The Stonewall Brigade and Hood’s Brigade: The History of the Most Famous Units in Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia during the Civil War

Summary

The Stonewall Brigade went on to fight in every major battle in the Eastern theater of the American Civil War, to the extent that of the 6,000 men who fought with the brigade over the course of four years, less than 200 remained by the time General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865. They were organized, trained, and mentored by one of the most revered military leaders in American history, and they made a decisive impact on battles like First Manassas, the 1862 Valley Campaign, and Chancellorsville. The brigade was virtually a spent force by the end of the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse in May 1864, which took place nearly a year after Stonewall Jackson himself had been mortally wounded at Chancellorsville.

Organized in Richmond, Virginia on October 22, 1861, Hood’s Texas Brigade was one of the most formidable fighting forces of the Confederate States during the American Civil War. At times undisciplined, the men who comprised this brigade were a group of fearless and determined volunteers-turned-soldiers. Over the course of the Civil War, the Texas Brigade engaged over 4,000 men and was comprised of the only Texans to fight with General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia in the Eastern Theater. With the exception of Chancellorsville, these men fought in every major battle in the East, and they also participated in significant battles in the Western Theater. Of the more than 4,000 men who fought with the brigade over the course of the war, approximately 600 remained to surrender at Appomattox. The brigade suffered a horrific casualty rate of sixty-one percent and were lauded for their courage by men such as generals Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, James Longstreet, and Lee.