WI: Stonewall Jackson sides with the Union

Jackson's sister was very pro-Union, something that would drive a wedge between her and her brother during the Civil War, and Jackson himself broke Virginian law and educating his slaves and teaching them how to read. What if Laura is able to pursued her brother to fight for the Union? How might this alter the First Battle of Bull Run and the war at large?
 
Furthermore, his first wife's father (George Junkin) was a Union man who moved from Virginia (he was president of Washington & Lee University) to Pennsylvania in May 1861 because of the harassment he received for his pro-Union views. Perhaps if Jackson's first wife survived, the combination of his sister and father-in-law might convince him. Probably not, but one never knows. Perhaps in Jackson was not living in the south at the time and therefore did not owe loyalty to Virginia. Perhaps if VMI accepted Rosecrans' application instead of Jackson as professor in 1851, and Jackson moved north for work!

First Bull Run was so close that I could easily see it go the other way, but then again it might not. Someone else might have risen to the occassion and rallied the Confederate line. Furthermore, even if the Union did win, it might not be well place to continue the advance. This is a battle where so much was left to chance as both sides were not trained or disciplined enough yet.

The more intriguing question is what happens afterwards. We now know Jackson is a tremendous war leader and tactical genius, but nobody knew that then. He will have time to display that in battle, but he needs to get in battle first. As a Virginian, his loyalty will be suspect initially. I think like George H. Thomas, he will be sent west instead of keeping him the eastern theater. Given his combat leadership, he might be promoted quickly. If he got army command in 1862, he could advance the Union campaign out there by a year. Could you see what he would have done at Iuka and Corinth instead of Rosecrans?

And of course, without Jackson, Lee would not have been so brilliant in 1862 and 1863.

The war might be over by end of 1863 or early 1864.
 
The union does slightly better in a few battles and the south does slightly worse. The south on the average had better generals at the start at least but the north had the numbers and the industry.
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
Is he actually going to be AT bull run, is the question.

No. He might have been if he had been a regular army officer who stayed loyal, like George Thomas. But he wasn't a regular army officer when the war broke out. He was a professor at Virginia Military Institute. The First Battle of Manassas was fought by regular army officers and officers who had been chosen by state governments or elected by the men of the regiment. Jackson could not had fallen into either category.
 
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