Have you ever eaten a lemon, whole? Yeah, me either. But Stonewall Jackson did… almost every day. And that wasn’t even the weirdest thing he did.
Today we’re going to take a look at the iconic confederate general Stonewall Jackson. Known for his rapid marches in the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1862 and his epic assault at Chancellorsville in May 1863, Jackson had some odd habits that have puzzled historians for decades.
Thomas Jonathan Jackson was born in Clarksburg, Virginia (present-day West Virginia) on January 21, 1824. His early childhood was marked by tragedy when he lost both his father, Jonathan Jackson, and sister Elizabeth to ty
phoid fever in the same week. Due to his mother’s poor health, Thomas and his other sister lived with their grandmother.
Jackson entered West Point in 1842, where he experienced difficulty with the entrance exams due to inadequate prior formal education. Jackson had primarily taught himself to read by borrowing books. However, he brought an unwavering determination to his studies, something which would be a lifelong characteristic.
Stonewall Jackson was a brilliant general for Confederate Army during the years of the Civil War, and won many battles for the South. He was a brilliant military strategist, and was, along with general Robert E. Lee, arguably the reason the Confederates were even competitive. However, with all of his brilliance and value in the army, he was a strange man.
Throughout his illustrious career, Jackson had an insane belief that one of his arms was longer than the other. He would frequently raise it over his body to balance out blood circulation. He was also said to eat lemons whole to cure his frequent indigestion. His odds beliefs and behaviors, in addition to his intense passion for military tactics, have led modern historians to speculate that he may have had autism.
In 1863, his successful career came to a sad end when he was accidentally shot by one of his own men. The south began to lose the war shortly after. oops.