[3] When fully grown Paxton was described as "five feet ten inches high, heavily built and of great bodily strength",[1] a physique that inspired his childhood nickname, "Bull.”[4] He was known not to drink alcohol.

His son Matthew wrote that "he was a man of ardent temperament and strong convictions such as did not permit him to remain an indifferent spectator of the exciting political occurrences of era."

His "blunt and outspoken views" on behalf of the secession of South Carolina caused a rift in his friendship with Lexington resident Thomas J. Jackson; the two men did not speak to each other until after each had joined the Confederate Army.

[8] Matthew became the editor of the newspaper Rockbridge County News and John a lawyer in Kansas City, Missouri.

Despite a lack of any military training, Paxton entered the Confederate Army on April 18 as a first lieutenant of the Rockbridge Rifles, part of Col. James F. Preston's 4th Virginia Infantry Regiment.

[9] After recovering, Paxton was elected[10] major of the 27th Virginia Infantry on October 14, 1861, but was not re-elected to the position the following spring[1] because of his "heavy-handedness and a lack of tact".

Although Jackson rarely deviated from protocol for promotions, his justification for selecting Paxton was that none of the subordinate commanders in the Stonewall Brigade was the "best qualified" for the position because "I did not regard any of them as competent as another.

Gen. William B. Taliaferro were on the right of the Confederate defense when Union Maj. Gen. George G. Meade's division made a brief (and unsupported) successful attack, but Paxton's men counterattacked and drove the Federals off.

[15]By the spring of 1863, Bull Paxton, who a member of his staff described as a "rather profane and godless man" found new solace in religion, possibly because of his association with the religious Stonewall Jackson.

[4] On the second day of battle, the brigade was part of Jackson's audacious flanking movement around Union Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker's army.

"[4] Later that day army commander Gen. Robert E. Lee sent a wire to the authorities in the Confederate capitol of Richmond, saying: The enemy was dislodged from all his positions around Chancellorsville and driven back towards the Rappahannock, over which he is now retreating.

[7]Paxton was initially buried at Guinea Station, Virginia, a short distance from where Jackson lay dying.