What if Stonewall Jackson was at the Battle of Gettysburg? | Battle of Gettysburg ABCs w/ Tim Smith

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:01][music] >> I'm Tim Smith with Gettysburg history and welcome to another Gettysburg ABC's.

[00:00:14]Today, we're doing letter J, person, place, and thing. So, today we're doing Stonewall Jackson, the Michael Jacobs residence, and a journey in time.

[00:00:33]So, Stonewall Jackson is probably the most famous person in Gettysburg that we can ask about on a regular basis that wasn't at the Battle of Gettysburg.

[00:00:47]He's probably one of people's favorite what ifs.

[00:00:52]What if Stonewall Jackson was here at the battle?

[00:00:56]And I got to tell you, you know, the uh licensed got battlefield guys who give tours in the battlefield, man, we get tired of that question. And of course, the answer is we don't know.

[00:01:08]If Stonewall Jackson had not been killed at the Battle of Chancellorsville, uh 2 months, you know, before the Battle of Gettysburg, perhaps Robert E. Lee would not have invaded the north. I mean, you know, changing one thing would change multiple things, and perhaps there wouldn't be a Battle of Gettysburg. But, people like to believe that if Stonewall Jackson had survived, that he would be at the same position that General Richard Ewell was on the evening of the first day, and he would have attacked Cemetery Hill, and he would have taken Cemetery Hill, and single-handedly won the battle, and then he'd be sucking on a lemon on Cemetery Hill.

[00:01:53]Uh I kind of disagree with that, and a lot of the guides disagree with that point of view, but again, Stonewall Jackson is always discussed in relation to the Battle of Gettysburg even though he wasn't here.

[00:02:09]The Michael Jacob's Jacob's residence, we're standing in front of it. It is at in downtown Gettysburg at the corner of Washington Street and West Middle Street. Michael Jacobs was a professor at Gettysburg College. Um Uh he wrote a book about the battle that came out in late 1863.

[00:02:30]Uh I think it probably came out just prior to uh the Gettysburg Address or the uh Soldiers' National Cemetery dedication. Um his son, Henry Eyster Jacobs, had just graduated from the college and was getting ready to attend the Lutheran Theological Seminary. He lived here.

[00:02:52]But I wanted to talk about uh Michael Jacob's daughter, Julia.

[00:02:57]Uh Mary Julia Jacobs. On July 4th, 1863, the Union Army recaptured the town of Gettysburg. The Southern Army had pulled back to Seminary Ridge and they had their advanced sharpshooters in a gully along Stevens Run about three blocks from here.

[00:03:20]And during the battle uh the morning of the fourth day, they were picking Northern soldiers off as they entered the town and the Jacobs families were witnesses to this uh what they thought was a just unnecessary uh killing of Union soldiers. So, Julia opened up the front door of the house on West Middle Street and she waved to Union soldiers as they were coming into town, "Look out, Pickets below. And she warned the soldiers and then they slowly stopped and they took turns crossing the street to avoid the sharpshooter fire.

[00:04:04]The sharpshooters figured it out and they started firing up the street at the door jamb.

[00:04:10]And I'm told by owners of the house that there are still places in the door where bullets are embedded and covered over in the front of the Jacob's house.

[00:04:23]A journey in time for a thing. So, William Frassanito in 1975 wrote a book, Gettysburg, a journey in time.

[00:04:33]And what he did was to take photographs during the time of the battle and modern photographs and compare and contrast them. And the concept of a journey in time where you learn about the battle and then you return to the actual site where things occurred, like the door jamb at the Michael Jacob's house, uh have captivated visitors of the battlefield for years. And um here's an original copy of first edition of Gettysburg, a journey in time. You know how you can tell you have a first edition of the book?

[00:05:12]Um it has the errata sheet in it. Not that William Frassanito would make any mistakes ever.

[00:05:20]But uh it's one of my uh I have like uh 10 of these in my office if you want to see one. If you come to Gettysburg on a visit, we recommend that you actually read about something and then visit the same site where that occurred and you'll get that feeling of a journey in time.

[00:05:38]Remember, if you like all the historical content on Gettysburg ABCs or some of our other videos, please like and subscribe.

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