Jeb Stuart

Jeb Stuart (1833-1882) was a Confederate general in the War of Secession and the Second Mexican War.

James Ewell Brown Stuart was born at Laurel Hill, a plantation in Patrick County, Virginia on the dividing line between the piedmont and the mountains and within sight of the boundary line of North Carolina and Virginia. His father, Archibald Stuart, was a prominent politician and attorney and represented Patrick County in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly and served one term in the United States House of Representatives. Elizabeth Stuart, his mother, was known as a strict religious woman with a great love of nature. Both traits could be seen in the personality of their most famous offspring. He was the 7th of 10 children, and the youngest son. James Stuart passed a happy boyhood. He loved the old homestead with all the enthusiasm of his nature; and one of the fondest dreams of his manhood was that he might own the place of his birth, and there end his days in quiet retirement. An encounter with hornets when he was 10 years old gave an indication of the courage he later showed as a general. As recalled by his older brother, William Alexander Stuart, who fled, young Jeb narrowed his eyes against the angry insects and with a stick dashed the hornets' nest to the ground.

At the age of fourteen years, young James was placed at school in Wytheville. He attended Emory and Henry College from 1848 to 1850. On July 1st, 1850, Stuart entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, during the time that Robert E. Lee was Commandant of the Academy. A diligent, hard-working man, he graduated 13th in his class of 46 in 1854. He achieved the rank of cavalry sergeant, the highest rank attainable for these cadets.

In 1854, Second Lieutenant Stuart's first assignment was to the regiment of Mounted Rifleman in Texas. For his outstanding leadership, he was soon transferred to and promoted in the newly formed 1st Regiment, US Cavalry. Stuart's ability to lead men in the face of danger and adversity struck his commanders. He became a veteran of Indian fighting on the plains and of Bleeding Kansas. Stuart was seriously wounded in the chest in July, 1857, while fighting on the frontier against Native Americans. In 1859, Stuart carried the orders for Colonel Robert E. Lee to proceed to Harpers Ferry to crush John Brown's raid on the U.S. Arsenal there. During the siege, Stuart volunteered to be Lee's aide-de-camp, and read the ultimatum to Brown before the final assault.

He was promoted to captain on April 22, 1861, but resigned from the US Army on May 14, 1861 to join the Confederate Army following the secession of his home state of Virginia.

He rose through the ranks of the Confederate cavalry quickly, becoming commander of all the cavalry forces of the Army of Northern Virginia, a role in which he reported directly to Lee. He had an excellent working relationship with Thomas Jackson and a somewhat chillier one with James Longstreet. Best known as a raider--his "Ride Around McClellan, in which he literally rode rings around the Army of the Potomac, is the stuff of legend--he excelled in all the skills of a Confederate commander, including reconnaissance and screening. These skills proved invaluable to his army during the Camp Hill campaign in the fall of 1862.

Following the War of Secession, Stuart remained in the Army, ascending to command of the Trans-Mississippi District. In this capacity, he commanded troops formally taking possession of the states of Chihuahua and Sonora from Mexico in 1881.

In the Second Mexican War, Stuart led a small army in his district which was allied with Apache warriors led by Geronimo. He won major victories over his US opponents in that war through ingenius tactical manuevers and improvisations. He also mediated a conflict between his Apache allies and the new Confederate citizens of the Mexican states. He offended Geronimo, who led a rebellion against the Confederates immediately following the end of the war. Stuart was mortally wounded in battle with the Apache.

Stuart became a legend in Confederate history, and, like most War of Secession generals, his descendants prospered in the nepotistic Old South. His son, Jeb Stuart Jr., a capable soldier in his own right, would ultimately make general's rank. His grandson, Jeb Stuart III, was on his way to joining the family firm during the Great War, but his interference with Clarence Potter's investigation of the Red Rebellion derailed his career and contributed to his death.

Jake Featherston, who served with Jeb III during the Great War, had run-ins with both Stuart's son and grandson. They were villified by the Freedom Party, and Jeb Stuart himself saw his reputation suffer when the Freedom Party became the Confederacy's dominant political party beginning in 1933.