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Civil War

County Named for Confederate Hero General "Stonewall" Jackson 1824-1863

Aspermont, Stonewall County, Texas

Marker Inscription

Gen. Barnard E. Bee, a Texan, gave him the famous sobriquet in first Battle of Manassas. Jackson was rallying his men for a charge as other units retreated. Bee, seeing him cried to his men, "There is Jackson standing like a stone wall. Let us determine to die here, and we will conquer." In Battles of Gaines Mill and Malvern Hill, Hood's famous Texas Brigade fought under his command. After Gaines Mill when Jackson saw the strong Union fortified position which the Texans had overrun, he - not known to give praise-said, "The men that took this position were soldiers indeed." Texas in the Civil War Texas made an all-out effort for the Confederacy after a 3 to 1 popular vote for secession. 90,000 troops, famed for mobility and daring, fought on every battlefront. A 2,000-mile frontier and coast were successfully defended from Union troop invasion and savage Indians. Texas was the storehouse of Western Confederacy. Wagon trains laden with cotton - life blood of the South - crossed the state to Mexico to trade for medical supplies, clothing, military supplies. State and private industry produced guns, ammunition, wagons, pots, kettles, leather goods, salt, hospital supplies. Wives, sons, daughters, slaves provided corn, cotton, cattle, hogs, cured meats to the Army, giving much, keeping little for themselves. Erected by The State of Texas 1963.

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

Stonewall County honors Confederate general Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, who earned his enduring nickname at the First Battle of Manassas in 1861 when General Barnard Bee — a Texan — pointed to him standing firm amid retreat. The marker also recounts Texas's all-out commitment to the Confederacy: some 90,000 troops in the field, a 2,000-mile frontier and coast defended, and a home front of families and enslaved people whose labor supplied the Southern armies.

Why it matters

The marker reflects both a famous moment of Civil War lore and the sweeping, later mythologized way Texas remembered its Confederate effort — a lens on how the South memorialized the war a century on.

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Related people

  • · Thomas J. Jackson
  • · Barnard E. Bee
  • · John Bell Hood

Related events

  • · First Battle of Manassas

Themes & tags

Civil WarLandmark

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