Editing Stonewall Jackson (section)

===Command style===
[[File:Stonewall Jackson - National Portrait Gallery.JPG|thumb|A portrait of Stonewall Jackson (1864, J. W. King) in the [[National Portrait Gallery (United States)|National Portrait Gallery]]]]

In command, Jackson was extremely secretive about his plans and extremely meticulous about military discipline. This secretive nature did not stand him in good stead with his subordinates, who were often not aware of his overall operational intentions until the last minute, and who complained of being left out of key decisions.<ref>Robertson, p. xiv.</ref>

Robert E. Lee could trust Jackson with deliberately undetailed orders that conveyed Lee's overall objectives, what modern doctrine calls the "end state". This was because Jackson had a talent for understanding Lee's sometimes unstated goals, and Lee trusted Jackson with the ability to take whatever actions were necessary to implement his end state requirements. Few of Lee's subsequent corps commanders had this ability. At Gettysburg, this resulted in lost opportunities. With a defeated and disorganized Union Army trying to regroup on high ground near town and vulnerable, Lee sent one of his new corps commanders, [[Richard S. Ewell]], discretionary orders that the heights ([[Cemetery Hill]] and [[Culp's Hill]]) be taken "if practicable". Without Jackson's intuitive grasp of Lee's orders or the instinct to take advantage of sudden tactical opportunities, Ewell chose not to attempt the assault, and this failure is considered by historians to be the greatest missed opportunity of the battle.<ref>Pfanz, p. 344; Eicher, ''Longest Night'', p. 517; Sears, p. 228; Trudeau, p. 253. Both Sears and Trudeau record "if possible".</ref>