Byron Farwell

Stonewall

"Sets out to give an honest and thorough account of this extraordinary man and does so. . . . Arguably the best [biography of Stonewall]." —Washington Post Book World

The charismatic Confederate general Stonewall Jackson, who began his military career in the Mexican War, earned his great fame in the Civil War in a series of brilliantly fought battles. He was given the name Stonewall at the First Battle of Bull Run, when his brigade faced overwhelming odds but held the line. Byron Farwell's engrossing narrative reveals Stonewall Jackson both as a military genius and as a quirky, dark personality radically different from the storybook version that grew up after Jackson's untimely death at Chancellorsville in 1863.

"[Farwell] gets to the heart of why Jackson is so legitimately fascinating." —Chicago Tribune

"An exceptionally balanced view of a very complicated man. . . . Farwell lets Jackson emerge from his own words and actions. As a result, Jackson is no less a great figure of the Civil War, but he is equally an imaginable human being." —Journal of Military History

"The finest depiction yet of this shy, enigmatic, and devoutly religious Confederate commander. . . . Mr. Farwell writes with a lucidity and elan that rank him with the likes of Bruce Catton, Shelby Foote, and James McPherson." —Washington Times