Virginia Magazine of History and Biography
Volume 116 / Number 1
ABSTRACT:
The Pilgrim's Progress: Thomas J. Jackson's Journey Toward Civility and Citizenship
- By Christopher Lawton, pp. 2 –41
In this article the author argues that applying the methodologies of gender and cultural studies to the prewar life of Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson provides a new and exceptionally fruitful path of enquiry into the biography of one of the Confederacy's most iconic heroes. Conversely, approaching these modern fields of study by way of such a prominent figure allows for an enriched version of what masculinity studies can do. Whereas other historians have challenged James I. Robertson, Jr.'s assertions about the importance of the book of maxims in understanding Jackson's character, this article contends that Jackson was extraordinarily concerned with defining and following a hegemonic model of white, middle-class manhood. To that end, the argument is built around a careful and in-depth exploration of the cultural milieu in which he came of age, the books he read and that filtered into his maxims, and the social realm to which he aspired in Lexington. It is hoped that this essay makes small, but worthwhile contributions to studies of southern social mobility, the Civil War, and our understanding of antebellum manhood.
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