Stonewall Jackson in 1862

During the Seven Days campaign near Richmond, Virginia in 1862 General Lee was trying to destroy General McClellan's Union army and to end the war early with a major victory for the Confederate States. One of the problems with this campaign was that after Jackson's Shenandoah campaign, with it's long 'Foot Cavalry' maneuvers, he could not stay awake and was so dopey that he could not issue orders. I suspect that he was suffering from acute scurvy after stopping his intake of lemon juice from the wagon-load of lemons captured from the Yankees. He had been sucking on these all during the Shenandoah Valley campaign. When a person takes a high dose of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) for a long time, the body adapts to the dosage. Then, when the dosage is suddenly greatly reduced, the body continues to process the vitamin at the same level for some time, resulting in a profound drop of the vitamin in the body and inducing temporary scurvy. This may have happened, and resulted in the Union army being able to escape to fight again another day. General Lee later said that his second greatest disappointment was his inability to destroy Gen. McClellan outside Richmond that year.

Jackson sucking on lemons is a myth. Read James I. Robertson's biography of Jackson.

If scurvy affected Jackson, it should have affected a lot of his soldiers too. An easier explanation is that Jackson was a miserable tactical commander. A fact especially visible on the peninsula, as it was all about executing Lee's orders.

Jackson is justly famous for his strategic insight and for his fast marches. On the battlefield, he is at best a mediocre commander. The history of Jackson's battles is a history of tactical blunders. Many of the controversies with his subordinates stem from the fact that Jackson gave strange to impossible orders which the tactically more competent subordinates reinterpreted earning Old Blue Light's wrath. In the Valley, he was lucky that his opponents were even worse tacticians.

Doesn't it take a while for scurvey to develop? It's usually associated with sailors on long sea voyages.
Like poster#4 point out, wouldn't all the troops be affected?

Hopefully this post will re-invigorate this thread. While I am a fan of Stonewall Jackson's Valley campaign, I am not sure if he belongs on the pedestal on which he was put. An interesting study (which I hope to pursue for an advanced degree in Civil War studies) is whether the 1862 and 1864 Shenandoah Valley campaigns would have had the same results if Jackson had commanded the 1864 campaign and Early the 1862 campaign. I believe that Early would have had the same results that Jackson did in 1862 simply because of the ineptitude of the Federal commanders. I also believe that Jackson would have probably lost the 1864 campaign because the Union army was much stronger by that point and the Confederates were a bit weary and run down.

I'm sure that many will disagree with me, so hopefully we can start a "discussion."

An interesting question. In my opinion, the choice of Confederate commander is not the decisive element: In 1862, the campaign was lost in Washington. The local commanders simply did not have clear goals (similar to the Afghanistan engagement today, occupy the Valley, restore peace and prosperity). In 1864, the Confederate campaign was doomed from the start. Like the battle of the Bulge, even a vastly more successful attack could not have turned the tide. As soon as the element of surprise dissipated, the game was over.

If we are allowed to switch commanders, I'd pick the defensive genius and native Virginian Thomas as Union commander in the Valley. He would have exploited Jackson's ultra-aggressiveness and tactical ineptitude.