PARKERSBURG - The question is simple: Where was Gen. Stonewall Jackson born?
While most Civil War historians and Jackson biographers accept Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was born in Clarksburg, some believe Parkersburg to be the birthplace of the fabled Confederate general.
"There is as much evidence that he was born in Parkersburg as there is for Clarksburg," said Ray Swick, historian at Blennerhassett Island Historical State Park. "There are no contemporary records."
Photo by Jody Murphy
According to local historians, Willard Jackson, a banker and Stonewall Jackson relative, funded this red granite plaque that was placed on the city’s floodwall, recognizing Parkersburg as the general’s birthplace.
There's no denying the general's ties to Parkersburg. Jackson's mother, Julia Neale Jackson, was raised in Wood County. She met her first husband, Jonathan, here while he was attending military school. The couple moved to Harrison County and settled in Clarksburg, where most historians agree Jackson and his siblings were born.
Swick said Neale family members maintain Julia Jackson came home to Parkersburg to deliver the baby.
"But that's oral history," Swick said.
It's also the basis of the city's claim. A red granite plaque attached to the floodwall inside Point Park declares the site as Jackson's birthplace.
However, much skepticism and controversy surrounding that claim.
David Houchin, librarian at the Harrison County Public Library, jokingly says the only people who have heard the claim Jackson was born in Parkersburg are from Parkersburg.
"No one outside of Parkersburg claims Parkersburg as Jackson's birthplace," he said.
James Robertson, who wrote a 950-page biography of Jackson, "Stonewall Jackson, the Man, the Soldier, the Legend" in 1997, flatly denied Parkersburg's claim as Jackson's birthplace.
"If you will examine the 950-page biography of Jackson I completed in 1997, you will find that the Parkersburg claim has no basis," he wrote in an e-mail to The News and Sentinel.
When pressed to be more specific, Robertson declined.
In regard to Jackson's birthplace, only one thing is certain - there is no definitive answer.
For more than a 100 years historians have been combing records, searching for definitive proof of Jackson's birthplace. Records at the Virginia Military Institute, where Jackson taught, and West Point, where Jackson graduated in 1846, state only he was born in Virginia.
Locally, the Blennerhassett Museum archives contain copies of the Meigs-Jackson papers. Included in those papers are a partial genealogy written two years after Jackson's death. The papers state Jackson's place of birth was unknown because of the lack of records.
Roy Bird Cook, who wrote a definitive Jackson biography, "The Family and Early Life of Stonewall Jackson." in the 1920s, declared there was no conclusive evidence regarding Jackson's birthplace. However, Robertson's book states members of Jackson's family, and a host of writers, have argued "convincingly, he was born in Clarksburg." Robertson even cites refutations including H.E. Matheny's "Wood County, West Virginia in Civil War Times."
But Robertson's citations -of Matheny anyway - are less than conclusive.
According to Matheny, "Jackson was born Jan. 21, 1824, probably at Parkersburg." Matheny claims an early newspaper article stated his mother was visiting on Neale's Island in Parkersburg a few days before his birth. Matheny claimed the information was obtained from a letter his mother had written. He provides no citation of the alleged newspaper article. And no proof of the letter has been discovered.
Matheny also cites an article in a Clarksburg newspaper by Dr. McCally (who he mistakenly refers to as Clancy), reprinted in the Wheeling Intelligencer (May 23, 1863) in which the doctor recalled delivering Jackson in Clarksburg. However, Debra Basham, records archivist for the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, said no such article exists in that edition of The Intelligencer or any surrounding dates.
Members of the Neale family maintained Julia Jackson came to Parkersburg to give birth. But that's an oral history, backed with no verifiable claim. And the claim is subject to scrutiny.
Jackson was born in the dead of winter. Many historians argue a pregnant Julia Jackson would have been foolish to make an 80-mile trip in the middle of winter to come home to Parkersburg.
Dave McKain, a local historian, maintains the Neale lore is based on fact.
"It was very common practice that women went back to their mother to have the child and went back home," he said.
However, none of Julia Jackson's other children (five altogether) were born in Parkersburg.
Houchin notes none of the Parkersburg claims emerged until the 20th century. A search of the state archives yields articles related to Jackson's birth and Parkersburg, but none are older than the turn of the 20th century.
Nevertheless, Willard Jackson, a banker and Stonewall Jackson relative, remained convinced Parkersburg was Jackson's place of birth.
According to local historians, Jackson funded a red granite plaque that was placed on the city's floodwall, recognizing Parkersburg as the general's birthplace. Jackson even managed to secure the endorsement of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, which is ironic, considering the Stonewall Jackson Chapter in Harrison County of the United Daughters of the Confederacy erected a plaque in 1911 proclaiming Clarksburg as the general's birthplace.
According to records, the Parkersburg chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, chartered in 1900, went defunct in 1955 after it ceased paying national dues.
Ramona Capron, president of the West Virginia United Daughters of the Confederacy, was unaware of the marker.
"Whether or not approval comes from general (the main headquarters), I do not know. ... We have always considered Clarksburg to be the birthplace of Stonewall Jackson."
Local historians vary as to when the plaque was erected. Neither city officials nor the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have any record of approval for the plaque. The United Daughters of the Confederacy also has no record of the marker, though it was likely mounted in 1963, as part of state's centennial celebration.
Articles in the Aug. 12, 1962, and June 28, 1964, issues of The Parkersburg News retell the Parkersburg version. The 1964 article also alludes to a controversy surrounding the plaque.
Cook, who died in 1961, took issue with a 1954 article in "Voices from Vale and Hill" by a former reporter for The News, Arthur Ball, who discloses the Neale version of Jackson's birth. Cook responded four years later in a newsletter, discrediting the story citing Dr. McCally's claim of attending Jackson's birth.
"It is the silliest thing I have ever heard of. Why I have the record of the physician who presided at the birth," he's quoted as saying.
In Clarksburg, Jackson's birthplace is an attraction. In addition to the plaque marking Jackson's home, there is also a statue of Jackson at the courthouse plaza.
The Greater Parkersburg Convention and Visitors Bureau makes no mention of Parkersburg as Jackson's birthplace. Steve Nicely, president of the bureau, said they don't promote the city as Jackson's birthplace and there's nothing to physically point out to visitors.
There is also debate as to whether there is authenticity to Parkersburg's claim, Nicely said.
"We prefer to promote things we know for a fact happened here or took place here," he said. "And since there seems to be some controversy as to where he was born, we have chosen not to include that."
Swick remains undaunted.
"There is no evidence where Stonewall Jackson was born that would stand up in court," he said. "History is very tricky. You think you have it pinned down and it will whirl around and bite you.
"I say it's likely - just as likely that he was born here," Swick said.