Kenton Harper Kenton Harper ( 1801 – December 25 , 1867 ) was an American printer , soldier , town mayor , banker , newspaper editor , and legislator . He served as an officer in the U . S . Army during the Mexican – American War and later as a Confederate general officer during the American Civil War . He also reportedly played a role in the nicknaming of Stonewall Jackson . Early life and career . Harper was born in 1801 in the city of Chambersburg in Franklin County , Pennsylvania . He was a son of George Kenton Harper , publisher of the " Franklin County Repository " newspaper , and his wife Nancy McClintock . During his youth Harper worked as a printer in Chambersburg . In 1823 he moved to Staunton , Virginia , and bought a local newspaper called the " Republican Farmer " . In time it would become known as the " Staunton Spectator " , which he would publish until 1849 , and Harper began serving as a state legislator in 1836 . Later he also served as the mayor of Staunton . During the Mexican War , Harper was a captain in the 1st Virginia Infantry , commanding the volunteer company from Augusta County that served in the northern frontier of Mexico . However he never saw combat and returned home to muster out in August 1848 . Harper then was appointed acting inspector general of his brigade , and later was the military governor of Parras in the Mexican state of Coahuila . From 1851 to 1852 , he was the United States agent to the Chickasaws at Fort Washita in the Indian Territory . After the war , Harper served as the assistant U . S . Secretary of the Interior in Washington , D . C . He also was appointed president of a Staunton - area bank , and in 1860 Harper was appointed a major general in Virginia ' s state militia . By the U . S . Census of 1860 , Harper had married Ellen Calhoun and they had three children together ; a son named Samuel and two daughters named Nancy and Mary . Ellen ' s sister Catherine Calhoun also lived with the family at this time . Harper ' s son Samuel C . was born in Virginia on October 4 , 1831 . He would also serve in the Confederate Army , enlisting on August 6 , 1862 , in Staunton and was later was a quartermaster sergeant in the 62nd Virginia Infantry . Samuel would die on November 5 , 1901 , and be buried in the Augusta Stone Presbyterian Church Cemetery . American Civil War service . When the Civil War began in 1861 Harper chose to follow his home state and the Confederate cause . Still a major general in Virginia ' s state militia , he was given command of the 5th Virginia Infantry Regiment on April 10 . Eight days later a force of 2 , 400 men led by Harper and Brig . Gen . William H . Harman seized the U . S . Army arsenal located at Harpers Ferry in modern - day West Virginia . Despite the fires set by the Union Army forces as they withdrew , Harper ' s militia were able to salvage 4 , 000 of the approximately 15 , 000 muskets in storage there , as well as 300 of the arsenal ' s milling machine s and metal working lathes , plus about 57 , 000 tools and wooden stocks , all items used in rifle production . Throughout the month this material was sent to Richmond , Virginia . On April 28 Confederate Col . Thomas J . " Stonewall " Jackson arrived to assume command of the forces at Harpers Ferry and began to organize the militia into regiment s . On May 1 , 1861 , Harper was appointed a brigadier general in the Virginia Provisional Army , an organization soon to be added to the overall Confederate States Army . Seven days later he was commissioned a colonel and given command of the 5th Virginia Infantry , one of the regiments that made up the Stonewall Brigade . Harper and the 5th Virginia fought well during the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21 , " where his soldierly ability attracted the notice of the army commander . " He resigned from the Confederate Army on September 11 following Jackson ' s refusal to grant permission for Harper to return home to be with his terminally ill wife . Harper returned home to the Shenandoah Valley and was again elected into Virginia ' s legislature to represent this area until 1864 . On June 2 of that year Harper was re - appointed a colonel in the Confederate Army and given permission to form a regiment out of the reservist companies located in the Shenandoah Valley . He led them during the Valley Campaigns of 1864 , taking part in the Battle of Piedmont on June 5 – 6 , and then the Battle of Waynesboro , Virginia on March 2 , 1865 . Harper ' s command was routed during both of these Confederate defeats . Postbellum . After the conflict , Harper returned home to Staunton in 1865 . Two years later he died of pneumonia on Christmas Day at his plantation , " Glen Allen " , and was buried in Staunton ' s Thornrose Cemetery . During his lifetime , Harper was allegedly credited with drawing the attention of Brig . Gen . Bernard E . Bee to Stonewall Jackson ' s performance during the First Battle of Bull Run , inspiring Jackson ' s famous sobriquet .