title: Sleepless vigilance: "Stonewall" Jackson and the duty hours controversy.
abstract: Confederate general "Stonewall" Jackson has been called "one of the greatest military geniuses the world ever saw." However, on critical review of his command decisions during the course of 12 of the 20 battles he fought during the American Civil War, historians have rated his performance as poor. In this investigation, the authors examined the effect of sleep deprivation on Jackson's battle decisions in light of experimental data driving current calls for limiting the duty hours of physicians.
authors.affiliation: Medical Care Clinical Center, VA Maryland Health Care System and the Department of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland. Electronic address: philip.mackowiak@med.va.gov.
authors.forename: Philip A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Mackowiak
authors.affiliation: Louisiana Hematology Oncology Associates, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
authors.forename: Frederic T
authors.initials: FT
authors.lastname: Billings
authors.affiliation: Office of the Dean, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia.
authors.forename: Steven S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Wasserman
mesh_terms: D047831:American Civil War; D001288:Attention; D003657:Decision Making; D005197:Famous Persons; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000266:history; D010820:Physicians; D012890:Sleep; D012892:Sleep Deprivation / Q000209:etiology / Q000266:history*; D014481:United States