Wednesday, August 19, 2009

JEB STUART



James Ewell Brown was born on February 6 1833, to Laura and Archibald Stuart at Laurel Hill Farm the family plantation. James was the fifth of eleven children he was the youngest son and the oldest son to survive childhood.
James received an appointment to West Point in 1850. He was a very popular student at the United States Military Academy at West point. He was nicknamed "beauty" by his classmates who sarcastically called him this because he was very homely looking during his time at West Point. After graduation he grew a beard and it was said about him that was "The only man made better by a beard." In 1852 Robert E Lee became the superintendent of West Point, he soon became close friends of the Lee family. Stuart graduated 13th in his class.
After graduation he was given the rank of Brevet Second Lieutenant in the US Cavalry where he served during the Indian Wars and during the bleeding Kansas debacle.
Stuart was the man assigned to carry the orders to Colonel Lee telling him that he was to capture John Brown. JEB Stuart as he had come to be known by his friends volunteered to be an aid-de- camp and distinguished himself by offering Brown his ultimatum.
After his home state of Virginia seceded JEB resigned his commision in the US Army to serve his new country the Confederacy in the Cavalry. He served in the cavalry as a Lieutenent Colonel. He was promoted to Brigadier General on September 24 1861. JEB was in almost all the major campaigns and battles that the Army of Northern Virginia was in from the Peninsula to the Wilderness.
He was appointed commander of the Cavalry in the Army of Northern Virginia on August 17, 1862. He held this position until he was wounded at the Battle of Yellow Tavern in 1864. He was moved to Richmond after he was wounded and he stayed there till his wife and children arrived. Soon after their arrival he died on May 12 1864 at 7:38 P.M, one day after his wounding which was a pistol shot in the stomach. Charles Veneble an aide to General Lee said that Stuart told him " He never expected to live through the war and if they were conqured he didn't want to live"
The 31 year old General JEB Stuart was buried in Hollywood Cemetary in Richmond Virginia. He left a great legacy he has two high schools named after him and a statue built for him in Richmond along with the other statues other famous Confederate Generals. There is also a tank named after him the M3 Stuart tank. He also has a memorial placed over the graves of himself and his wife Flora. JEB Stuart was one of the most famous Cavalrymen in the Civil War and one of the most beloved Confederate Generals.
The Memorial Placed over JEB Stuart's grave

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