| Show beau 13 S I 1 D re 10 f 15 14 9 rk a sa fc t alt X t N T A X 41 Gener lal JEB sW Mv KW custe custer custer r the boy Gene generald General ilal 0 A by ELMO SCOTT WATSON T WAS just years ago on february 0 1833 that james ewell brown stuart was born in patrick county virginia taken alone that statement Is a mere biographical detail with little special meaning but for the name james ewell ew ell brown stuart substitute gen jeb stuart or of the confederate army and what pictures of one of the tha most romantic in figures in american histo history ry are conjured up by that name 1 I consider tor for instance these words worda by a recent biographer capt john W thomason jr of the united states marine corps in his jeb su stuart t art I 1 published by scribners jeb stuart filled the eye he was strong and ruddy and in late 1802 commissioned major general in the confederate army with a year and a few months left to live he was just under thirty lie ile had a dark brown flaring beard and wide mu mustaches baches that showed bronze lights in the sun he was 5 feet 11 inches tall and he rode at pounds ue ne was large boned long in the arms and the alie legs and short in the body and lie he looked best on a horse lie ile had a blue and merry eye eie which turned dark and piercing aben battle warned him or his temper flamed ills nose was chiseled and adventurous tile the kind of nose napoleon admired in generals generali also there was an elegance about him lie ile wore gauntlets gauntlett gaunt lets of white buckskin and rode in a n gray shell jacket double breasted buttoned back to show a close gray vest ills sword a light fren french ell saber for lie he never carried in the confederate army the united states officers sword of the old service was belted over a cavalry s sash a s h of golden silk with tasseled tass tasse elod led ends ills gray hor semans cloak was lined with scarlet ills his wire wife made it general lee he wrote her admired it and he deplored to her tile the bullet which whipped awny away its fur collar at fred erl ericksburg c ills horse furniture and equipment were polished leather and bright metal and he liked to wear a red rose in his jacket when tile the roses bloomed and a love knot of red ribbon when flowers were out of season ills soft fawn colored hat was looped up on the right with a gold star and adorned with a curling ostrich feather nis his boots sported little knightly spurs of gold nd admiring miring ladles even those who never saw him in their lives sent him such things ile he went conspicuous all gold and glitter in tile the front of great battles and in a hundred little cavill cavalry ry lights fights which killed men just as dead as gettysburg ile HP wore out his horses and he wore out his men lie he rode big animals of the hunter type blood bays with binck points for choice and ills his brother william alexander was kept on the lookout for such mounts admirers gave him horses splendid blooded creatures like star of the east from farquher Par Far quler and skylark from maryland none of them lasted long under the service he exacted ile he was a social type loving people laughing much and leading out in song for lie he had a rich and golden voice ile HP was fond of charades charales cha rades and wrote execrable poetry and affected anagrams there was never any sadness where he was wa 1 kesslr dessir Yes sir lr ahll tell you one taing says general lees old camp servant after the war it mek no dlf dif fence how quiet ou our r wu and I 1 think general lees I 1 headquarters W wre re usually quiet ten minutes nv av d da 0 time general stuat ride up to visit us everybody would he be a and ahll tell you another thing sail sah linerud line rul stuat auz de only 0 one of dem big nedeh did tech a drap P 1 and lee says coming out of his tent to the 4 campfire where the young officers of ills his staff and some of the old ones too ton sat singing with stuart and a large stone jug such as applejack sat on a stone gentlemen am I 1 to thank general stuart or the jug for this one the Is close to the point like ilke everything lee says stuart was it a strong stimulant to nil al who ta tasted of his quality and not a stimulus that died out arid and let you ion town down life he gathered gathe to himself a train of oddities when the cavill cavalry ry commends were forming into regiments at the opening of the war he came upon joseph sweeny a fellow nal upon the banjo furnished with all the tunes who ho sprang to arms from n R minstrel troupe electing to serve mounted sweeny was at once detailed to the CEN aka L I 1 G A R C U I 1 rw I 1 MIA i Z geed IN T at ON TRE X btttle air I 1 toffa YA 1 I 0 Ts custea statue in I 1 n C olona tea 1 93 ni a new rumley ohio 1861 DRAWING b by JOHR JOHN IW W THOMPSON J ft escort and where stuart went he went with his banjo and his ditties the byways by ways was of virginia heard old joyous snatches ringing above the thudding of the ll 11 horses hoofs small country towns awoke at night and the girls turned out in their stored finery fenery for impromptu dances where sweeneys Swee nys banjo pitched the measure and jeb stuart led the rout lout but if it chanced to be saturday night everything stopped at 12 jeb stuart had serious ideas about sunday theatrical as jeb stuart was he was much more lie he was ft as a truly great cavalryman of him general lee once said ill lie never sent me a piece of false information and in civil war days military loaders leaders had to depend upon their cavalry for information and accurate information was all important As an adored commander of the horsemen in gray jeb he never says go on lie ile says come on I 1 they used to remark he led them in some of the wildest cavalry escapades of the war of ills his right to a place among the great amerlean american cavalry leaders another historian joseph in swords and roses hoses has said I 1 he was a born an ideal leader of cavalry ills his perceptions there were fault faultless lessl y he was never known to make a tactical error ills plans were v ere formed instantly with no more than a single sweeping view of a complicated battlefield at times however nothing but his unconquerable qu erable resolution a cold desperation saved him from destruction general stuart was often forced to depend upon but he enormously preferred pure cavalry fighting but when his men were dismounted in skirmishes he remained stubbornly beside them buoyant with encouragement and songs ills great ability was in raiding in rapid flank movements charging and falling failing back with horse ills extraordinary energy was practically inexhaustible stuart almost never slept lie ile needed it seemed little it if any rest on tile the night of the second battle of manassas he gave comprehensible orders when he was asleep after days and nights without interruption in the saddle he would stop by any roadside and lie ile down safe or in the enemy s country without pickets or vid ettes lie he did this at carlisle pa wrapped in his cloak he be rested aorl tor an hour against a tree and then he re mounted completely refreshed fre shed through moments of extreme peril he sat with a log leg thrown over tile the pommel of his saddle drumming with his fingers on a knee lie ile was often begged not to expose himself so recklessly he must it was pointed out be killed but his invariable response was that he reckoned not ills life lid did appear to be char charmed ined he lived untouched in a rain of shell canister round shot and bullets until he was lilt hit fatally at yellow tavern ile he died happily at the moment of his greatest glory at the last glor glorious lous moment of the confederacy he suffered none of the ignominy the poverty find and sadness of defeat for that reason lie he wag the most satisfactory tile the most wholly romantic soldier of the civil war nothing about him nothing in ills his breer career was anns disappointing it was all handsome all ingratiating like his yellow jellow sash bash with its graceful fringed ends no wore more appropriate taps could be sounded for this peau of the gray than by a follow fellow fighting man captain thomason who writes all ills his life he was fortunate it was as given him to toll greatly aej to enjoy greatly to taste no little tame fame from the works of his hands and to drink the best of the cup of living he died while there was still a thread of hope for victory ue he was spared the grinding agony of the nine months siege the bleak months that brought culminating disasters and the laying down of the swords at appomattox he took his death wound in the front of battle as he wanted it and he was granted some brief hours to press the hands bands of men who loved him and to arrange himself in order to report before the god of battles whom ile he served almost as romantic and exotic a figure as beauty I 1 stuart was another young cavalry gen eral on the other side of the lines gen george armstrong ouster custer the beau bean of the blue there was a striking simil larity between the personalities of the two men and the parallelism persists down to their similar manner of dying the recent lintel unveiling ling of a monument to custer in his home town in ohio has served to recall the cletur picturesque i bique figure whose career in the civil war would hate been enough to win him enduring fame even it if ills his tragic death in the most widely known indian battle in american history had not imperishably preserved his name in the minds of his countrymen stuart was not quite thirty when he became a major general custer was a brigadier general at twenty three and a major general at twenty four hence the sobriquet of tile the boy general I 1 attached to him but to his bis men he was old curly because he let his yellow curly hair grow long and sweep his shoulders of 0 f the achievements of custer and his cavalrymen during the civil war his farewell address to the third division tells the story the record established by your indomitable courage Is unparalleled in the annals of war your prowess has won for you even the respect and admire tion of your enemies during the past six months although tigh in most cases confronted by superior numbers you have captured from the enemy in open battle ill pieces of field artillery 65 battle flags and upwards of prisoners of avar war including seven general officers within the past ten days and included in the above you have captured 40 field pieces of artillery and 87 37 battle flags you have never lost a gun never lost a color and you have never dever been defeated and notwithstanding stan dInk the numerous engagements in which you have borne a prominent part including those memorable battles of the shenandoah you have captured every piece of artillery which the enemy has dared to open upon you and now speaking for myself alone when the war Is ended and the task of the historian begins when these deeds deed of daring which h have rendered the name and fame or of the third cavalry division imperishable are inscribed upon the bright pages of our count rys history I 1 only ask that my cay name be written as that of the commander of the third cavalry division 11 but how differently his name was to be written for as frazier hunt in his biography ouster the last of the cavallars cavaliers Cava Caval liers lers has said to io tile the millions of plain americans lie he Is remembered not as the commander of a dashing and victor victorious lous division of cavalry that captured capture il prisoners and 05 65 battle flags from a gallant and stubborn toe foe but as an indian fighter who with a handful of troopers 11 years later galloped to a tragic death lie ile had fought lee and stonewall jackson jeb stuart and the gallant pelham but it was the naked sioux warriors of th plains 1 who lo 10 s sent e nt him to ills his deathless fame th tha 9 gods i of b battle at tl e have their oin own inscrutable wa way of making heroes IB 0 by western New newspaper paper Un union lori |
