Name: Alfred Eugene Jackson
Born: January 11, 1807, Davidson City, TN.
Died: October 30, 1889, Jonesborough (Jonesboro), TN.
Buried: Jonesborough (Jonesboro) TN.
Pre-War Profession: Farmer, merchant.
War Service: 1861, staff major, quartermaster, paymaster, served in East Tennessee; April 1863, Brigadier General in command of a brigade, served in the Cumberland Gap and southwest Virginia; unfit for field service in November 1864; remained on staff duty under Gen. Breckenridge.
Post War Career: Farmer

General Alfred Eugene Jackson was nicknamed "Old Mudwall" by his troops. He received his nickname prior to commanding Thomas' Legion or Jackson's Brigade. Some stated that unlike "Stonewall" Jackson, A. E. Jackson was opposite. The name stuck since many subordinates also thought that Jackson was a "man who only cared about himself."

 

Several officers in Thomas' Legion signed a petition stating that Jackson was "a man of irritable temper intensified by diseased nerves and aggravated by being in a position for which the man is morally and physically unfit." This letter further stated that "General Jackson would reprimand the officers in the presence of the enlisted men," which added to the list of grievances. The letter was forwarded to President Jeff Davis via Gov. Zebulon Vance.

 

The allegations appear to have merit because President Jeff Davis's aide, Colonel William P. Johnston, stated to Davis that Brig. Gen. Jackson was a "very nervous person" (O.R., 30, iv, 602*). This peaked when General Bragg wrote Davis and also recommended that Jackson be removed of command and that the Thomas Legion should be placed under Col. William Holland Thomas's command. General Order 105 was signed on May 5, 1864, sending the Thomas Legion to Western North Carolina. It was delayed, however, and the Legion, or the Regiment, was sent into the Shenandoah Valley. *Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies; hereinafter cited as O.R.

 

Thomas despised Jackson, he even stated that "Jackson never governed any man in his life, just his 20 slaves, and he received his command by accident." The Thomas/Jackson friction resulted in Thomas receiving a court-martial. (Brigadier General Alfred Eugene Jackson and Colonel William Holland Thomas: RIVALRY.)
The Thomas Legion's James W. Terrell wrote to Governor Vance and stated that "Jackson is trying to destroy our organization. It is no longer Thomas' Legion, but Thomas' Regiment, Walker's Battalion and Levi's Battery...in order to make it a show of a (his) brigade." (Thomas' Regiment: O.R., 1, Vol. 33, p. 1137.)

Subsequently, Brig. Gen. Alfred Jackson was relieved of command and sent to the Army of Tennessee (O.R. 37, i, 753). His nervous condition worsened and he was again relieved of command (O.R., 45, 1, 1240). By War's end, Jackson served as a staff officer under Gen. Breckinridge.

Highly Recommended Reading: Storm in the Mountains (Thomas' Legion: The Sixty-ninth North Carolina Regiment). Vernon H. Crow, Storm in the Mountains, spent 10 years conducting extensive Thomas Legion's research. In addition, Mr. Crow was granted access to rare manuscripts and privately held diaries, which adds great depth to this rarely discussed Civil War legion. It also contains rosters which is an added bonus for researchers and genealogists. Mr. Crow, furthermore, left no stone unturned while examining the many facets of the Thomas Legion. Crow's research is conveyed on a level that scores with Civil War students and scholars alike.