Lee-Jackson Day in 2024

Lee-Jackson Day has been repealed by legislation passed in April 2020. It will be replaced by Election Day.

When is Lee-Jackson Day?

Lee-Jackson Day was a State Holiday in the Commonwealth of Virginia and is observed on the Friday before the third Monday in January - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

History of Lee-Jackson Day

This holiday is celebrated on the birthdays of two Confederate generals from Virginia, Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson.

Robert E. Lee was born on January 19th 1807 in Westmoreland County, Virginia, to Major General Henry Lee III, Governor of Virginia, and his second wife, Anne Hill Carter.

Lee was a career soldier, who rose through the ranks after West Point to be the commander of the Confederate States Army. He commanded the Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War from 1862 until his surrender in 1865. Lee died from pneumonia in October 1870.

Thomas Jackson was born on January 21st 1824 in Clarksburg, Virginia to Julia Beckwith Jackson and Jonathan Jackson, an attorney.

Jackson is recognized as one of the most skilful tacticians of the Civil War, earning the name "Stonewall" after his stand at the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861. Jackson died in May 1863 from pneumonia which had set in after he had been shot accidentally by one of his own men.

A holiday on January 19th to honour Lee on the anniversary of his birthday was established in 1889. Jackson was added to the holiday in 1904.

In 1983, the holiday was merged with the new federal holiday, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, as Lee–Jackson–King Day in Virginia. This merger lasted until 2000, when Lee-Jackson Day was moved to the Friday before Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.