Chapter I: Preface

Some years ago, to fill what appeared to me a need in our literature for children, I made a study of the lives and campaigns of General R. E. Lee and of General Stonewall Jackson and prepared, for very young readers, histories of those great commanders.

In performing these tasks, I became interested in the combats and maneuvers of General Lee’s chief of cavalry, Major-General J. E. B. Stuart, who has been justly called “the eyes and ears of Lee.” As the years go by, I find no book in print recounting to children his wonderful feats and valorous service, or explaining to them the part played in the battles of Lee and Jackson by the Stuart Cavalry Corps and Horse Artillery whose exploits hold a brilliant place in modern military tactics.

To make good this omission, I have prepared this little life of Stuart, in the hope that it will not only pass on the story of military deeds as captivating as any in history, but warm the hearts of rising generations to lives of courage and devotion.

In the later stages of my work, Miss Evelina O. Wiggins has been associated, contributing various materials, obtaining three pictures and several interesting letters of General Stuart’s, and making available Mrs. J. E. B. Stuart’s criticism of the manuscript. Miss Wiggins has also rendered the aid of adapting the book to the practical needs of the schoolroom. Her experience and position as a teacher make the latter service highly valuable.

MARY LYNN WILLIAMSON

New Market, Virginia
September 1, 1914

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The publishers wish to acknowledge their obligations to Mrs. H. B. McClellan for permission to use material from her husband’s book, _Life and Campaigns of General J. E. B. Stuart_; to General T. T. Munford and to Judge Theodore S. Garnett for information and pictures; to Mr. J. E. B. Stuart and the Confederate Museum, Richmond, Va., for permission to make photographic copies of the personal relics of General Stuart in the Museum; and to Mrs. J. E. B. Stuart for the ambrotype and letters of General Stuart which she allowed to be copied for use in this book and for the invaluable aid of her careful critical reading of the manuscript.

CONTENTS

Chapter Page
Preface 3
List of Maps and Illustrations 6
List of Books 8
Introduction 9
I Youthful Days 13
II A Lieutenant in the United States Cavalry 22
III A Colonel of Confederate Cavalry 34
IV A Brigadier General: The Peninsular Campaign and the
Chickahominy Raid 44
V A Major General: Camp Life and the Second Battle of Manassas 68
VI The Maryland Campaign 80
VII The Chambersburg Raid 94
VIII The Cavalry at Culpeper and Fredericksburg 109
IX Chancellorsville 124
X The Battle of Brandy Station 139
XI The Gettysburg Campaign 151
XII Final Campaigns and Death 167
XIII Some Tributes to Stuart 191
Suggestive Questions 203
The Organization of an Army 210
Word List 211

LIST OF MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE
General Stuart in 1854 _Frontispiece_
Ruins of Liberty Hall Academy 14
Emory and Henry College about 1850 17
J. E. B. Stuart when a Student at West Point 19
Badge of West Point Graduates 20
Carrying the Gun down the ‘Mulepath’ 23
Indians of the Plains 29
Arsenal at Harper’s Ferry 31
Picketed Cavalry Horse 41
Stuart’s Gauntlets 44
Stuart’s Cavalry Boots 45
Map of the Chickahominy Raid 53
The Burial of Latané 55
The Chickahominy River 58
Ruins of Railroad Bridge across Pamunkey River 63
Facsimile of Page of Letter from General Stuart to his Wife 72
Catlett’s Station 74
Major Heros Von Borcke 82
Map Showing the Routes of Stuart’s Cavalry in Gettysburg
Campaign and Chambersburg Raid 95
Stuart’s Sword 98
Stuart’s Pistol 99
Stuart’s Carbine 99
General Stuart in 1862 107
Major John Pelham 110
Confederates Destroying Railroad 119
Federals Repairing Railroad which Confederates had Destroyed 121
A Pontoon Bridge 128
General Stonewall Jackson 135
Map of Battle of Brandy Station 143
The Battle of Brandy Station 145
A Federal Wagon Park 155
The Toll of War 160
The House in which Stuart died 186
Monument in Hollywood 196
Monument at Yellow Tavern 198
Stuart Statue, Richmond 201

LIST OF BOOKS
For Reference and Teachers’ Use

H. B. McClellan: _Life and Campaigns of General J. E. B. Stuart_
Heros Von Borcke: _Memoirs of the War for Confederate Independence_
John S. Mosby: _Campaigns of Stuart’s Cavalry_
George M. Neese: _Three Years in the Confederate Horse Artillery_
Theodore S. Garnett: _Major-General J. E. B. Stuart_
G. F. R. Henderson: _Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War_
Gamaliel Bradford: _Confederate Portraits_
John Esten Cooke: _Surry of Eagle’s Nest_
J. William Jones: _Christ in the Camp, or Religion in Lee’s Army_
Southern Historical Society Papers,—
Vol. 1, pp. 99-103; Address by Fitzhugh Lee
Vol. 8, pp. 434-’56; Character Sketch by H. B. McClellan
Vol. 37, pp. 210-’31; Stuart at Gettysburg by R. H. McKim
See also other articles on Stuart in the Southern Historical Papers.