Military career of Stonewall Jackson Stonewall Jackson ’ s military career consists of a combination of various brevet , temporary , and permanent appointments in no less than five different military organizations . Stonewall Jackson was also a civilian military instructor ( while still granted military status as an officer ) and when the Civil War began Jackson became an officer in the state forces of Virginia . He was later appointed in the Provisional Army of the Confederates States ( PACS ) while also holding a permanent rank as a major in the Confederate States Army . West Point service . Stonewall Jackson was appointed to the United States Military Academy in the summer of 1842 , at the age of eighteen years old , after Cadet Gibson Butcher resigned after one day of service . After petitioning Congressman Samuel Hays to appoint Jackson as an emergency replacement for Butcher , Jackson reported for duty on June 18 , 1842 . Considered simply as a " plebe " during his first semester at West Point , Jackson finished his first term in January 1843 and was appointed a Cadet Fourth Class on February 20 , 1843 . Jackson ' s 1842 - 1843 4th Class year ended on a high note with the visit of Winfield Scott to West Point in June 1843 . Jackson assumed duties as a Third Class Cadet in July 1843 and finished his sophomore year without incident in the spring of 1844 . Now twenty years old , he was then appointed a Second Class Cadet and granted his first ever summer vacation from West Point returning on August 28 , 1844 . For the 1844 - 1845 school year Jackson was appointed a Cadet Sergeant , the only leadership position he would hold in the Corps . When his junior year ended in the spring of 1845 , Jackson was advanced to Cadet First Class but was not granted a Senior leadership position . He was thus referred to as a " Cadet High Private " . Jackson graduated from West Point at the age of twenty two in June in 1846 . The academy at the time had no graduation ceremonies or formal presentation of diplomas with Jackson departing on July 1 , 1846 as a Brevet Second Lieutenant . Key Dates Mexican War service . Stonewall Jackson graduated West Point the same year that the Mexican - American War began . The commander of the United States Army , Winfield Scott , made it clear in his early campaign planning that he wanted leadership of his invasion army to comprise regular army officers with a minimal use of militia whom Scott felt were under trained . Jackson was issued official military orders on July 22 , 1846 , assigning him to Company K of the 1st U . S . Artillery presently headquartered at Fort Columbus in New York . Two weeks later , Jackson arrived at Fort Columbus to find his company already deployed to Mexico . Jackson ' s new Commanding Officer , Francis Taylor , who had remained behind then detailed the young Second Lieutenant to recruiting duty to collect new recruits and horses for a future deployment to Texas . Jackson was deployed on August 19 and it took until October 5 for himself and the new members of Company K to reach Camargo in Mexico . By November 24 , the entire Company K had assembled at Monterrey and on November 29 the first official combat campaign began in which Jackson was a participant . This was the attack against Saltillo although by the time the American forces arrived , the town was found to be deserted . 1847 brought hopes of an amphibious campaign and by March 5 , Company K had been relocated off the shores of Veracruz . Here Jackson ' s true war record begins as he participated in the Siege of Veracruz followed by combat at the Battle of Cerro Gordo . In April 1847 , Jackson was informed that his brevet ( temporary ) rank of Second Lieutenant was now being made permanent in the United States Army . Jackson was transferred to Company G of the 1st Artillery , but Captain Taylor delayed the actual move until May 1847 . Jackson then assumed duties under Captain John H . Winder with the American forces next ordered to move against Perote , Veracruz . Jackson ' s new company , however , was ordered to garrison duty in the town of Xalapa . There Jackson would remain until June 18 , 1847 , when Company G was ordered forward into action although , in reality , this entailed simply further garrison duty in the city of Puebla . On July 13 , Jackson was transferred to Company I of the 1st Artillery with the unit ordered into action on August 7 . The Battle of Contreras followed accompanied by an assault at Molino del Rey . Jackson ' s combat participation then continued in the Battle of Chapultepec with a culmination in September 1847 when Jackson participated in the Battle for Mexico City . On August 20 , 1847 , Jackson had been promoted to First Lieutenant with recommendations made for brevet promotions to both Captain and Major . He had also been made the acting company commander of Company I but was replaced by William French on December 4 , 1847 . On January 19 , 1848 , Jackson transferred back to his original company ( Company K ) and served as a Company Officer until the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in March 1848 . On July 5 , Company K was ordered to depart Mexico and by July 20 the unit was in New Orleans . First Lieutenant Jackson ' s activities immediately following the Mexican War consisted mainly of administrative tasks accompanied by some free time in which Jackson engaged in some furloughs both to Virginia and Niagara Falls . Between the summer of 1848 and the start of 1849 , Jackson was detailed to various Forts including Fort Columbus , Fort Hamilton , as well as a detail to serve on a court martial at Carlisle Barracks in Pennsylvania . With his primary posting at Fort Hamilton , Jackson performed duties as Acting Company Commander , Post Adjutant , as well as the Company Quartermaster . In February 1849 , Jackson had heard nothing about his brevet promotions from the Mexican War and was still merely a First Lieutenant . News came in the last days of February that Jackson had been promoted to Brevet Captain with a date of rank from August 20 , 1847 . Just two days later , Jackson learned of his promotion to Brevet Major with date of rank from September 13 , 1847 . As a Brevet Major , Jackson next looked forward to what future assignments that the United States Army had to offer . This path led Jackson to the state of Florida where events would transpire to eventually persuade Jackson to resign from the U . S . Army . Mexican War promotions Mexican War assignments Florida and resignation . Following the Mexican War , Jackson was assigned to a garrison post in Florida where he quickly became enemies with his Commanding Officer , filing numerous complaints with the Commanding General of the Region . Jackson ' s Army career thereafter took a sharp downward turn , and he resigned from the military in 1851 in order to pursue a career as a military instructor at the Virginia Military Institute . In many ways , Jackson in fact behaved as if he had never left the Army while at VMI , as he routinely wore a uniform and was addressed by faculty and students as " Major Jackson " . The Civil War . On April 17 , 1861 , Virginia seceded from the United States of America and Jackson was ordered to mobilize the VMI Corps of Cadets to Richmond . Upon arriving at Richmond , Jackson presented himself to the state governor and requested a formal military assignment . To Jackson ' s disappointment , he was appointed to his former rank in the U . S . Army ( Major ) and assigned to what he saw as unimportant duties with military engineers . After a second conversation with the governor , in which Jackson made his displeasure of his previous appointment known , Jackson was approved by the Virginia General Assembly as a Colonel in the new " Provisional Army of Virginia " ( also known as the " Citizens Army of Virginia " ) to which Robert E . Lee was the supreme commander . When Virginia formally joined the Confederacy in May 1861 , Jackson ' s Virginia appointments were converted to the Provisional Army of Confederacy and he became a Colonel in the Confederates Army . For administrative reasons , Jackson ' s appointment as a Confederate Colonel was backdated to March 16 , 1861 ( the date that the Virginia Assembly first began debating formal succession ) . Thus , Jackson has the distinction of being a Confederate Colonel ( at least on paper ) a full month before his state actually joined the Confederacy . The Confederate Army also had a permanent Regular Army , this known as the Army of the Confederate States of America . In October 1862 , after Jackson was already a Major General in the Confederate Provisional Army , he was appointed to the permanent rank of Major of Artillery in the Army of the Confederate States . While in Harpers Ferry as a Virginia States Forces colonel , Jackson was also placed in command of the entire Virginia Militia , making him by default a militia general . Jackson never referred to himself in this sense and quickly petitioned the Governor of Virginia to fold militia forces into the regular state army . The earliest use of Jackson wearing a gray Confederate Army uniform was in Winchester , Virginia , in the early spring of 1862 . Prior to this time , although a serving officer in the Confederacy , Jackson wore his blue VMI officer uniform with various insignia . Dates of Rank