthy of a better cause.