| Show r f II Beau Sab S ab abu abI row of u I Blue and of Gra f fa A a rv re r a v e Y rR n Jt J 11 t t v L Y d. d r s General J J. J JEB E E. E B. B t Stua Custe The Boy Geneva General Generals Generals' IJ 1 Dy ELMO SCOTT WATSON T WAS Just years ago ItO on February Feb nary 0 6 1833 1633 that James l Kwell Ewell well Brown I Stuart was born In Patrick county Virginia Taken alone that statement Is a mere biographical detail with little special 1 meaning But Hut for the time name James Ewell Brown Stuart substitute Gen Oen Jeb Jeh Stuart of the Confederate army arIl army and ond what pictures s of one of the most romantic n figures In American history are conjured up by that name Consider for Instance these theRe words word by a recent recent re re- cent biographer biographer Capt John V. W. Thomason Jr of the United States marine corp l i In his Jeb Stuart published by a Jeb Stuart tilled filled the eye eje lie Ill was strong and nn ruddy and In late 1 commissioned major 1 general In hI the Confederate army with a II year and n a few months left lert to It live 1 he hI WR was Just under under un un- der dr thirty He Ill hall bad a dark brown flaring t heard Una Wille Him l In the sun He lie was 6 5 feet 11 Inches lull tall and ho he rode rOlle at nt Ii pounds lie Me was largo large boned long In the erns and 11 the legs and short In the tho body mad Ill he looked best on a horse borse lie He hud had a n blur blue and merry eye JI which turned dark and piercing when hen tint hat tie warned him or hi his temper lemper Ills nose was chiseled anti ho tine kind of nose Napoleon admired nIl III I In generals Also there lucre was ns un an elegance about him Ho lie wore ore gauntlets wf t White In and rode 1011 In Ina Ina a ft gray shell in jacket cicet double breasted buttoned back tk to show a n close gray 1 vest lit Ill Ills sword rI n a light French saber fahe tor for fr he hI never carried In the on Con Confederate a federate army the Ihl United States sword 1 of the old service service lII was belted belled over n It cavalry cn sash lash of golden silk Ilk with I tinseled ends i Ills tits gray horseman's I cloak was lined with scarlet his wife elfe made It nil General Leo Iee he hI wrote I her ad admired It and he hI deplored to her the bullet hut bul let It which I whipped I awny nl Its fur far collar at nl Ired 1111 II rk Ills horse furniture imd equipment were Ill polished leather and bright metal and ami he liked to In wear near n II 11 red 1 rose In bis hlll Jacket when I the roses rosl's n II lo of red rl ribbon hon when Y J. J louvers flowers were out of season j j Ills His soft lort fawn colored hat hilI was I looped up lip upon upon ii iu on the Ihl right with n a gold star and adorned with fi a ft curling ostrich feather Ills boots sported little m knightly spurs slurs of or gold In tattles ladles III lS even In f pw those w who I ho never 11 saw him In their lives ls sent I him such things II He went Wen nil all gulland gull gold and glitter In III the front of great 1 battles suit In n II hundred little nitle I c lights which killed 4 men just as all lend dead as Oil lie Ho wore I out his its horses and lie he wore 1 out his i men He lie n rode h de hIlt big animals of f the hunter tj type 11 e f blood hIs hI's s with Murk mirk lint points for choice II and nil r hl his brother Will III III Alexander Was kept klIt on a 1 the lookout for fix such mounts Admirers e gave gaveR R him boras bora's splendid blooded creatures like ilkI Stary Star y 1 y i of or the East lIlt from frum n 11 and ami Skylark Sk k rk ll from t r none of theta them lusted lasted long Inn under lIr the service ser he hI exacted lIp lie was I a social type ln 10 loving lining people l' l laughing tt efi much and anI lending leading out not In song lIon for fr he be had a n tAt rich and golden voice rakes lie III was fond fend of charades and anI wrote rol execrable poetry and affected ana nna t grams rams There was WI never lIe any sadness where he tit was I Ahll AhlI tell tIll you Jou one tIng says ays Oen- Oen j oral eral Iet Lees Lee's old camp ser sen r tint after the war nr It nick mek no how quiet our ac lIz I think General 8 11 headquarters were usually quiet quiet- widin ten III minutes I 1111 u uv da de time ride up UJ to visit us everybody every 1 1 bl boil body would be tie a lalUn And Ahll tell you JOIl another ant an an- t t other thing soh win Stunt wui uz de 11 only one of dent dem bl big Ih did tech a Ii drape I Ij j And I IA's ee says coming mating out nut of his tent to the tho where here the young joung of his start staff and some snore of the Ihl old ones oril'S too tau sat lint singing with I Stuart anti a lur large stone jug JUl such as ItS apple applejack It jack 1 sat 11 on In a n stone hlll G nut an I tn to thank w Stuart or the Ih Jug for this tine The 1 Is close PIn to 10 the fIl point mini like Ilk everything every 14 j thing ice Iee says Stuart was us a n strong stimulant to all ull w who hn hn In of his soul not n a stimulus Ju lus that died dred out ut sad and let A you on down n tw t lie Ile withered gathered to 10 himself a n train of oddities When the IIiI cavalry 1 commands were forming funning Into I regiment at III the Ih opening of the warm he hI rate ame ti upon I n Joseph MIh h Sweetly Swi ny a follow fellow apt upon the Ihl P han han- Jo furnished with Guth nil all the IIII time tams who sprung sprang to arms arias from n a iii tr ni e electing ItI to serve sere mounted 8 Sweeny was tit III once detailed d to the thel ua l I II t I 1 J f J Jj j 1 GENERAL cENER I. I J CE ARMSTRONG CUSTER i 1 80 r. r a ty OHIo ga i i j N 1831 i ij 0 j t r ON THE A M HO y w lITTLE r rr r t. t tO tt U H r I i Ir dr i v i A AM O t r t. t t nr 3 i a Custer Statue in New Rum Rumley Ohio escort lord and where I Stuart went h he wj-nt wj with his banjo anti and his bis ditties The Tit I by of Virginia heard old 11 Joyous snatches ringing above 1 the thudding ing of the IIII horses horses' hoofs Small mall country towns lawns awoke awake at nt night nl mill amid the girls turned out In III their stored finery for far Impromptu lances dances where Sweeny's banjo pitched the measure and Jeb Stuart Zed led the rout Hut If It chanced to 10 be I Saturday night everything stopped at lit t 1 12 o'clock Jeb Jeh Stuart had l serious Ideas about Sunday Th Theatrical ns as Jeb Jeh Stuart was vas he was much more He Ile was I n II truly great grent Of him General Lee Iee once said lie III never ne sent IIII me n piece of false Information and In III Civil war days military leaders bud hod to depend upon their cavalry for fur Information and Information lion tion was I mull all As s an commander of the horsemen 11 In gray Iray Jeb Jeh lII he hl never n says nn Jo fla on He lie says lime Anne on nn they used to remark re re- mark nark he hI led them In some saute of the wildest caval caval- cavalry cavalry ry cacti escapades mu ties of the an r. r Of his bis right to 10 n II plat place limon among the great lal American Amer lean ican en cavalry Ulry leaders another her lust historian Joseph II In Swords S and Hoses has said He was waa u horn born an Ideal lender leader of en cavalry clI Ills perceptions there were faultless he hI was never nl known knowli to III make II a tactical error Ills plans 1 were acre ere formed 1 I Instantly 1111 with no more than a al l single sweeping 11 1 view Ito of If a n 11 complicated ka I battle hauie- field At AI II times hawe however lumer r nothing but hul hl ids bis l unconquerable I resolution n u rid cold ti desperation sit sa saved veil hi him mum from destruction 1 General Corral I St Stuart was ns often eften forced to depend upon slum hat but he h. preferred pure pare cavalry lighting fighting buthot hut but when hot his hi men were ii dismounted In skirmishes he remained u 11 stubbornly beside theta them buoyant w with encouragement and nud songs Ills great grul ability was ins In ra raiding 1111 II In rapid tin flank uk iii movements charging nod fa Gelling falling III II hark bark with horse horI Ills extraordinary energy was practically Inexhaustible Stuart almost t never slept He Ile needed I. It seemed lit little tic If sty any rest On the night of If the Ihl Fecund haute hattle of nf lie hI gave e com comprehensible orders when he was n hII After days liis anti nights without Interruption In time the saddle saul sad die dle be hI would stop h by tiny roadside and lie III down n 8 safe fl or In the Ihl enemy's country without pickets or He III did this at lit Carlisle Ia 11 wrapped I In his cloak he be rl rested for nn an hour against a tree 1111 and then lie ht remounted completely re re- freshen Through moments of extreme peril he helIat sat lIat with n nil leg thrown over o the Ihl pommel 11 of his 1111 saddle addle drumming with his lingers fingers on a 1 knee He Ile was often begged not to expose himself so recklessly be hr must lI It was pointed l out be hI killed but bul his Invariable response was that he hp reckoned reck not Ills ls life did 1111 appear to 10 be lip charmed he ht lived untouched in a II rain of shell canister hr round shot and bullet bullets until be tune was hit fatally at Rt Yellow Tel Yel low Ta Tavern ern Ill He II died It'd happily nt III the moment of his hla greatest greatest great great- est t Ilor glory glary at III the till lust last glorious moment of the Confederacy he hI suffered 1 none of tit the Ignominy the poverty und and sadness of defeat Fur For that thaI reason rea ren sort son he lit wa was the most satisfactory the most wholly romantic soldier of the th Civil war Noth Nothing In tag ing about him nothing In his career was disappointing Ills dis appointing It was nil III handsome all Ingratiating like ilkI its his yellow lIow sash with Ith Its graceful fringed gads ends No Nn io more a Taps could lOul be sounded for this Beau of the Gray OrllY than thaD by a fellow lighting man Captain Thomason who writes 1111 All 11 his life he was fortunate It was given him to 10 toll greatly and to enjoy greatly tp to taste no little fame from frow the works of Ids hIs hands 1 J Jr r r r Is j Colonel Colone 1st Virginia ia Ce u Caval 1861 DRAWING JOH W. W and anti to 10 drink the time best of the cup of living Ina 11 died while there was still a thread of hope for victory He lie was IS spared the grinding agony of ot the till nine months' months siege the bleak months that brought calm culminating minting disasters and the laying down of the swords at III Appomattox He lie took his death wound In the front of battle as ns he want wanted ed Id It lt It and he lie was granted some brief hours to press the hands lands of men mn who loved him and to arrange e himself In order to 10 report rl before beCore the God Cot of Matties he be served sl Almost lt us liS romantic und and exotic a n figure as os Stuart was another joung young cavalry genera general gen gen- In era eral 1 on the other side of the lines Jen George Armstrong ell Cluster JuMer the Blau Benu of the Blue nIue There was a n striking similarity between the time personalities per of the Ihl two 1110 men nun mind the parallelism persists down to their similar manner of dying The recent unveiling of a II monument to Custer In to his home town In Ohio has served to recall the picturesque figure ure whose career In the Civil war would have Ilu been enough to 10 win 1 him enduring enduring endur ing In fare fame even If it his tragic death In the must most widely known n Indian battle hattle In American history had hal not lIot imperishably preserved ld hI bis name nacre In the of his countrymen Stuart was not quite thirty when he became a major general aster uster was a n brigadier general brigadier ge at twenty three and a II major general at lit twenty twenty- four hence the time sobriquet t of nf The Roy Hoy General attached to him Wei Hut But to 10 hll men he was Old td Curly because be hl let IN hl his yellow Illow ellow curly hair hall grow V long on and sweep his hili shoulders Of or the achievements of aster and his caval clI cavalrymen durin during the Ihl h II war his fare farewell Well address to the Ih Third l dl lon tells the Ihl story The Fie record record rec rem ord established by hy your jour Indomitable courage Is unparalleled In III the annals of war Your prowess has won for you yon 1 even the Ihl respect and und admiration admira tion of your enemies hiring the pa pant t 1 six sla months although In Im most t cases confronted l by hJ an superior i numbers you have lm captured from the enemy In open hilt battle hatlie tie pieces p of Held artillery n. n lS battle bat tie tle flags and ami upwards of prisoners of war Including seven general Within the past ten days and Included In time the I you have captured 40 field pieces of artillery and 37 battle bat tie tle flags You rou have never lost a ma gun never nl lost lust a color and you have hafe never been hlIn defeated and amid notwithstanding notwithstanding standing the numerous engagements In which you have hate borne a prominent part Including those memorable battles of the till Shenandoah you have captured piece of which every ery artillery the e en en- envy emy has hns dared tn to open upon you And now now sK for myself alone when the war wor Is ended and the Ihl ta task k of the historian begins Ins when the these e deeds of daring which have e rendered the name and fame of the Third Caval Cavan Cavalry ry division Imperishable ure are Inscribed upon th the e bright pages urges of our country's history I only ask that my name be he written as that of th the e commander of the Third Cavalry division Hut But how bow differently his mime was to he written writ tent ten I Tor 01 as liS Frazier Fr Hunt In his biography hh Cu Cuter Custer Cus s ter the Ihl Last of the time t l u I has hns said T To 0 time the millions of plain Americans he Is remembered beret not as us the commander of a dashing an and d I victorious division of or cavalry that p prisoners und and GS r. r battle halll flags from a gallant and an d j stubborn foe fol but bul as an Indian tighter fighter who with witha j a handful of lIf troopers 11 II years later Inter galloped t tn to toa ton n a tragic death lie He bad had fought Itt Iee 11 and Stonewall Jackson Jalkson Jeb Stuart and the gallant but It was the naked nal Sioux Shan warriors of th the e 8 plains who hn 1 sent him to his deathless l fame Th The Tho gods cods of battle have their own ol Inscrutable wa way 7 of ot making heroes i mat ft e bv by rn Der Union |
