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James Ewell Brown Stuart






















James Ewell Brown Stuart was born on February 6, 1833. at Laurel Hill Farm, a plantation in Patrick County, Virginia, near the border with North Carolina.


























He was the eighth of eleven children and the youngest of the five sons to survive past his childhood years.  He was known to his friends as "Jeb", from the initials of his given names.





















Major Alexander Stuart's Tombstone.


During the American Revolutionary War, his great grandfather, Major Alexander Stuart, commanded a regiment at the Battle of Guilford Court House.


























Archibald Stuart.


Jeb's father, Archibald Stuart was the eldest son of Judge Alexander Stuart, and was a veteran of the  War of 1812.  He was a slaveholder, attorney, and Democratic politician who represented Patrick County in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly.  He also served one term in the United States House of Representatives.  Jeb's mother was the former Elizabeth Letcher Pannill, of Pittsylvania County, Virginia.  She was known as a strict religious woman with a good sense for business.  She ran the family farm. (There are no known photographs of her).








































Along the Ararat River.



Elizabeth Letcher Pannill Stuart, wrote in the 1850s, from her home at Laurel Hill,  that people were coming to "take the waters" at Mount Airy.   The White Sulphur Springs Hotel had become a major resort stop for people who were traveling to Mount Airy, North Carolina.  It was downstream on the Ararat River from the Stuart farm.
















JEB Stuart was educated at home by his mother and other tutors.  At the age of twelve,  he left Laurel Hill to be educated by various teachers in Wytheville, Virginia,  and at the home of his aunt Anne (his father's sister) and her husband Judge James Ewell Brown (JEB Stuart's namesake) at Danville, Virginia.   He entered Emory and Henry College when he was fifteen,  and he attended there from 1848 to 1850.

During the summer of 1848,  JEB Stuart attempted to enlist in the United States Army , but he was rejected because he wasn't old enough.


















Jeb obtained an appointment in 1850, to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.  It had been arranged by Representative Thomas Hamlet Averett.  He was the man who ran against and defeated his father in the 1848 election.

JEB Stuart was a popular student and was happy at West Point.  Although he was not handsome in his teen years,  his classmates called him by the nickname "Beauty",  which they described as his "personal comeliness in inverse ratio to the term employed."   He had a short chin that took away from his otherwise pleasant appearance.   He quickly grew a beard after graduation and a fellow officer remarked that he was "the only man he ever saw that [a] beard improved." 



























The young JEB Stuart became friends with the Lee family, when  Robert E. Lee was appointed superintendent of the United States Military Academy in 1852.   He visited them them socially on frequent occasions.  Robert E. Lee's nephew, Fitzhugh Lee, also started lessons at the academy in 1852.  During cadet JEB Stuart's final year, he achieved the cadet rank of second captain of the corps and he was one of eight cadets that were designated as honorary "cavalry officers" for his skills in horsemanship.  JEB Stuart graduated 13th in his class of 46, in 1854.   He ranked tenth in his class in cavalry tactics.  Although he enjoyed the civil engineering curriculum at the academy and did well in mathematics, his poor drawing skills hampered his engineering studies, and he finished 29th in that category.  There is a Stuart family story that says that Jeb deliberately did less than he could in his academic performance, in his final year, in order to avoid service in the elite, but dull, Corps of Engineers.


























James Ewell Brown Stuart was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant and assigned to the United States Mounted Rifles in Texas.   He reached Fort Davis on January 28, 1855,  and was a leader for three months on scouting missions over the San Antonio to El Paso Road.

Jeb was promoted to first lieutenant,  following his transfer to the newly formed 1st Cavalry Regiment in 1855,  at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Territory.   While there, he became the regimental quartermaster and commissary officer under the command of Col. Edwin V. Sumner. 
















Fort Union was established in 1851, by Lieutenant Colonel Edwin V. Sumner.


Fort Union had been established in 1851 by Lieutenant Colonel Edwin V. Sumner as a guardian and protector of the Santa Fe Trail.  During it’s forty-year history,  three different forts were constructed close together.  The third and final Fort Union was the largest in the American Southwest,  and functioned as a military garrison, territorial arsenal,  and military supply depot for the southwest.  Upon the outbreak of the Civil War, he was transferred to the East to serve as one of the commanders in the Army of the Potomac.



























Flora Cooke


JEB Stuart  met Flora Cooke, in 1855.  She was the daughter of the commander of the 2nd U.S. Dragoon Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Philip St. George Cooke.

Burke Davis described Flora as "an accomplished horsewoman, and though not pretty, an effective charmer," to whom "JEB Stuart succumbed with hardly a struggle."  They became engaged in September, less than two months after meeting. JEB Stuart humorously wrote of his rapid courtship in Latin, "Veni, Vidi, Victus sum" (I came,  I saw,  I was conquered). 

















Archibald Stuart's headstone.


Although a gala wedding had been planned for at Fort Riley, Kansas,  the death of JEB Stuart's father, Archibald, on September 20,  caused a change of plans,  and the marriage which was held on November 14, was small and limited to family witnesses. 

In 1857, Jeb and Flora Stuart's first child, a daughter, died during childbirth.

The young couple owned two slaves, until 1859.  One of them was inherited from Jeb's father's estate, the other slave had been purchased.

JEB Stuart's leadership capabilities were soon recognized.  He was a veteran of the frontier conflicts with Native Americans and the  violence of  "Bleeding Kansas".  He was wounded on July 29, 1857,  while fighting at Solomon River, Kansas,  against the Cheyenne Indians.


























Colonel Sumner had ordered a charge with drawn sabers against a wave of Cheyenne  arrows.  After scattering the warriors, JEB Stuart and three other lieutenants chased one down.  JEB Stuart wounded him in the thigh with his pistol.  The Cheyenne turned and fired at JEB Stuart with an old-fashioned pistol.  The bullet struck him in the chest, but did very little damage.  It barely pierced his skin.

Lieutenant JEB Stuart returned in September, to Fort Leavenworth and was reunited with his wife Flora.  On November 14, 1857, Flora gave birth to a daughter, whom they named Flora.  The Stuart family relocated in early 1858 to Fort Riley,  where they remained for three years.

In 1859,  JEB Stuart developed a new piece of cavalry equipment,  for which he received patent number 25,684, on October 4.  It was a saber hook, or an "improved method of attaching sabers to belts."  The United States government paid JEB Stuart $5,000 for a "right to use" license and Jeb Stuart contracted with Knorr, Nece and Co. of Philadelphia to manufacture his hook.


























"Old Ossawatomie" John Brown.


While he was in Washington, D.C., to discuss government contracts, and in conjunction with his application for an appointment into the quartermaster department,  Lieutenant JEB Stuart heard about John Brown's raid on the United States Arsenal at Harpers Ferry.  JEB Stuart volunteered to be aide-de-camp to Colonel Robert E. Lee.  He accompanied Colonel Robert E. Lee,  with a company of United States Marines,  from the Washington Navy Yard,  and four companies of Maryland militia.

While Lieutenant JEB Stuart was delivering Robert E. Lee's written surrender ultimatum to the leader of the group,  who had been calling himself Isaac Smith,  JEB Stuart recognized "Old Ossawatomie Brown" from his days in Kansas.

Lieutenant JEB Stuart was promoted to captain on April 22, 1861,  but, resigned from the Unitted States Army on May 3, 1861,  to join the Confederate States Army,  following the secession of Virginia. (His letter of resignation,  which was sent from Cairo, Illinois,  was accepted by the War Department on May 14.)


























Philip St. George Cooke


Upon learning that his father-in-law, Col. Philip St. George Cooke would remain in the United States Army during the coming war,  Captain JEB Stuart wrote to his brother-in-law  (future Confederate Brig. General John Rogers Cooke),  "He will regret it but once, and that will be continuously."  

On June 26, 1860,  Flora gave birth to a son,  Philip St. George Cooke Stuart,  but Jeb changed the name to James Ewell Brown Stuart, Jr. ("Jimmie"), in late 1861 out of disgust with his father-in-law.





















Gen. Edwin Vose Sumner.


After Major General Joseph Hooker took command the Army of the Potomac,  General Edwin Sumner requested being relieved of command of his army corps.  He journeyed to his home at Syracuse, New York, where he suffered a fatal heart attack on March 21, 1863,  at the age of 66.







































Captain JEB Stuart was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel of Virginia Infantry in the Confederate Army on May 10, 1861. Maj. Gen. Robert E. Lee, now commanding the armed forces of Virginia, ordered him to report to Colonel Thomas J. Jackson at Harper's Ferry. Colonel Jackson chose to ignore Stuart's infantry designation and assigned him on July 4th to command all the cavalry companies of the Army of the Shenandoah, organized as the 1st Virginia Cavalry Regiment.  JEB Stuart was promoted to colonel on July 16, 1861.

After early service in the Shenandoah Valley,  Colonel JEB Stuart led his regiment in the First Battle of Bull Run,  and participated in the pursuit of the retreating Union army.  He then commanded the Army's outposts along the upper Potomac River until given command of the cavalry brigade for the army then known as the "Army of the Potomac" (later named the "Army of Northern Virginia"). Colonel JEB Stuart was promoted to brigadier general on September 24, 1861.

In 1862,  the Union Army of the Potomac began its Peninsula Campaign against Richmond, Virginia,  and Brigadier General JEB Stuart's cavalry brigade assisted Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's army as it withdrew up the Virginia Peninsula in the face of superior numbers.  JEB Stuart fought at the Battle of Williamsburg,  but in general the terrain and weather on the Peninsula did not lend themselves to cavalry operations.


























Confederate General Robert E. Lee.


When General Robert E. Lee became commander of the Army of Northern Virginia,  he requested that Brigadier General JEB Stuart perform reconnaissance to determine whether the right flank of the Union army was vulnerable.  JEB Stuart set out with 1,200 troopers on the morning of June 12  and, having determined that the flank was indeed vulnerable,  took his men on a complete circumnavigation of the Union army,  returning after 150 miles on July 15,  with 165 captured Union soldiers,  260 horses and mules,  and various quartermaster and ordnance supplies.  His men met no serious opposition from the more decentralized Union cavalry,  coincidentally commanded by his father-in-law, Colonel Cooke.

The maneuver was a public relations sensation  and Brigadier General JEB Stuart was greeted with flower petals thrown in his path at Richmond.  He had become as famous as Major General Stonewall Jackson in the eyes of the Confederacy.


























James Ewell Brown Stuart.


Early in the Northern Virginia Campaign,  Brigadier General JEB Stuart was promoted to major general on July 25, 1862,  and his command was upgraded to the Cavalry Division.  He was nearly captured and lost his signature plumed hat and cloak to pursuing Federal troops during a raid in August,  but in a retaliatory raid at Catlett's Station the following day, he managed to overrun the Union army commander Major General John Pope's headquarters,  and not only captured General Pope's full uniform,  but also intercepted some orders that provided General Lee with valuable intelligence concerning reinforcements for General John Pope's army.


 























General James Longstreet.


At the Second Battle of Bull Run (Second Manassas), .Major General JEB Stuart's cavalry followed the massive assault by Longstreet's infantry against General John Pope's army, .protecting its flank with artillery batteries.  General Stuart ordered Brig. General Beverly Robertson's brigade to pursue the Federals and in a sharp fight against Brig. General John Buford's brigade,  Col. Thomas T. Munford's 2nd Virginia Cavalry was overwhelmed until Major General JEB Stuart sent in two more regiments as reinforcements.  General John Buford's men,  many of whom were new to combat,  retreated across Lewis's Ford and JEB Stuart's troopers captured over 300 of them.  General Stuart's men harassed the retreating Union columns until the campaign ended at the "Battle of Chantilly".



























James Ewell Brown Stuart.


During the Maryland Campaign of September 1862,  Major General JEB Stuart's cavalry screened the army's movement north.  General Stuart bears some responsibility for Robert E. Lee's lack of knowledge of the position and celerity of the pursuing Army of the Potomac under George B. McClellan.  For a five-day period,  JEB Stuart rested his men and entertained local civilians at a gala ball at Urbana, Maryland.  His reports make no reference to intelligence gathering by his scouts or patrols.   As the Union Army drew near to General Robert E. Lee's divided army,   JEB Stuart's men skirmished at various points on the approach to Frederick, Maryland and General Stuart was not able to keep his brigades concentrated enough to resist the oncoming tide.   He had misjudged the Union routes of advance, and had no knowledge of the Union force threatening Turner's Gap.  He required assistance from the infantry of Major General J. D. Hill to defend the South Mountain passes in the "Battle of South Mountain". 


























Stonewall Jackson.


His horse artillery bombarded the flank of the Union army as it opened its attack in the "Battle of Antietam". By mid-afternoon, General Stonewall Jackson ordered General JEB Stuart to command a turning movement with his cavalry against the Union right flank and rear, which if successful would be followed up by an infantry attack from the West Woods.



















General JEB Stuart began probing the Union lines with more artillery barrages, which were answered with "murderous" cannon fire.  The cavalry movement intended by General Stonewall Jackson was never launched.


 RIDING A RAID

This song, sung to the tune of the old Scottish air Bonnie Dundee, was a tribute to Southern cavalry commander JEB Stuart.

On September 5, 1862, JEB Stuart's horsemen crossed the Potomac into Maryland at White's Ferry and set up a 20 mile long string of outposts east of the Army of Northern Virginia.  Their assignment was to warn General Robert E. Lee of the approach of the Army of the Potomac and to offer enough resistance to allow the Confederate commander time to dispose his forces for battle.  The Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam) (the single bloodiest day in American combat history) was fought on September 17, 1862.


'Tis old Stonewall the Rebel that leans on his sword,
And while we are mounting prays low to the Lord:
"Now each cavalier that loves honor and right,
Let him follow the feather of Stuart tonight."

Come tighten your girth and slacken your rein;
Come buckle your blanket and holster again;
Try the click of your trigger and balance your blade,
For he must ride sure that goes riding a raid.

Now gallop, now gallop to swim or to ford!
Old Stonewall, still watching, prays low to the Lord:
"Goodbye, dear old Rebel! The river's not wide,
And Maryland's lights in her window to guide."

Come tighten your girth and slacken your rein;
Come buckle your blanket and holster again;
Try the click of your trigger and balance your blade,
For he must ride sure that goes riding a raid.

There's a man in the White House with blood on his mouth!
If there's knaves in the North, there are braves in the South.
We are three thousand horses, and not one afraid;
We are three thousand sabres and not a dull blade.

Come tighten your girth and slacken your rein;
Come buckle your blanket and holster again;
Try the click of your trigger and balance your blade,
For he must ride sure that goes riding a raid.

Then gallop, then gallop by ravines and rocks!
Who would bar us the way take his toll in hard knocks;
For with these points of steel, on the line of the Penn
We have made some fine strokes -- and we'll make 'em again.

Come tighten your girth and slacken your rein;
Come buckle your blanket and holster again;
Try the click of your trigger and balance your blade,
For he must ride sure that goes riding a raid.


Click to listen to  "Riding a Raid" as sung by Bobby Horton.














Stuart's Ride Around by Mort Kunstler.


After General Robert E. Lee's army had withdrawn back to Virginia,  Major General JEB Stuart performed another of his circum navigations of the "Army of the Potomac". He rode 120 miles in under 60 hours,  from Leesburg, Virginia, to as far north as Chambersburg and Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. Once again he embarrassed his Union opponents and seized horses and supplies.  It had been down at the expense of exhausting his men and horses, without hardly gaining little military advantage.





















Jubal Anderson Early.


General Jubal Early referred to it as "the greatest horse stealing expedition" that only "annoyed" the enemy.  General JEB Stuart gave his friend General Stonewall Jackson, a fine, new officer's tunic. It was  trimmed with gold lace, and commissioned from a Richmond tailor. JEB Stuart thought it would give General Stonewall Jackson more of the appearance of a proper general (something to which General  Jackson was notoriously indifferent).























General George B. McClellan.


General George B. McClellan pushed his army slowly southward. He had been urged by President Abrahan Lincoln to pursue General Robert E. Lee.  General McClellan crossed the Potomac River on October 26.  As General Lee began moving to counter this action, General JEB Stuart screened General Longstreet's Corps and skirmished numerous times in early November against the Union cavalry and infantry around Mountville, Aldie, and Upperville.

On November 6,  Major General Stuart received sad news by telegram that his daughter Flora had died just before her fifth birthday of typhoid fever, on November 3.


























In the Battle of Fredericksburg, Maryland, in December 1862, ,General JEB Stuart and his cavalry (most notably his horse artillery under Major John Pelham)  protected General Stonewall Jackson's flank at "Hamilton's Crossing".   General Robert E. Lee commended his cavalry, which "effectually guarded our right, annoying the enemy and embarrassing his movements by hanging on his flank, and attacking when the opportunity occurred".  JEB Stuart's cavalry diverted a whole infantry division that was part of Franklin's command.  General JEB Stuart reported to Flora the next day that he had been shot through his fur collar but was unhurt.

After Christmas, General Robert E. Lee ordered General JEB Stuart to conduct a raid north of the Rappahannock River to "penetrate the enemy's rear, ascertain if possible his position and movements, as well as inflicting upon him such damage as circumstances will permit."   Assigning 1,800 troopers and a horse artillery battery to the operation,  General JEB Stuart's raid reached as far north as 4 miles south of Fairfax Court House, Virginia.  He captured 250 prisoners, and seized horses, mules, and supplies. 






















By tapping telegraph lines, General Stuart's signalmen intercepted messages between Union commanders. JEB Stuart sent a personal telegram to Union Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs,  "General Meigs will in the future please furnish better mules; those you have furnished recently are very inferior."

On March 17, 1863, General Stuart's cavalry clashed with a Union raiding party at Kelly's Ford.  Major John Pelham took part in a cavalry charge against the "Yankees".


























Major John Pelham.


He was standing in his stirrups to urge his men forward, when he was struck in the head by a piece of exploding Union artillery shell.  John Pelham was carried six miles to the Culpeper Courthouse,  where he died without ever regaining consciousness.  The minor victory was marred by his death.

John Pelham's death caused JEB Stuart profound grief,  as he thought of him as close as a younger brother.  He wrote to a Confederate Congressman, "The noble, the chivalric, the gallant Pelham is no more.... Let the tears of agony we have shed, and the gloom of mourning throughout my command bear witness."   Flora was pregnant at the time and JEB Stuart told her that if it were a boy,  he wanted him to be named John Pelham Stuart.  (Virginia Pelham Stuart was born October 9.) 


























General Ambrose Powell Hill.


At the Battle of Chancellorsville,  Major General JEB Stuart accompanied General Stonewall Jackson on his famous flanking march of May 2, 1863. He started to pursue the retreating soldiers of the Union XI Corps when he received word that both Stonewall Jackson and his senior division commander, Major General A. P. Hill, had been wounded.  General Hill,  bypassing the next most senior infantry general in the corps, Brig. General Robert E. Rodes,  sent a message ordering Major General Stuart to take command of the Second Corps.

Although the delays associated with this change of command effectively ended the flanking attack the night of May 2,  JEB Stuart performed well as an infantry corps commander the following day, by launching a strong and well coordinated attack against the Union right flank at Chancellorsville.  When the Union troops abandoned Hazel Grove,  General Stuart had the presence of mind to quickly occupy it and bombard the Union positions with artillery.  Major General JEB Stuart relinquished his infantry command on May 6,  when General A. P. Hill returned to duty.

 Stephen W. Sears wrote: "... It is hard to see how Jeb Stuart, in a new command, a cavalryman commanding infantry and artillery for the first time, could have done a better job."




























Colonel Edward Porter Alexander.



The astute Colonel Porter Alexander believed all credit was due: "Altogether, I do not think there was a more brilliant thing done in the war than Stuart's extricating that command from the extremely critical position in which he found it."


























Stonewall Jackson - National Portrait Gallery.


General Stonewall Jackson died on May 10.   General JEB Stuart was once again devastated by the loss of a close friend.  He told his staff officers that the death was a "national calamity."   Stonewall Jackson's wife, Mary Anna,  wrote to General Stuart on August 1, thanking him for a note of sympathy: "I need not assure you of which you already know, that your friendship and admiration were cordially reciprocated by him. I have frequently heard him speak of Gen'l Stuart as one of his warm personal friends, and also express admiration for your Soldierly qualities."


























Confederate General Robert E. Lee.



By June 5,  two of General Robert E. Lee's infantry corps were camped in and around Culpeper, Virginia.   Six miles northeast,  holding the line of the Rappahannock River,  Major General JEB Stuart bivouacked his cavalry troopers,  mostly near Brandy Station,  screening the Confederate Army against surprise by the enemy.

General JEB Stuart requested a full field review of his troops by General Robert E. Lee.   This grand review on June 5,  included nearly 9,000 mounted troopers and 4 batteries of horse artillery,  that were charging in simulated battle at Inlet Station,  about two miles southwest of Brandy Station.





















Brandy Station, Virginia - cavalry review by Generals Lee and Stuart.


Robert E. Lee was not able to attend the review, so it was repeated in his presence on June 8.  The repeated performance was limited to a simple parade without the battle simulations.   Despite the lower level of activity, some of the cavalrymen and the newspaper reporters at the scene complained that all JEB Stuart was doing was feeding his ego and exhausting the horses.

General Robert E. Lee ordered JEB Stuart to cross the Rappahannock the next day and raid the Union forward positions,  screening the Confederate Army from observation or interference as it moved north. Anticipating this imminent offensive action,  General Stuart ordered his tired troopers back into bivouac around Brandy Station.





















Major General Alfred Pleasonton and staff.


The largest cavalry engagements of the American Civil War took place at Brandy Station.  It would be the job of the Calvary Corp of the Union’s Army of the Potomac to locate the Army of Northern Virginia commanded by General Robert E. Lee.   There was one problem that would stand in the way of Major General Alfred Pleasonton.  That problem was Major General J.E.B. Stuart.

General Stuart and his Confederate troopers had been successful at keeping the Union armies at bay, as well as keeping General Robert E. Lee’s forces protected and informed of Northern troop movements.  It was not until these two cavalry forces would meet at a small community called Brandy Station, Virginia, that the Confederate tide of battle would be shifted.
     
General JEB Stuart had encamped most of the Southern cavalry around Brandy Station, which consisted of about 9,500 men consisting of five cavalry brigades, commanded by Brig. Generals Wade Hampton,  W.H.F. “Rooney” Lee,  Beverly H. Robertson,  William E. “Grumble” Jones and Colonel Thomas T. Munford.

What General JEB Stuart did not realize was that General Alfred Pleasonton had massed 11,000 on the northwest side of the Rappahannock River, and that he had organized his forces into two separate wings.






















Brig. General John Buford rides.



Brig. General John Buford, who would also be a major player at Gettysburg, and General David McMurtrie Gregg,  augmented by infantry brigades from the V Corp.   General Buford's wing,  accompanied by General Alfred Pleasonton,  consisted of his own 1st Cavalry Division,  a Reserve Brigade led by Major Charles J. Whiting,  and an infantry brigade of 3,000 men under Brig. General Adelbert Ames.


























 General David McMurtrie Gregg


General Gregg's wing was the 2nd Cavalry Division, led by Col. Alfred N. Duffle, the 3rd Cavalry Division, led by General Gregg, and an infantry brigade under Brig. General David Russel.




















General Alfred Pleasonton (right) and Captain George Custer (left) on horseback in Falmouth, Virginia.



With these forces in place,  General Joseph Hooker, commander of the Army of the Potomac,  would order General Pleasonton to move and raid the Confederate positions around Brandy Station.   The attack would occur with a two pronged attack.   These actions would hopefully catch General JEB Stuar’s forces off guard and overwhelm them and lead to a Union victory. 


























Major General Alfred Pleasonton.


However, the number of Confederate troops had been underestimated. About 4:30 on the morning of June 9, 1863, the element of surprise was given to General Alfred Pleasonton. 






















General William E. "Grumble" Jones.


General William E. "Grumble" Jones's brigade, awakened by the sound of nearby gunfire.  They quickly rode to the scene. Some of the troopers were partially dressed and often riding bareback. 


























Col. Benjamin Franklin Davis.


General William Jones's brigade struck General John Buford's leading brigade, commanded by Col. Benjamin Franklin Davis,  near a bend in the Beverly's Ford Road and temporarily checked its progress. Col. Benjamin Franklin  Davis was killed in the fight.  Col. Davis's brigade was stopped just short of where General JEB Stuart's "Horse Artillery" was camped and would have been  vulnerable to capture.

Cannoneers swung one or two guns into position and fired down the road at General Buford's men, enabling the other pieces to escape and establish the foundation for the next Confederate line. The artillery was positioned on two knolls on either side of the Beverly's Ford Road.


















Gen. William Edmondson Jones.


Most of General William Edmondson Jones's command rallied to the left of this Confederate artillery line, while Brig. General Wade Hampton's brigade formed to the right.  The 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry unsuccessfully charged the guns at St. James Church,  suffering the greatest casualties of any regiment in the battle.  Several Confederates later described the 6th's charge as the most "brilliant and glorious" cavalry charge of the war,  which was more than likely made on foot.  It was common practice for cavalry to dismount at times during certain battles.






















General Buford and men.


General John Buford tried to turn the Confederate left and dislodge the artillery that was blocking the direct route to Brandy Station.  However,  Rooney Lee's brigade stood in his way,  with some troops on Yew Ridge and some dismounted troopers positioned along a stone wall in front.  After sustaining heavy losses,  the Union troops displaced the Confederates from the stone wall.  Then, to the amazement of General Buford's men,  the Confederates began pulling back.  They were reacting to the arrival of General David Gregg's Union cavalry division of about 2,800 men,  which was the second major surprise of the day.


























General David McMurtrie Gregg.


General David Gregg had intended to cross at Kelly's Ford at dawn,  in concert with General John Buford's crossing at Beverly's, but assembling the men from dispersed locations and Duffié's division getting lost on the way cost them two hours.

They had intended to proceed on roads leading directly into Brandy Station, but discovered the way blocked by Robertson's brigade.  General David Gregg found a more circuitous route that was completely unguarded and, following these roads, his lead brigade under Col. Percy Wyndham arrived in Brandy Station about 11 a.m. Between General David Gregg and the St. James battle was a prominent ridge called "Fleetwood Hill", which had been General JEB Stuart's headquarters the previous night.

General JEB Stuart and most of his staff had departed for the front by this time and the only force on Fleetwood when General Gregg arrived was a 6-pounder howitzer, left in the rear because of the lack of adequate ammunition.

General JEB Stuart's adjutant, Major Henry B. McClellan called Lt. John W. Carter and his gun crew (of Captain Robert P. Chew's battery) to ascend to the crest of the hill and go into action with the few shells available.  He sent an urgent request to General JEB Stuart for reinforcements.  Lieutenant Carter's few shots delayed the Union advance as they sent out skirmishers and took time to return cannon fire.

When Col. Percy Wyndham's men charged up the western slope of "Fleetwood Hill" and neared the crest, the lead elements of General William E. Jones's brigade,  which had just withdrawn from St. James Church, rode over the crown. General Gregg's next brigade, led by Judson Kilpatrick, swung around east of "Brandy Station" and attacked up the southern end and the eastern slope of "Fleetwood Hill", only to discover that their appearance coincided with the arrival of Brig. General Wade Hampton's brigade. 






















General John Buford.


A series of confusing charges and counter-charges swept back and forth across the hill.  The Confederates cleared the hill for the final time,  capturing three guns and inflicting 30 casualties among the 36 men of the 6th New York Light Artillery,  which had attempted to give close-range support to the Federal cavalry.  Col. Duffié's small 1,200-man division was delayed by two Confederate regiments in the vicinity of Stevensburg and arrived on the field too late to affect the action.

While General William Jones and Brig. General Wade Hampton withdrew from their initial positions to fight at "Fleetwood Hill",  Rooney Lee continued to confront General John Buford,  falling back to the northern end of the hill.  Reinforced by Fitzhugh Lee's brigade,  Rooney Lee launched a counterattack against General John Buford at the same time as General Pleasonton had called for a general withdrawal near sunset, and the ten-hour battle was over.















The outcome of the battle resulted in a draw for the 20,500 participants.  The South  lost 523 men, while the North’s casualties were 907 (69 killed, 352 wounded, and 486 missing, primarily captured).  General JEB Stuart claimed a victory, due to the fact that he was left in control of the battlefield.   Some historians would agree with this,  but General JEB Stuart was surprised, not only once, but twice during the duration of the battle.  This was the one thing that was not supposed to happen to an army’s cavalry.   The Newspapers in Richmond would begin to criticize General Stuart and his actions, which would still continue through the Gettysburg campaign.  These actions would give the Union cavalry a confidence that they did not possess prior the "Battle of Brady Station".  They now knew that they were able to go head to head with the Confederate horsemen.



















General Alfred Pleasonton.


Major General Alfred Pleasonton would also receive his own share of criticism over the battle.  He was given the order to “dispearse and destroy” the Confederate forces.  General Pleasonton had reported he was only given the order to "reconnaissance in force toward Culpeper,".   Regardless of the order, General Pleasonton was able to match tactical wits with General JEB Stuart.




























General Joe Hooker.


The Army of the Potomac commander Maj. General Joseph Hooker interpreted General JEB Stuart's presence around Culpeper, Virginia to be indicative of preparations for a raid on his army's supply lines.  In reaction to this,  he ordered his cavalry commander,  Maj. General Alfred Pleasonton,  to take a combined arms force of 8,000 cavalrymen and 3,000 infantry on a "spoiling raid" to "disperse and destroy" the 9,500 Confederates.  General Pleasanton's force crossed the Rappahannock in two columns on June 9, 1863,  the first crossing at Beverly's Ford (Brig. General John Buford's division) catching General JEB Stuart by surprise,  waking him and his staff to the sound of gunfire.  The second crossing, at Kelly's Ford,  surprised General JEB Stuart again, and the Confederates found themselves assaulted from front and rear in a spirited melee of mounted combat.

A series of confusing charges and counter charges swept back and forth across "Fleetwood Hill", which had been General JEB Stuart's headquarters the previous night.  After 10 hours of fighting, General Pleasonton ordered his men to withdraw across the Rappahannock.



















JEB Stuart's Hat.



Although Major General JEB Stuart claimed a victory because the Confederates held the field, Brandy Station is considered a tactical draw, and both sides came up short. General Pleasonton was not able to disable General Stuart's force at the start of an important campaign and he withdrew before finding the location of Robert E. Lee's infantry nearby. However, the fact that the Southern cavalry had not detected the movement of two large columns of Union cavalry, and that they fell victim to a surprise attack, was an embarrassment that prompted serious criticism from fellow generals and the Southern press.

The fight also revealed the increased competency of the Union cavalry, and foreshadowed the decline of the formerly invincible Southern mounted arm.







































Following a series of small cavalry battles in June as General Robert E. Lee's army began marching north through the Shenandoah Valley, JRB Stuart may have had in mind the glory of circumnavigating the enemy army once again, desiring to erase the stain on his reputation of the surprise at Brandy Station.  General Lee gave orders to JEB Stuart on June 22 on how he was to participate in the march north, and the exact nature of those orders has been argued by the participants and historians ever since, but the essence was that he was instructed to guard the mountain passes with part of his force while the Army of Northern Virginia was still south of the Potomac and that he was to cross the river with the remainder of the army and screen the right flank of Ewell's Second Corps. Instead of taking a direct route north near the Blue Ridge Mountains.

However, JEB Stuart chose to reach Richard Ewell's flank by taking his three best brigades (those of Brig. General Wade Hampton, Brig. General Fitzhugh Lee, and Col. John R. Chambliss, the latter replacing the wounded Brig. Gen. W.H.F. "Rooney" Lee) between the Union army and Washington, moving north through Rockville to Westminster and on into Pennsylvania, hoping to capture supplies along the way and cause havoc near the enemy capital. JEB Stuart and his three brigades departed Salem Depot at 1 a.m. on June 25.




















Unfortunately for JEB Stuart's plan, the Union army's movement was underway and his proposed route was blocked by columns of Federal infantry, forcing him to veer farther to the east than either he or General Lee had anticipated. This prevented JEB Stuart from linking up with Jubal Anderson Early as ordered and deprived General Lee of the use of his prime cavalry force, the "eyes and ears" of the army, while advancing into unfamiliar enemy territory.
Major General General Stuart's command crossed the Potomac River at 3 a.m. on June 28. At Rockville they captured a wagon train of 140 brand-new, fully loaded wagons and mule teams. This wagon train would prove to be a logistical hindrance to  JEB Stuart's advance, but he interpreted General Lee's orders as placing importance on gathering supplies. The proximity of the Confederate raiders provoked some consternation in the national capital and two Union cavalry brigades and an artillery battery were sent to pursue the Confederates. JEB Stuart supposedly said that were it not for his fatigued horses "he would have marched down the 7th Street Road [and] took Abe and Cabinet prisoners."


























In Westminster on June 29, his men clashed briefly with and overwhelmed two companies of Union cavalry, chasing them a long distance on the Baltimore road, which JEB Stuart claimed caused a "great panic" in the city of Baltimore. The head of Stuart's column encountered Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick's cavalry as it passed through Hanover and scattered it on June 30; the Battle of Hanover ended after Kilpatrick's men regrouped and drove the Confederates out of town. JEB Stuart's brigades had been better positioned to guard their captured wagon train than to take advantage of the encounter with Kilpatrick. After a 20 mile trek in the dark, his exhausted men reached Dover on the morning of July 1, as the Battle of Gettysburg was commencing without them.

 
























Major General JEB Stuart headed next for Carlisle, hoping to find Jubal Anderson Early. He lobbed a few shells into town during the early evening of July 1 and burned the Carlisle Barracks before withdrawing to the south towards Gettysburg.

JEB Stuart  and the bulk of his command reached General Lee at Gettysburg the afternoon of July 2. He ordered Wade Hampton to cover the left rear of the Confederate battle lines, and Hampton fought with Brig. General George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of Hunterstown before joining Stuart at Gettysburg.






When Major General JEB Stuart arrived at Gettysburg on the afternoon of July 2 — bringing with him the caravan of captured Union supply wagons — he received a rare rebuke from General Robert E. Lee. (No one witnessed the private meeting between General Lee and JEB Stuart, but reports circulated at headquarters that Lee's greeting was "abrupt and frosty." Colonel Edward Porter Alexander wrote, "Although Lee said only, 'Well, General, you are here at last,' his manner implied rebuke, and it was so understood by Stuart." 



























Maj. General JEB. Stuart did not arrive at that battle until well into the second day of fighting.


On the final day of the battle, JEB Stuart was ordered to get into the enemy's rear and disrupt its line of communications at the same time Pickett's Charge was sent against the Union positions on Cemetery Ridge, but his attack on East Cavalry Field was repulsed by Union cavalry under Brig. Gens. David Gregg and George Custer.


























JEB Stuart Famed Confederate cavalry leader as he appeared in 1862.


During the retreat from Gettysburg, JEB Stuart devoted his full attention to supporting the army's movement, successfully screening against aggressive Union cavalry pursuit and escorting thousands of wagons with wounded men and captured supplies over difficult roads and through inclement weather. Numerous skirmishes and minor battles occurred during the screening and delaying actions of the retreat. JEB Stuart's men were the final units to cross the Potomac River, returning to Virginia in "wretched condition—completely worn out and broken down."

The Gettysburg Campaign was the most controversial of Captain JEB Stuart's career. He became one of the scapegoats (along with James Longstreet) blamed for General Lee's loss at Gettysburg by proponents of the post-bellum "Lost Cause" movement, such as Jubal Early.  This was fueled in part by opinions of less partisan writers, such as JEB Stuart's subordinate, Thomas L. Rosser, who stated after the war that JEB Stuart did, "on this campaign, undoubtedly, make the fatal blunder which lost us the battle of Gettysburg." 

***

General Lee sent these orders to his cavalry commander, Jeb Stuart, prior to the Gettysburg campaign. They have since become a source of controversy between those who interpret them as giving Stuart leave to ride around the Federal army, and those who claim that Lee's intention was that the cavalry screen and scout ahead of the army as it advanced into Maryland and Pennsylvania

Headquarters Army of Northern Virginia June 23, 1863 - 5 p.m
Maj. Gen. J. E. B. STUART,
Commanding Cavalry:

General,

Your notes of 9 and 10.30 a.m. to-day have just been received. As regards the purchase of tobacco for your men, supposing that Confederate money will not be taken, I am willing for your commissaries or quartermasters to purchase this tobacco and let the men get it from them, but I can have nothing seized by the men.

If General Hooker's army remains inactive, you can leave two brigades to watch him, and withdraw with the three others, but should he not appear to be moving northward, I think you had better withdraw this side of the mountain to-morrow night, cross at Shepherdstown next day, and move over to Fredericktown.

You will, however, be able to judge whether you can pass around their army without hinderance, doing them all the damage you can, and cross the river east of the mountains. In either case, after crossing the river, you must move on and feel the right of Ewell's troops, collecting information, provisions, &c.

Give instructions to the commander of the brigades left behind, to watch the flank and rear of the army, and (in the event of the enemy leaving their front) retire from the mountains west of the Shenandoah, leaving sufficient pickets to guard the passes, and bringing everything clean along the Valley, closing upon the rear of the army.

As regards the movements of the two brigades of the enemy moving toward Warrenton, the commander of the brigades to be left in the mountains must do what he can to counteract them, but I think the sooner you cross into Maryland, after to-morrow, the better.

The movements of Ewell's corps are as stated in my former letter. Hill's first division will reach the Potomac to-day, and Longstreet will follow to-morrow.

Be watchful and circumspect in all your movements.

I am, very respectfully and truly, yours,

R. E. Lee
General.

***

























In General Lee's report on the campaign, he wrote;  "...the absence of the cavalry rendered it impossible to obtain accurate information. ... By the route [Stuart] pursued, the Federal Army was interposed between his command and our main body, preventing any communication with him until his arrival at Carlisle. The march toward Gettysburg was conducted more slowly than it would have been had the movements of the Federal Army been known."






















One of the most forceful defenses of Captain JEB Stuart was by Col. John S. Mosby, who had served under him during the campaign and was fiercely loyal to the late general, writing,  "He made me all that I was in the war. ...  But for his friendship I would never have been heard of."  He wrote numerous articles for popular publications and published a book length treatise in 1908, a work that relied on his skills as a lawyer to refute categorically all of the claims laid against JEB Stuart.

Modern scholarship remains divided on JEB Stuart's culpability. Edward G. Longacre argues that General Lee deliberately gave JEB Stuart wide discretion in his orders and had no complaints about JEB Stuart's tardy arrival at Gettysburg, because he established no date by which the cavalry was required to link up with Jubal Anderson Early.  The 3½ brigades of cavalry left with the main army were adequate for General Lee to negotiate enemy territory safely and that his choice not to use these brigades effectively cannot be blamed on JEB Stuart.

Edwin B. Coddington refers to the "tragedy" of JEB Stuart in the Gettysburg Campaign and judges that when Fitzhugh Lee raised the question of  "whether Stuart exercised the discretion undoubtedly given to him, judiciously," the answer is no. Nevertheless, replying to historians who maintain that JEB Stuart's absence permitted Robert E. Lee to be surprised at Gettysburg,   Coddington points out that the Union commander, Maj. General George Meade,  was just as surprised, and the initial advantage lay with General Lee.

Eric J. Wittenberg and J. David Petruzzi have concluded that there was "plenty of blame to go around" and the fault should be divided between JEB Stuart, the lack of specificity in General Lee's orders, and Richard S. Ewell, who might have tried harder to link up with JEB Stuart northeast of Gettysburg.

Jeffry D. Wert acknowledges that General Lee, his officers, and fighting by the Army of the Potomac bear the responsibility for the Confederate loss at Gettysburg, but states that "Stuart failed Lee and the army in the reckoning at Gettysburg. ... Lee trusted him and gave him discretion, but Stuart acted injudiciously."

Although JEB Stuart was not reprimanded or disciplined in any official way for his role in the Gettysburg campaign, it is noteworthy that his appointment to corps command on September 9, 1863, did not carry with it a promotion to lieutenant general. Edward Bonekemper wrote that since all other corps commanders in the Army of Northern Virginia carried this rank, Robert E. Lee's decision to keep JEB Stuart at major general rank,  while at the same time promoting Stuart's subordinates Wade Hampton and Fitzhugh Lee to major generals,  could be considered an implied rebuke.  Jeffry D. Wert wrote that there is no evidence Robrt E. Lee considered JEB Stuart's performance during the Gettysburg Campaign and that it is "more likely that General Lee thought the responsibilities in command of a cavalry corps did not equal those of an infantry corps."


























General Robert E. Lee reorganized his cavalry on September 9, creating a Cavalry Corps for JEB Stuart with two divisions of three brigades each.  In the Bristoe Campaign, JEB Stuart was assigned to lead a broad turning movement in an attempt to get into the enemy's rear,  but General Meade skillfully withdrew his army without leaving opportunities to take advantage. On October 13,  JEB Stuart blundered into the rear guard of the Union III Corps near Warrenton. Ewell's corps was sent to rescue him,  but JEB Stuart hid his troopers in a wooded ravine until the unsuspecting III Corps moved on, and the assistance was not necessary. As General Meade withdrew towards Manassas Junction,  brigades from the Union II Corps fought a rearguard action against JEB Stuart's cavalry and the infantry of Brig. Genral Harry Hays's division near Auburn on October 14.

General JEB Stuart's cavalry boldly bluffed Warren's infantry and escaped disaster.  After the Confederate repulse at Bristoe Station and an aborted advance on Centreville,  General Stuart's cavalry shielded the withdrawal of Robert E. Lee's army from the vicinity of Manassas Junction.



























Hugh Judson Kilpatrick.



General Judson Kilpatrick's Union cavalry pursued JEB Stuart's cavalry along the Warrenton Turnpike but were lured into an ambush near Chestnut Hill and routed.  The Union troopers were scattered and chased five miles that came to be known as the "Buckland Races".   The Southern press began to curb its criticism of JEB Stuart following his successful performance during the fall campaign.


























General U. S. Grant.



The "Overland Campaign", Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant's offensive against General Robert E. Lee in the spring of 1864, began at the Battle of the Wilderness. It was there that General JEB Stuart aggressively pushed Thomas L. Rosser's Laurel Brigade into a fight against George Custer's better-armed Michigan Brigade. That battle resulted in significant losses.  General Lee sent a message to General JEB Stuart: "It is very important to save your Cavalry and not wear it out. ... You must use your good judgment to make any attack which may offer advantages." 



























Major General Joseph B. Kershaw.


As the armies maneuvered toward their next confrontation at Spotsylvania Court House, JEB Stuart's cavalry fought delaying actions against the Union cavalry. His defense at Laurel Hill, also directing the infantry of Brig. General Joseph B. Kershaw, skillfully delayed the advance of the Federal army for nearly 5 critical hours.


























 General George Gordon Meade.


The commander of the Army of the Potomac, Major General George Meade, and his cavalry commander, Major General Philip Sheridan, quarreled about the Union cavalry's performance in the first two engagements of the Overland Campaign. Sheridan heatedly asserted that he wanted to "concentrate all of cavalry, move out in force against General JEB Stuart's command, and whip it."

Major General George Meade reported the comments to General U. S. Grant, who replied "Did Sheridan say that? Well, he generally knows what he is talking about. Let him start right out and do it."

General Meade wrote an order directing General philip Sheridan to concentrate his command, stockpile three days' rations and an appropriate amount of forage, cut loose from the army, detour eastward around Spotsylvania, and head for Haxall's Landing. At that supply base, 50-some miles to the south, Sheridan was to link with Major General Benjamin F. Butler's Army of the James, which was operating directly against Richmond. There, the cavalry would refit prior to rejoining its own command.

The operation, which the enemy undoubtedly would interpret as a raid on Richmond, was principally an effort to draw General JEB Stuart and his men into the open for a fight to the finish.


























Phil Sheridan immediately organized a raid against Confederate supply and railroad lines close to Richmond, which he knew would bring JEB Stuart to battle.

General Philip Sheridan moved aggressively to the southeast, crossing the North Anna River and seizing Beaver Dam Station on the Virginia Central Railroad, where his men liberated a train carrying 3,000 Union prisoners and destroyed more than one million rations and medical supplies destined for General Lee's army.






















General JEB Stuart dispatched a force of about 3,000 cavalrymen to intercept Philip Sheridan's cavalry, which was more than three times their numbers.  As he rode in pursuit, accompanied by his aide,  Major Andrew R. Venable,  they were able to stop briefly along the way to be greeted by JEB Stuart's wife,  Flora, and his children,  Jimmie and Virginia.  Major Venable wrote of General Stuart,  "He told me he never expected to live through the war,  and that if we were conquered, that he did not want to live."



























The battle of Yellow Tavern was fought on this part of what would later become US Route 1.
























The Battle of Yellow Tavern occurred May 11, at an abandoned inn located six miles north of Richmond.


























 Inscription. Just south of here on Brook Road (present-day U.S. Route 1) is the site of Yellow Tavern. North of the tavern, on 11 May 1864, Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart deployed his Confederate cavalry to confront Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan's Union cavalry as it advanced on Richmond. It was during this engagement that Stuart was mortally wounded. Because of the proximity of the engagement to the tavern, it was officially called the Battle of Yellow Tavern.

Erected 1994 by Department of Historic Resources. (Marker Number E 7.)


The Confederate troopers resisted the Union forces from the low ridgeline bordering the road to Richmond, fighting for over three hours. A counter-charge by the 1st Virginia Cavalry pushed the advancing Union troopers back from the hilltop as JEB Stuart, on horseback, shouted encouragement while firing his revolver at the Union troopers.

As the 5th Michigan Cavalry streamed in retreat past JEB Stuart,  a dismounted Union private,  48 year old John A. Huff, turned and shot JEB Stuart with his .44-caliber revolver from a distance of 10 to 30 yards.

Private Huff's bullet struck Major General Stuart in the left side.  It then sliced through his stomach and exited his back,  1 inch to the right of his spine.  JEB Stuart suffered great pain as they took him into Richmond on Grace Street, t o await his wife's arrival at the home of  Dr. Charles Brewer,  who happened to be his brother in law.

















Near a major Richmond area shopping center and the J.E.B. Stuart parkway stands this monument, in a Henrico County residential area, marking the location where JEB. Stuart was mortally wounded.






























































General JEB Stuart ordered that his sword and spurs be given to his son. 

His last whispered words were: "I am resigned; God's will be done." He died at 7:38 p.m. on May 12, the following day.  Flora and their two children made it to his side at 11:30 P.M., - she knew by the silence that had invaded the house, that her husband was dead.

























General JEB Stuart's Grave.


Major General James Ewell Brown Stuart was 31 years old. He was buried the next day at five in the afternoon. Eight general officers of the Confederacy carried JEB Stuart's coffin at Saint James' Church. The funeral procession traveled through a steady rain to Hollywood Cemetery where Captain Stuart was laid to rest.

Upon learning of General  JEB Stuart's death, General Lee is reported to have said that he could hardly keep from weeping at the mere mention of Stuart's name and that JEB Stuart had "never given him a bad piece of information." The Confederate Army regarded his loss as almost as heavy a blow to the Confederate cause as that of General Stonewall Jackson.


























Flora Stuart would wear the black of mourning for the remainder of her life, and never remarried. She lived in Saltville, Virginia, for 15 years after the war, where she opened and taught at a school in a log cabin.


















King-Stuart House Today


In 1856, William A. Stuart, brother of Confederate hero J.E.B Stuart, purchased the property. After J.E.B. Stuart's death, his widow, Flora, moved into this home with her two small children, where she taught school. Flora later moved to Staunton, VA, and became head of Stuart Hall, an Episcopal school for girls. The structure is locally known as the King-Stuart House.

The cabin was occupied from its beginning (circa 1795) through the 1960s. See the many visible indicators of the numerous transitional modernization periods the cabin has experienced. The original builders of the cabin probably never envisioned the cabins life expectancy

She worked from 1880 to 1898 as principal of the Virginia Female Institute in Staunton, Virginia, a position for which Robert E. Lee had recommended her. In 1907. The Institute was renamed Stuart Hall School in her honor.  Upon the death of her daughter Virginia, from complications in childbirth in 1898,  Flora resigned from the Institute and moved to Norfolk, Virginia, where she helped Virginia's widower, Robert Page Waller, in raising her grandchildren. Flora Stuart died in Norfolk on May 10, 1923, after striking her head in a fall on a city sidewalk.  





















































Flora Cooke Stuart is buried alongside her husband and their daughter, Little Flora, in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond.












































 Like his close friend, Stonewall Jackson, Major General JEB Stuart was a legendary figure and is considered one of the greatest cavalry commanders in American history.


























General Stuart's friend and West Point classmate, Union Maj. General John Sedgwick said that JEB Stuart was "the greatest cavalry officer ever foaled in America."




























James Ewell Brown Stuart Stuart was a cavalry commander known for his mastery of reconnaissance and the use of cavalry in support of offensive operations.  Even though he cultivated a cavalier image (red-lined gray cape,  yellow sash,  hat cocked to the side with a ostrich plume,  red flower in his lapel,  often sporting cologne),  his serious work made him the trusted eyes and ears of Robert E. Lee's army and inspired the Southern morale under very trying times..

Jeffry D. Wert wrote about Major General Stuart: "Stuart had been the Confederacy's knight-errant, the bold and dashing cavalier, attired in a resplendent uniform, plumed hat, and cape. Amid a slaughterhouse, he had embodied chivalry, clinging to the pageantry of a long-gone warrior. He crafted the image carefully, and the image befitted him. He saw himself as the Southern people envisaged him. They needed a knight; he needed to be that knight".

Major General James Ewell Brown Stuart was the Grand Cavalier of the Confederacy.








































J.E.B. Stuart statue on Monument Avenue, Richmond.


A statue of General JEB Stuart by sculptor Frederick Moynihan was dedicated on Richmond's famed Monument Avenue at Stuart Circle in 1907. Like General Stonewall Jackson, his equestrian statue faces north, indicating that he died in the war. In 1884 the town of Taylorsville, Virginia, was renamed Stuart. The British Army named two models of American-made World War II tanks, the M3 and M5, the Stuart tank in General Stuart's honor. A high school in Falls Church, Virginia and a middle school in Jacksonville, Florida are named for him.


























In December 2006, a personal Confederate battle flag, sewn by Flora Stuart, was sold in a Heritage Auction for a world record price for any Confederate flag, for $956,000 (including buyer's premium).  The 34-inch by 34-inch flag was hand sewn for JEB Stuart by Flora in 1862 and General Stuart carried it into some of his most famous battles. However, in December of that year it fell from a tent front into a campfire and was damaged. General Stuart returned it to his wife with a letter describing the accident and telling of his despondency over the banner's damage.  The flag remained with the Stuart family until 1969 when it was given to Stuart Hall, Staunton, Virginia, by a granddaughter of the Confederate general. The school quietly sold the flag and letter to a private collector in 2000. In 2006, the flag and letter, which had been displayed in a single frame in the Stuart Hall front parlor, were sold separately at auction.




















Major General JEB Stuart's birthplace, Laurel Hill, located in Patrick County, Virginia, was purchased by the J.E.B. Stuart Birthplace Preservation Trust, Inc., in 1992 to preserve and interpret it.