Robert E . Rodes Robert Emmett ( or Emmet ) Rodes ( March 29 , 1829 – September 19 , 1864 ) was one of the youngest Confederate generals in the American Civil War , and the first of Lee ’ s divisional commanders not trained at West Point . His division led Stonewall Jackson ’ s devastating surprise - attack at Chancellorsville , and he was promoted major general by Stonewall on his deathbed . He then served under Ewell at Gettysburg and in the Overland campaign , before that corps was sent to the Shenandoah Valley under Jubal Early . Here Rodes was killed at the Third Battle of Winchester Education , antebellum career . Rodes was born in Lynchburg , Virginia , and graduated from Virginia Military Institute in 1848 . He taught at VMI as an assistant professor until 1851 ; he left when a promotion he wanted to full professor was given instead to Thomas J . " Stonewall " Jackson , who was years later to become one of his commanders during the Civil War . Rodes used his civil engineering skills to become chief engineer for the Alabama and Chattanooga Railroad in Tuscaloosa , Alabama . He was chief engineer of the Alabama and Chattanooga Railroad until the start of the war . Although born a Virginian , he chose to serve his adopted state of Alabama in the armed forces of the Confederate States of America ( CSA ) . Civil War . Rodes started his Confederate service as a colonel in command of the 5th Alabama Infantry regiment , in the brigade commanded by Brig . Gen . Richard S . Ewell , with which he first saw combat at the First Battle of Bull Run , He was promoted to brigadier general on October 21 , 1861 , and commanded a brigade under Maj . Gen . D . H . Hill . In the Peninsula Campaign , Rodes was wounded in the arm at the Battle of Seven Pines , and was subsequently assigned to light duty in the defenses of Richmond , Virginia , while he recuperated . He recovered in time for Gen . Robert E . Lee ' s first invasion of the North , in September 1862 , fighting at South Mountain and Antietam . At Antietam , he commanded one of two brigades that held out so long against the Union assault on the sunken road , or " Bloody Lane " , at the center of the Confederate line , suffering heavy casualties . Rodes was lightly wounded by shell fragments . In the Battle of Chancellorsville , Rodes was a division commander in Stonewall Jackson ' s corps . He was the first division - level commander in Lee ' s army who had not graduated from West Point . Rodes led Jackson ' s devastating flank attack against the Union XI Corps on May 2 , 1863 . He was temporarily placed in command of the corps that night when Jackson was mortally wounded and Maj . Gen . A . P . Hill was also wounded . Hill immediately summoned the more senior officer Maj . Gen . J . E . B . Stuart , and minutes later Rodes graciously ceded his battlefield command to him . Jackson on his deathbed recommended that Rodes be promoted to major general and this promotion be back - dated to be effective May 2 . When Lee reorganized the Army of Northern Virginia to compensate for the loss of Jackson , Rodes joined the Second Corps under Richard Ewell . In the Battle of Gettysburg , on July 1 , 1863 , Rodes led the assault from Oak Hill against the right flank of the Union I Corps . Although he successfully routed the division of Maj . Gen . John C . Robinson and drove it back through the town , the attack was not as well coordinated or pursued as aggressively as his reputation would have implied . His division sat idle for the remaining two days of the battle . Rodes continued to fight with Ewell ' s corps through the 1864 Overland Campaign of Lt . Gen . Ulysses S . Grant . Ewell was replaced by Lt . Gen . Jubal Early , and the corps was sent by Lee to the Shenandoah Valley to draw Union forces away from Petersburg , in the Valley Campaigns of 1864 . Early conducted a long and successful raid down the Valley , into Maryland , and reached the outskirts of Washington , D . C . , before turning back . Maj . Gen . Philip Sheridan was sent by Grant to drive Early from the Valley once and for all . On September 19 , 1864 , Sheridan attacked the Confederates at the Battle of Opequon , also known as the Third Battle of Winchester . Several wives of Confederate officers were chased from town during the attack and Rodes managed to save Maj . Gen . John B . Gordon ' s wife from capture . Rodes and Gordon prepared to attack Sheridan ' s forces when Rodes was struck in the back of his head by a Union shell fragment . He died on the field outside Winchester . Rodes was mourned by the Confederacy as a promising , brave , and aggressive officer killed before he could achieve greatness . Robert E . Lee and other high - ranking officers wrote sympathetic statements . Rodes is buried beside his brother , Virginius Hudson Rodes , who had been his adjutant throughout the War , in Presbyterian Cemetery , Lynchburg , Virginia . He was survived by his wife , Virginia Hortense Woodruff ( 1833 – 1907 ) , and two children , Robert Emmet Rodes , Jr . ( 1863 – 1925 ) and Bell Yancey Rodes ( 1865 – 1931 ) .