Behind The Battles | J.E.B. Stuart

Dive into the thrilling story of James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart, one of the most iconic cavalry commanders of the American Civil War! Known for his daring reconnaissance missions, flamboyant style, and unwavering loyalty to the Confederacy, Stuart was the trusted "eyes and ears" of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. From his early days at West Point to his audacious raids and tragic death at the Battle of Yellow Tavern, we explore Stuart’s remarkable life, military genius, and lasting impact.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
The bloodiest war on American soil. States versus States, Brothers
versus brothers. Join hosts, bang and dang as they take
you battle by battle through the most divisive time in
American history. Welcome to Battles of the American Civil War.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
All here we go back again, battles Americans of a war.
Behind the battles and moving on to another Confederate ally
And this time we got old Jeb Jeb Jeb Stewart,
probably the finest cavalry commander in the history of the
Civil War, I guess I could say. But he was

(01:01):
damn good who was by either side and another one
of these guys that spent the majority of his years
in the United States military only to deflect to the South.
It's what they did. And he was born in Virginia, I.

Speaker 3 (01:15):
Guess so, Yeah, sweet Virginia.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
James ule Brown known to his everybody has Jeb obviously
because of the initials. He was known for his mastery
of reconnaissance he did and the use of cavalry support
and offensive properations. Yeah, he was the trusted eyes and
ears of Robert E. Lee's army and inspired Southern morale.
He did because Robert E. Lee literally didn't launch an
offensive or campaign or anything without Jeb going and scouting

(01:42):
the old countryside first. So Stewart he was born at
Laurel Hill Farm, which is a plantation in Patrick County, Virginia,
which is near the border with South Carolina. Was all
the way down there or North Carolina, right, you know,
the Virginia South Carolina border.

Speaker 3 (01:56):
He was the eighth of eleven children and the youngest
Springfield and so Simpsons of borders like twelve states, right,
you have three ads?

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Would they say in the movie? Oh, you could see
the four the four states bee boarder there was like
there was like Washington, Arizona, Connecticut, and Illinois or something
like that. Hilarious. He was eighth of eleven children and
the youngest of five sons. Five past early age. Yeah.
His father Archibald Stewart. He was a War of eighteen

(02:25):
twelve veteran, obviously a slaveholder. He was an attorney and
a Democratic politician who represented Patrick County in both houses
of the Virginia General Assembly, plus served one term of
the United States House Representatives.

Speaker 3 (02:38):
Beautiful well, Oh, Jeb's mama, Elizabeth Letcher Panel ran The
family farm was known as a strict religious woman, as
they all were back then, with a good sense for business.
Oh wow, good sense for business. Huh. Jeb was also
of Scottish descent and including some scott Irish. His great grandfather,
Major Alexander Stewart, commanded a regiment at the Battle of

(03:00):
Guilford Courthouse darreing the Revolutionary War. Well his daddy Archibald.
He was a cousin of an attorney, Alexander Hugh Holmes Stewart.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
Okay, cool, I guess they called him. They call him
a Stuart. Ah. He was also educated at home by
his mama and tutors until the age of twelve, when
he left Laurel Hill to be educated by various teachers
in Wytheville, Virginia, Wifeville, Wayiteville or Whiteville.

Speaker 3 (03:27):
Yeah, Witheville and at the home.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Of his aunt Anne, who was Archibald's sister and her husband,
Judge James Yule Brown, which is Stuart's namesake. Oh okay,
at Danville. He entered Emory and Henry College when he
was fifteen It's crazy, and attended from forty eight to fifteen.

Speaker 3 (03:42):
Nice.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
During the summer forty eight, Stewart attempted didn't list in
the US Army, but was rejected as underage. And he
then obtained an appointment to the eight and eighteen fifty
to the West Point. And that was from Representative Thomas
Hamlet Averett, the man who had defeated his father in
the eighteen forty eight election. Right, gotta feel bad for
you boy, the school or the West Point.

Speaker 3 (04:02):
Right, well, Jim. He was a very popular student. He
was happy at the anademy who we went to? Okay,
although he was not handsome in his ten years cares.
His classmates call him by the nickname Beauty, which they
described as his personal comeliness and inverse ratio to the
term employed. Here's the fuck out of.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
Me personal comeliness and inverse ratio to the term employed.
Oh so it's like personality. Basically, he's a beauty but
is not.

Speaker 3 (04:30):
He quickly grew a beard and after graduation, and a
fellow officer remarked that he was the only man he
ever saw that a beard improved.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
Is that true, though? You see? People? Imagine Robert E.
Lee without a beard, or listen Sis Grant without a beard.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
Right now.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
Robert E. Lee was appointed superintendent of the academy in
eighteen fifty two, Stuart became a friend of the family,
seeing them socially on freaking occasions. Lee's nephew, fits You,
also arrived at the Academy in eighteen fifty two and
Stuart's final year, and to achieve in the cadet rank
of second captain of the Corps. He was one of
eight cadets designated as honorary cavalry officers for his skills

(05:07):
in horsemanship. Stewart he graduated thirteenth in his class of
forty six and eighteen fifty four, and ranked tenth in
his class in cavalry tactics. Although he enjoyed the civil
engineering curriculum at the Academy and did well in mathematics,
his poor drawing skills hampered his engineering studies, and he
finished twenty ninth in that discipline. Stuart was commissioned brevet
second lieutenant and assigned to the US Regiment a mounted

(05:28):
rifleman in Texas. After an arduous journey, he reached Fort
Davis on January twenty ninth, eighteen fifty five, and was
a leader for three months on the scouting missions over
the San Antonio to El Paso road. He was soon
transferred to the newly formed First Calvary Regiment in eighteen
fifty five, and that was at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Territory,
where he became the regimental quarter master and commissary officer

(05:51):
under the command of Colonel Edwin Sumner. He was then
promoted to first lieutenant in eighteen fifty five. Also that
same year, Stuart he met Flora Cook, who was the
daughter of the Second US Dragoon Regiment's commander, Lieutenant Colonel
Phillips Saint George Cook. Burt Davis historian guy He described
Flora as an accomplished horsewoman, and though not pretty, just

(06:11):
like Dave or Jeb, she was an effective charmer to
whom Stuart succumbed with the hardliest struggle. They became engaged
in September, less than two months after meeting. Stuart humorously
wrote of this rapid courtship in Latin. He said, vennye
vitty Victor sum He said, I came, I saw eye
concert I conquered. I thought it was Vinie Vidya Viccy.
Although a gallow wedding had been planning for Fort Riley, Kansas,

(06:34):
the death of Old Stewarts and Daddy on September twentieth
cause the change of plans, and the marriage on November
fourteenth was small, unlimited, just family witnesses and no mood
to celebrate.

Speaker 3 (06:43):
Well, they had the first child, it was a girl,
eighteen fifty six. But guess what died that very same day?
Yea very common back then.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
They had to have twelve of them.

Speaker 3 (06:53):
They didn't even love their kids until the first six months,
not even then for two years, ten years.

Speaker 2 (06:58):
We don't know what that was gonna happen.

Speaker 3 (07:00):
The fourteenth of November eighteen fifty seven. Guess what another daughter,
whom the parents named Flora after her mother.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
You don't see that nowadays, but are always happen back then.

Speaker 3 (07:10):
Clearly. The family relocated in early eighteen fifty eight to
Fort Riley. There they remained for three years. A couple
owned two slaves until eighteen fifty nine. One inherited from
his daddy's estate, the other it was purchase. I forget
the other one somebody to talk to his.

Speaker 2 (07:26):
Companion, both dudes. Stuart's leadership capabilities were soon recognized. He
was a veteran of the frontier conflicts with Native Americans
and the Antebellum violence Bleeding Kansas.

Speaker 3 (07:38):
We should know.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
That's pre Civil War.

Speaker 3 (07:39):
I can't do that.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
He was wounded July twenty ninth, eighteen fifty seven, while
fighting US Solomon River, Kansas against the Cheyenne. Colonel Sumner
ordered a charge with drawn sabers against the wave of
Native American arrows.

Speaker 3 (07:51):
Oh, no, you don't want to get it with those.
You don't know what's on those.

Speaker 2 (07:55):
Poop and whatever the else they poison shit with here
in the under armed warriors, Stuart and three other lieutenants
chased one down, whom Stuart wounded in the thigh with
his pistol.

Speaker 3 (08:05):
Oh, did he hit him with it or shoot him?

Speaker 2 (08:11):
That's gonna approve. The Chyenne turned and fired at Stewart
with a thirty six caliber Allen and Thurber pepperbox pistol
Oh struck him, struck him in the chest with a bullet,
which did little more damage than to pierce the skin. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (08:24):
Rough.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
Stuart returned in September to fourth Elevenworth and was reunited with.

Speaker 3 (08:28):
His wife after this good for him eighteen fifty nine,
Oh jeb He developed a new piece of cavalry equipment
for which he received patent number twenty five thousand six
and eighty four on the fourth of October eighteen fifty nine.

Speaker 2 (08:40):
It was a saber hook.

Speaker 3 (08:41):
Or an improved method of attaching sabers to belts. Oh
so it's easy off.

Speaker 2 (08:46):
Of It was like like the clips for your keys,
you know, like it cool.

Speaker 3 (08:51):
The United States government paid Stuart five thousand dollars for
a right to use license, and Stuart contracted with U.
Nor Niece and Company of Philadelphia to manufacture his hook
that well well in Washington, d C. Jeb was there
to discuss some government contracts and in conjunction with his
application for an appointment into the Quartermaster Department, Jeb he

(09:13):
heard about John Brown's raid on the United States Arsenal
and Harper's ferry. He's like, what happened there?

Speaker 2 (09:20):
And he then volunteered to be an aide de camp
to Colonel Robert E. Lee and accompanied Lee with the
company of a company with the company, I was a basement.

Speaker 3 (09:30):
Stewart.

Speaker 2 (09:30):
He then volunteered to be an aide de camp to
Colonel Robert E. Lee and accompanied him with a company
of US Marines from the Marine Barracks eighth and one
eighth and I eighth and one eighth one Washington, d
c and four companies of the Maryland Militia while delivering
Lee's written surrender ultimatum to the leader of the group,
who had been calling himself Isaac Smith.

Speaker 3 (09:51):
Oh shit.

Speaker 2 (09:52):
Stewart then recognized old awesol Wadamie Brown from his stays
in Kansas.

Speaker 3 (09:56):
Oh.

Speaker 2 (09:57):
He's like, oh, look at you, you o dirty bastard.

Speaker 3 (10:00):
How you being well, Jeb. They're like, hey, guess what,
We're about to give you a promotion to captain. We're
gonna do that on twenty second April eighteen sixty one.
But Stuart, he was conflicted because his old beloved Virginia
was seceding from the United States. Yeah, and so he's like,
you know what, I'm resigning from the United States Army.
He did that on the third of May eighteen sixty one,
and he was going to join the Confederate States of America.

(10:23):
How about a year before his wife Flora gave bird
to his son Phillips sat George Cook Stewart, but Stuart
changed the name to James Ewell Brown Stuart Junior. They
call him Jimmy Jimmy and late say eighteen sixty one,
out of discuss with his father in law, He's like.

Speaker 2 (10:39):
Father in law must have been a pro Union game.

Speaker 3 (10:42):
Yeah, yeah, we're changing that name quick. Upon learning that
his father in law, Colonel Cook, would have remained in
the United States Army during the coming war, Stuart wrote
to his brother in law, which is future Confederate Brigadier
Jernal John Rodgers Cook. Oh shit, he said this. He
will regret it but once, and that will be continuously.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
He'll regret it one time and then he'll think about
it always. That's a fantastic and quote right there. You
can only regret it once right when you will you
will always. It's crazy. Look at you, Jeb. He's a
freaking philosopher and uh patent holder.

Speaker 3 (11:17):
He later learned that George Thomas, a fellow Virginia, had
also decided to stay with the Blue Coats, and Stuart
wrote this, I would like to hang.

Speaker 2 (11:26):
Hang Thomas as a trader to his native state. Dude.
Oh wow, so tired of tho.

Speaker 3 (11:34):
I mean, if they go to the Blue Coat you
can't fault them for that. It's like they didn't fault
for you for you whatever. I'm sure they probably did,
but uh yeah, they didn't want to hang you from
the tree.

Speaker 2 (11:44):
When are you loyal to your cause, your country, or
your state.

Speaker 3 (11:46):
Back then it was your state.

Speaker 2 (11:47):
I get it, but it clearly wasn't only for weird
people like this, right, Stuart, Right, yeah, Stuart. He's a
rare man, wonderfully in doubt, woe wow, wonderfully endowed by
nature with the qualities necessary for an officer of light cavalry, calm, firm, acute, active,

(12:11):
and enterprising. I know no one more competent than he
to estimate the occurrences before him at their true value.
If you add to this army a real brigade of cavalry,
you can find no better brigadier general to command it.
That was sent by General Joseph E. Johnson and a
letter to Confederate President Jefferson Davis August eighteen sixty one.
He said, you make this guy do something right now.

Speaker 3 (12:33):
He was commission as a lieutenant colonel of Virginia Inventry
in the Confederate Army intent to May eighteen sixty one.
Oh wow, I didn't know that. He started off his
entry graz Major General Robbie elihe he was commanded to
Armed Force of Virginia. He goes, you know what there, Bud?
Want to go down sea. Stonewall. Harper's ferry was to
be the right arm Jackson he chose to ignore Stewart's
infantry designation, and he said, you know what, today's the

(12:56):
fourth of July. I'm gonna put you on a horse, buddy,
because that's what you selled in. And he gave him
his own first Virginia Cavalry Regiment, and this is part
of the Armity of Shenandoah, and he was permanent of
the Colonel on the July sixteenth.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
After early service in the Shenandoah Valley, Stuart led his
regiment in the First Battle of bow Run, where Jackson
got in that old fame nickname stowwalla Stonewall and participated
in the pursuit of the retreating Federals, leading to the
sensationalist reports in the Northern press about the dreaded Confederate
black Horse Cavalry all right. He then commanded the army's
outpost along the Upper Potomac River until given command of

(13:33):
the Cavalry Brigade for the army then known as the
Army of the Potomac, which was later changed the Army
of Northern Virginia. He was then promoted to the Brigadier
General September twenty fourth, eighteen sixty one. Dude was just
flying up the ranks, flying high. Baby.

Speaker 3 (13:46):
Eighteen sixty due to Union, Armity of the Potomac began
its Peninsula campaign against Richmond, and Stuart's cavalry brigade assisted
General Johnson's army as it withdrew up the Virginia Peninsula
in the face of superior numbers.

Speaker 2 (13:59):
Yeah, because Robert E. Lee in commanding it right at
this moment, Stuart, he.

Speaker 3 (14:03):
Fought at the Battle of Williamsburg, but the train and
the weather on the peninsula did not even lend themselves
to cavalry operates.

Speaker 2 (14:09):
Can be taking a bunch of heavy ass horses down
some muddy shit like, Yeah, the horses ain't move and
they're sinking down to their chest and that's.

Speaker 3 (14:15):
It, right.

Speaker 2 (14:18):
Stuart and Jackson were an unlikely pair, one outgoing, the
other introverted, one flashly uniformed, the other plainly dressed. One
Prince Rupert and the other Cromwell. Yet Stuart's self confidence,
pension for action, deep love of Virginia, and total abstinence
from such vices as alcohol, tobacco, and pessimism and endeared
him to Old Stonewall Jackson. R. Stuart was the only

(14:41):
man in the Confederacy who could make Jackson laugh and
who dared to do so. This is quote from James I.
Robinson Junior and his book Stonewall Jackson Fantastic.

Speaker 3 (14:51):
Good for you, buddy Well Robert E. Lee he became
a commander of the Army of Virginia Northern Virginia. He
requested that Old Jeb before him reconnaissance du to determined
whether the right flank of the Union Army was vulnerable.
So Jeb he set out with twelve hundred troops on
the morning of the June twelve. Having determined that the
flank was indeed vulnerable, He then took his men on
the complete circumnavigation of the Union Army, returning after one

(15:14):
hundred fifty miles on the fifteenth to June with one
hundred and sixty five captured Union soldiers, two hundred and
sixty horses and mules, and various quartermaster and ordnance supplies.
Last guy, fuck yeah.

Speaker 2 (15:25):
His men met no serious opposition from the more decentralized
Union cavalry, coincidentally commanded by his father in law, Colonel
Cook Oh wow, and their total cajuties amounted to one
man killed. The maneuver was a public relations sensation, and
Stuart was greeted with flower pedals thrown in his path.
At Richmond. He had become as famous as Stonewall Jackson
in the eyes of the Confederacy. There's Stonewall, there's Jeb,

(15:49):
There's this guy named Lee, I guess.

Speaker 3 (15:52):
Early in another Virginia campaign, Stuart he promoted the major
general fifth of July eighteen sixty two, and his command
was upgraded to Cavalry Division. The fact that the Army
of Northern Virginia's cavalry had been brigaded and we're now
a full division made for an important organizational advantage over
the Army of the Potomacs.

Speaker 2 (16:10):
Mounted arm Yeah, because not one. They didn't have their
own cavalie divisions.

Speaker 3 (16:15):
Which was ineffectively organized as regiments attached to infantry brigades
and treated as an extension of the Army Signal Corps.

Speaker 2 (16:21):
They're just they're just there nothing. He was nearly captured, though,
and lost his signature plumed hat and cloak to pursuing
Federals there in a raid in August he did, but
in a retaliatory raid at Catletz Station. The following day,
he managed to overrun Union Army commander Major General John
Pope's headquarters and not only captured Pope's full dress uniform nice,

(16:41):
but also intercepted orders that provided lead with Valuebill intelligence
concerned reinforcements for Pope's Army. You don't want to lose
your full dress uniform. That's embarrassing.

Speaker 3 (16:51):
Oh shit, Well, then comes the Battle of the Second
Bowl Run. Stuart's cavalry followed a massive assault by long
streets and tree against Pope, protecting his flank with artillery batteries.
Old Jeb ordered Brigadier General Beverly Robertson's brigade, He said,
pursue those old blue coats in a shop fight against
Brigadier General John Bufford's brigade. Colonel Tom Munford's Second Virginia

(17:14):
Calvary was very overwhelmed until Stuart sending two more regiments
as reinforcements. Buford's men, many of whom were new to combat,
they retreated really fast across the loose. Ford and Stuart's
troopers captured over three hundred of those retreating Blue coats.
Oh Jeb and his men they harassed the retreat in
Union columns until the campaign ended at the Battle of Chantilly.

Speaker 2 (17:37):
During the Maryland Campaign September eighteen sixty two, Stuart's cavalry
they screened the army's movements north oh He bears some
responsibility for Robert E. Lees lack of knowledge of the
position and the celerity of the pursuing Army of the
Potomac under George mccollin. For five day period, Steuart rested
his men and entertained local civilians at a gallo ball
at Urbana, Maryland, Okay. Whatever sports make no reference to

(18:01):
intelligence gathering by his scouts or patrols during this time
partying away.

Speaker 3 (18:06):
But he didn't even drink wow. As the old Blue
Coach drew near Lee's divided army, Jebb and his men.
They skirmished at various points on the approach to Fredericksburg
Corteous Frederick. On the approach to Frederick and Stuart was
not able to keep his brigades concentrated enough to resist
on coming tide. He misjudged in Union routes of advance,

(18:29):
ignorant of the Union force threatening Turner's Gap, and also
required assistance from the infangerry of Major General Dhl to
defend the South Mountain passes in the Battle of South
Mountin his horse artillery bomboded the flank of the Union
army as it opened its attack and the Battle of Antietam,
and so he's everywhere.

Speaker 2 (18:47):
Well in that battle. By mid afternoon, Stonewall he ordered
Stuart to command a turning movement with his cavalry against
the Union right flank and rear, which, if it would
have been successful, would be followed up by an infantry
attack from the west Woods. Stewart he began probe in
the Union lines with more artillery barrages, which were answered
with murderous counter battery fire, and the cavalry movement intended

(19:08):
by Jackson wasn't even launched.

Speaker 3 (19:10):
He said, we can't do this. I can't do it.
Three weeks after Lee's army had with drawn back to Virginia,
tenth to the twelfth of October eighteen sixty two, Stuart
formed another of his audacious circumnavigations of the Army of
the Potomac, his Chambersburg Raid, which was one hundred and
twenty six miles and under sixty hours from Darksville, West Virginia,
to as far north as Mercersburg, Pennsylvania and Chambersburg, and

(19:34):
around the east through Emmitsburg, Maryland, and south through Hyattstown, Maryland,
and also whites Ford to Leesburg, Virginia. Favorite he was
once again embarrassing his Union opponents seasoned horses and supplies,
but at the expensive exhausted men and animals.

Speaker 2 (19:54):
Yeah, it's a long time to go in sixty hours.

Speaker 3 (19:56):
And he didn't even gain, not even very little military advantage.
Old Jubra Early he referred to it as the greatest
horse stealing exhibition that only annoyed the enemy.

Speaker 2 (20:07):
Keep stealing the horses, that Stuart. He then gave his
friend Stonewall of fine new officer's tunic trimmed with gold lace,
which was commissioned from a Richmond Taylor. What you thought
would give Jackson more of the appearents of a proper
general general, something to which Jackson was notoriously indifferent to.
Day like it if you recall our episode on him
and he didn't want to wear it? Felt weird.

Speaker 3 (20:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (20:31):
Then urged by President Lincoln to pursue Lee McClellan, he
slowly pushed his army south across the Potomac start on
October twenty sixth, and so he began moving to counter this.
Stuart East screened Longstreet Score and skirmish numerous times in
early November against Union Calvary and infantry which was around Mountville,
Aldi and Upperville.

Speaker 3 (20:50):
Well.

Speaker 2 (20:50):
November six Stuart was notified by telegram that his daughter
Flora had died of typhoid fever November third, and this
was just before her fifth birthday. Told you, jeez man,
that's crazy man. This pisces you off.

Speaker 3 (21:03):
In December of eighteen sixty two Battle of Fredericksburg, Oh
jeb in his cavalry.

Speaker 2 (21:07):
Why didn't he get a message that she was sick?

Speaker 3 (21:10):
Right?

Speaker 2 (21:10):
Face it?

Speaker 3 (21:11):
I mean, jeezus wow. In December of eighteen sixty two
Battle Fredericksburg, Stuart and his cavalry, most notably his horse
artillery under Major John Pelham, that protected the stone walls
flank at the Hamilton's crossing. Generally, he commended his cavalry
which effectively guarded our right.

Speaker 2 (21:30):
Annoying.

Speaker 3 (21:31):
Then there it is annoying the great Annoyer and also
embarrassing his movements by hanging on his flank and attacking
when the opportunity occurred. Good for you. Stuart. Oh, Jeb
reported the floora the very next day that he had
been shot to his fur coat but didn't get hurt.
What was the point of reporting it done so he
didn't get shot? Right?

Speaker 2 (21:51):
Well, he was shot through his coat. Right after Christmas,
Lee ordered Stuart to conduct a raid north of the
Rappahannock River to penetrate the enemy's rear and a certain,
if possible, his position and movements, plus inflicted upon him
some damage as circumstances will permit. With about eighteen hundred
troops and a horse artillery battery assigned to the operation,
Stuart's raid reaches far north is four miles south of

(22:13):
the Fairfax Courthouse. Also sees two hundred fifty prisoners, some horses,
some mules, and some supplies.

Speaker 3 (22:20):
Okay, like that tapping telegraph lines. His signal men intercepted
messages from Union commanders, and Old Jeb sent a personal
telegram in Union Quartermaster General Montgomery makes the said General Meeks.
It said, General Meeks, will in the future please furnish
better mules. Those you have furnished recently are very inferior.

Speaker 2 (22:43):
Lame or lame.

Speaker 3 (22:44):
That's hilarious. On the seventeenth. The match eighteen sixty three
Old Jeb's cavalry. They class with the Union raiding party
at Kelly's Ford. The mine of victory was marred by
the death of Major Pelim, which caused Stuart profound grief,
as he thought of him as close as a younger brother.
I'm glad he didn't think of him as a younger son,
because he for sure would have been dead.

Speaker 2 (23:04):
And he then wrote to a Confederate congressman, the noble,
the chivalric, the gallant Pelham is no more. Let the
tears of agony we have shed in the gloom of
morning throughout my command bear witness. At the same time, Flora,
she was pregnant at the time. How is she seeing him?

Speaker 3 (23:21):
Right?

Speaker 2 (23:23):
Flora's pregnant at this time, And Stuart told her that
if it were a boy, he wanted him to name
John Pelham Stuart. Indeed it was a girl, but instead
it was named Virginia Pelham Stewart or in October ninth.
That works, He's got the pelem in there.

Speaker 3 (23:39):
Could have waited for a boy bud. But at the
Battle of Chancellorsville thirteen right geez. At the Battle of Chancellorsville. Oh, Jeb,
and now he's gonna mourning another one of his little buddies. O.
Jeb accompanied stone Wall and his famous flanking March of
the Second in May of eighteen sixty three. He started
to pursue the retreating soldiers of the Union eleventh Corps
when he was see where that Bo Jackson and his

(24:01):
senior division commander, Major General A. P. Hill have been wounded.
Hill bypassing the next most senior infantry general in the corps,
Brigadier General Robert E. Rhodes, He had sent a message
ordering Stewart to take command of the Second Court.

Speaker 2 (24:19):
Although delays associated with the change of command effectively ended
the flanking attack the night of second Stewart, who had
no prior experience the leading infantry, he performed incredibly as
an infantry corp commander the following day, launching a strong
and well coordinated attack against the Union right flank. Chancellors Bill,
I mean just troops without horses. That's the same. When

(24:40):
the Union troops abandoned Hazel Grove, Stewart had the presence
of mind to quickly occupy it and bombard the Union
positions with artillery. Stuart then relinquished his infantry command May
six with Old Hill. He said, I'm ready to return
to duty. He said, you can have this shit back.

Speaker 3 (24:54):
Yeah, come back.

Speaker 2 (24:55):
My horse started walking right.

Speaker 3 (24:59):
Stephen w where this guy is.

Speaker 2 (25:02):
He's a freaking historian.

Speaker 3 (25:05):
Well he wrote this. It is hard to see how
Jeb Stuart and a new command, a calvary man commanding
infantry and artillery for the first time, could have done
a better job. Good for you, the astute porter Alexander
believed all credit was due. Altogether, I do not think
there was a more brilliant thing done in the war
than Stuart's extricating that command from the extremely critical position

(25:29):
in which he found it.

Speaker 2 (25:31):
Well, as we all know, a stone wall. He died
May tenth. Stuart was once again devastated by the loss
of a close friend, telling his staff that the death
was a national calamity. Jackson's wife, Marianna, wrote to Stuart
August first, thanking him for a note of sympathy. I
need not assure you of what you already know. That
your friendship and admiration were cordially reciprocated by him. I

(25:53):
frequently heard him speak of General Stewart as one of
his warm personal friends, and also express admiration for your
soldierly quality.

Speaker 3 (26:01):
What's nice returning to the cavalry for the Gettysburg campaign
jeb and during the two low points in his career,
starting with the Battle of Brandy Station, the largest predominantly
cavalry engagement of the war. We'd lost that one, and
by June fifth, two of Lee's infantry corps were camped
in and around Culpepper, six miles northeast, holding the line

(26:23):
of Rappahannock River. Stuart he hunkered down his cavalry troopers
mostly near Brandy Station, screening the Confederate Army against surprise
by the enemy. Stewart requested a full field review of
his troops by General Lee. This grand review on the
fifth of June included nearly nine thousand mounted troopers, four
batteries of horse artillery they're charging, and simulated battle at

(26:45):
the Inlet Station, about two miles southwest of Brandy Station.

Speaker 2 (26:50):
Okay, well, Lee he wasn't even able to attend the review,
so it was repeated in his presence June eighth, Although
the repeated performance was into a simple parade without battle simulation.

Speaker 3 (27:02):
Oh well.

Speaker 2 (27:03):
Despite the lower level of activity, some of the cavalrymen
and the newspaper reporters at the scene. They complained that
all Stuart was doing was feeding his ego and exhausting
the horses. Right Lee ordered Stuart across the Rappahannock the
next day and then raid uniford positions screening the Confederate
army from observation or interference as it moved north. Anticipating

(27:23):
this imminent offensive action, Stuart ordered his tired troopers back
in the camp and around around Brandy Station.

Speaker 3 (27:30):
She's swee. The Dominie Potomac commander, Major General Joseph Hooker
interpreted Stewart's presence round call Pepper to be indicative of
preparations for a raid on his army supply lines, so
in reaction, he ordered his cavalry commander, Major General Alfred Pleasanton.
He said, once you go, take a combine ar force
of eighteen of eight thousand cavalry and three thousand infantry

(27:54):
on a spoiling raid to disperse and destroy the nine
thousan five hundred Confederates. Pantan's force crossed the Rappahannock in
two columns on the ninth of June eighteen sixty three.
The first crossing at Beverly's Forge, which is John Buford's division,
they caught Stuart by surprise, waking him and his staff
to the sound of gunfire.

Speaker 2 (28:13):
So it happens when they're all sleepy man. The second
crossing at Kelly's Ford, surprise Stewart again, and the Confederates
found themselves assaulted from front and rear in a spirited
melee of mounted combat.

Speaker 3 (28:24):
Wow A series of confusing.

Speaker 2 (28:26):
Charges and counter chargers swept back and forth across Fleetwood Hill,
which had been Stuart's headquarters the previous night. About ten
hours of fighting, Pleasanton he ordered his men to withdraw
back across the Rappahannock.

Speaker 3 (28:38):
Although jeb claimed victory because the Old ReBs held a
field Brandy Station is considered a tactical draw both sides,
they came up short of the plan. Pleasanton was not
able to disable Stuart's force at the start of an
important campaign, and he withdrew before finding the location of
Lee's infantry nearby. However, the fact that the Old Southern

(28:59):
Cavalry had not the movement of the two large columns
of Union cavalry, and that they fell victim to a
surprise attack twice, was an embarrassment that prompted serious criticism
from fellow generals and Southern press. Oh, come on, jeb.
The fight also revealed the increased compancy of the Union cavalry.
They're getting better and at foreshadowed the decline of the

(29:20):
formerly invincible Southern mounted arm They were too at one
point in time.

Speaker 2 (29:25):
I'll following a series of small cavalry battles in June,
as Lee's army began marching north through the Shenandoah Valley,
Stuart may have had in mind the glory of circumnavigating
the enemy army once again, desiring to erase the stain
on his reputation of the surprise at Brandy Station. Generally,
he gave orders to Stuart June twenty second on how
he was to participate in the march north. The exact

(29:46):
nature of those orders has been argued by the participants
and historians ever since, but the essence was that Stuart
was instructed to guard the mountain passes with part of
his force while the Army of Northern Virginia was still
south of the Potomac, and that he was to cross
the river with the remainder of the army and screened
the right flank of Ewle's second Corps. Okay, so what
did he do?

Speaker 3 (30:05):
Well? Instead of taking a direct route north near the
Blue Ridge Mountains, Stuart chose to reach Ewele's flank by
taking his three best brigades, those of Wade Hampton, fitz
u Lee, and John Chamberliss, the latter replacing the wounded
Brigadier General WHF Ruoney Lee.

Speaker 2 (30:27):
W WHF Wounded Lee Right.

Speaker 3 (30:30):
He took these guys between the Union Army and Washington,
moving north through Rockville to Westminster and on into Pennsylvania,
hoping to capture supplies along the way and calls havoc
near the enemy capital, oh jeb and his three brigades
depotted Salem Depot at one am on the twenty fifth
of June eighteen sixty three.

Speaker 2 (30:49):
Well, Unfortunately for his plan, the Union Army's movement was
underway and his proposed route was blocked by columns of
Federal infantry. Makes sense, forcing him to vere farther to
the east than either he or generally had anything anticipated.
This prevented Stuart from linking up with Yule as ordered,
and it also deprivedly of the use of his prime
cavalry force, which was the eyes and ears of the army.
Oh fuck, while they were advancing into unfamiliar enemy territory.

(31:12):
Yeah right, yeap, can't do that.

Speaker 3 (31:15):
Jeb's command crossed the Potomac at about three am on
the twenty eighth of June. At Rockville, they captured a
wagon train of one hundred and forty brand new, fully
loaded wagons mule teams. This wagon train would prove to
be a logistical hindrance to the Stuart's advance.

Speaker 2 (31:31):
Right now, you got one hundred and forty extra things.

Speaker 3 (31:33):
Yeah, but he interpreted Lee's orders as placing importance on
gathering supplies.

Speaker 2 (31:38):
The proximity.

Speaker 3 (31:39):
The proximity of the Confederate raiders provoked some consternation in
the national capital, and two Union caver brigades and an
artillery battery were sent.

Speaker 2 (31:48):
To pursue the Old Ribs.

Speaker 3 (31:50):
Jeb supposedly said that there were not for his fatigued horses,
he would have marched down the Seventh Street Road and
took Abe and cabinet prisoners.

Speaker 2 (31:58):
Sure je Well. In Westminster June twenty ninth, his men
classed briefly with an overwhelmed two companies of Union Calvary
chased them a long distance on the Baltimore Road, which
Stuart claim caused a great panic in the city of
Baltimore as well. Head of Stuart's column encountered Brigader General
Judson Killpatrick's cavalry as it passed through Hanover and scattered

(32:18):
it June thirtieth at the Battle of Hanover, and it
ended after kill Patrick's men regrouped and drove the Confederates
out of town. Is that all right?

Speaker 3 (32:26):
Stuart's brigades have been a better positioned to guard the
captured wagon than to take advantage of the encounter with Patrick.

Speaker 2 (32:34):
You want your supplies or you want a meaningless little
victory here.

Speaker 3 (32:38):
After a twenty mile trek in the dock, his exhausted
men reached over on the morning of the first July
as the Battel Gettysburg. As the Battle Old Gettysburg was
commencing without them, oh Jeb headed next for Carlisle, hoping
to find Ewele. He lobbed a few shells in the
town there in the early evening of the first of
July and burned the Carlisle barracks. Before we're drawing to

(33:00):
the south towards Gettysburg. He and the bulk of his
command reached Lee at the Gettysburg and on afternoon of
the second of.

Speaker 2 (33:06):
July second, I'd been too late by them.

Speaker 3 (33:10):
He ordered Wade Hampton to cover the left rear of
the Confederate battle lines. Hampton followed agains biggeritter General George
Armstrong Custer at the Battle Hunterstown, just before Jordan Stewart
at Gettysburg. Oh okay, wow.

Speaker 2 (33:22):
Win Stewart did arrive like we said on July second,
bringing with him the caravan of captured Union supply wagons.
He received a rare rebuke from Lee. Oh. No one
witnessed the private meeting between Lee and Stuart, but reports
circulated at headquarters that Lee's greeden was abrupt and Frosty said,
you son of a bitch. Where were you, right, Colonel
Edward Porter Alexander wrote, although Lee said only well, General,

(33:46):
you were here at last, his manner implied rebuke, and
it was so understood by Stuart Start. It was like, man, yeah,
it's like a dad telling you I'm not mad, but
I'm just disappointed.

Speaker 3 (33:56):
On the final day of Battle Gettysburg, Stuart was ordered
to move into the enemy's and disrupted his line of communication.
At the same time that Pickett's charge was about to
be sent against the Union positions on Cemetery Ridge, but
his attack on.

Speaker 2 (34:09):
East Calvary Field was repelled by.

Speaker 3 (34:11):
Union cavalry on the Brigadier General David Grigg and George Custer.

Speaker 2 (34:15):
George Custer. During that retreat from Gettysburg, Stewart devoted his
full attention to supporting the army's movement, successfully screening against
aggressive Union cavalry, pursuit and escort in thousands of wagons
with wounded men and captured supplies over difficult roads and
through inclement weather. Wow Numerous skirmishes and minor battles occurred
during the screening and delaying actions of the retreat. Stewart's

(34:37):
men were the final units to cross the Potomac. Returned
into Virginia in a wretched condition, completely worn out and
broken down.

Speaker 3 (34:44):
Yeah been through a lot.

Speaker 2 (34:48):
The failure to crush the.

Speaker 3 (34:50):
Federal army in Pennsylvania in eighteen sixty three, in the
opinion of almost all the officers of the Army of
Northern Virginia, can be expressed in five words, the absence
of the cavalry Confederate Major General Henry Heath.

Speaker 2 (35:06):
Very true. The Gettysburg campaign was the most controversial of
Stuart's career.

Speaker 3 (35:10):
It was he.

Speaker 2 (35:11):
Became one of the scapegoats, along with James Longstreet that
blamed that was blamed for Lee's loss at Gettysburg, and
that was by proponents of post Bellen Lost Cause movement
such as Jew bur Early. Jew Burley is taking shots.

Speaker 3 (35:23):
Uh yeah.

Speaker 2 (35:24):
This is fueled in part my opinions of less partisan
writers such as Stuart's subordinate Thomas Rosser, who stated after
the war that Stewart did on this campaign undoubtedly make
the fatal blunder which lost us the Battle of Gettysburg.

Speaker 3 (35:36):
Did did. In Lee's report on the campaign, he wrote,
the absence of the cavalry rendered it impossible to obtain
accurate information.

Speaker 2 (35:47):
By the route Stuart pursued.

Speaker 3 (35:48):
The old Federal Army was imposed between his command and
our main body, preventing any communication with him until his.

Speaker 2 (35:56):
Arrival at Carlisle.

Speaker 3 (35:58):
The march told Gettysburg was conducted more slowly than it
would have been had the movements of the Federal Army
been known.

Speaker 2 (36:05):
Probably one of the most forcefable post Bellum defenses of
Stuart was my Colonel John Mosby, who had served under
him during the campaign and was fiercely loyal to the
late general. He wrote, had made me all that I
was in the war. But for his friendship, I would
never have been heard of.

Speaker 3 (36:21):
Oh Wow.

Speaker 2 (36:23):
He wrote numerous articles for popular publications and published a
book length basically The Examination of What Happened in nineteen
oh eight, a work that relied on his skills as
a lawyer to refute categorically all of the claims laid
against Stuart and laid it out one by one.

Speaker 3 (36:37):
Historians remain divided, though, on how much defeat Gettysburg was
due to Stuart's failure to keep Lee informed. Edward Longeger
argues that Lee deliberately gave Stuart wide discretion in his orders.

Speaker 2 (36:49):
He did, Lee always didn't.

Speaker 3 (36:52):
He is hoping, can you read between the lines which.

Speaker 2 (36:56):
We know he said only Jackson could do that basically right.

Speaker 3 (37:01):
Edwin Commonton refers to the tragedy of Stuart in the
Gettysburg campaign and judges that when fitzu Lee raised the
question of whether Stuart exercised the discretion undoubtedly given to
him judiciously, their answer is no.

Speaker 2 (37:17):
Oh, agreeing that Stewart's absence permitted Lee to be surprised
at Gettysburg. Cottington points out that the Union commander was
just as surprised. Eric Whittenberg and David Pertrusie j David Pertussie.
They concluded that there was plenty of blame to go around. Yes,
and the fault should be divided between Stuart, the lack
of specific orders from Lee and Richard Yule, who might

(37:39):
have tried harder to link up with Stuart northeast Gettysburg
right could have Jeffrey wert He acknowledges that Lee, his officers,
and fighting by the Army of the Potomac bare the
responsibility for the Confederates lost at Gettysburg. True, but states
that Lee failed, Stuart failed Lee and the army and
the reckoning at Gettysburg. Lee trusted him and gave him discretion,
but Stuart acted injudiciously. No, He's basically saying, be smart,

(38:04):
all right, then you should know what you have to do.

Speaker 3 (38:06):
But wow. Although Old Jeb was not rebuked or disciplined
in any official way for his role in the Gettysburg campaign,
it is noteworthy that his appointment to Core Command on
the ninth of September eighteen sixty three did not carry
with it a promotion to Lieutenant General. Edward Bonekemper wrote
that since all the other core commanders in the Army

(38:27):
of Northern Virginia carried this rank, Lee's decision to keep
Stewart at major general rank while at the same time
promoting Stuart's subordinates Wade, Hampton fitzsu Lee to major generals
whoa could be considered as an implied rebuke, I would think, Wow,
we're rope rope, We're wrote that there is no evidence
Lye considered Stewart's performance staring in the Gettysburg campaign, and

(38:48):
that it is more likely that Lee thought the responsibility
is the command of a cavalry corps did not equal
those of an infantry corps.

Speaker 2 (38:55):
Which is true, I mean still gave him it just gouds.
Lee reorganizes Calvary September ninth, creating a cavalry Corps for
Stuart with two divisions of three brigades each. In the
Bristol Campaign, Steuart was assigned to lead a broad turning
movement and an attempt to get into the enemy's rear,
but General Meade skillfully withdrew his Army without leaving Stuart
any opportunities to take advantage. Yep October thirteenth, Stuart blundered

(39:18):
into the rear guard of the Union Third Corps near
Warrington that resulted in the First Battle of Auburn.

Speaker 3 (39:23):
Oh Well Eule's Corps were sent to rescue him, but
Stuart hid his troopers in a wooded ravine until the
unsuspecting the Third Corps moved on, and the assistance was
not even necessary, as Mead withdrew towards Manassas Junction brigades
from the Union's Second Corps for a rearguard action against

(39:44):
Stuart's cavalry and the infantry of Brigadier A General Harry
Hayes' Division. This is near Auburn. On the fourteenth October, oh.

Speaker 2 (39:52):
Jeff's cavalry boldly bluffed.

Speaker 3 (39:53):
Warren's infantry and escaped disaster. After the Old Rebels repults
at Bristol Station and boarded advance on Centreville. Stuart's cavalry
shielded the withdrawal of Lee's army from the vicinity of
Manassas Junction.

Speaker 2 (40:07):
Jackson Killpatrick Judnan cavalry pursued Stuart's cavalry along the Warrantine Turnpike.
But we're lowered into an ambush and here Chestnut Hill
and routed Federal troopers were scattered and chased five miles
in an affair that became known as the Buckland Races.
Right Southern press began to mute its criticism Stuart following
his successful performance during the Fall campaign. All right's he's

(40:27):
up on this guy a little bit.

Speaker 3 (40:29):
Jeez, what have you done for me? Late the overland campaign,
Lieutenant General Ulysses s grant offensive against Lee in the
spring of eighteen sixty four. It began at the Battle
of the Wilderness, where Stuart aggressively pushed Thomas Rosser's Laura
Brigade into a fight against George Custer's better armed Michigan Brigade,

(40:50):
resulting into significant losses. Just couldn't get over Custer. Huh. Generally,
he sent a message to Stuart, it is very important
to say about Calvary and not wear it out. You
must use your good judgment to make any attack which
made off of advantages. As the Army's maneuvered toward the
next confrontation at Sponslvania Corp House, Jeb's cavalry fought delaying

(41:12):
actions against the Union Cavalry his defense at Laurel Hill,
also directing the infantry Brigadier General Joseph Kershaw, it skillfully
delayed the advance of the Federal Army for nearly five
critical hours.

Speaker 2 (41:25):
Critical.

Speaker 3 (41:26):
Good for you, Bud.

Speaker 2 (41:27):
The commander of the Army to Potomac at this time,
Major General George Mead, and his cavalry commander, Major General
Phillip Sheridan.

Speaker 3 (41:33):
He's won.

Speaker 2 (41:34):
They quarreled about the Union Cavalry's performance in the first
two engagements of the overland campaign. Sheridan he newly asserted
that he wanted to concentrate all of Calvary move out
in force against Stuart's command.

Speaker 3 (41:45):
And with it, I think soly.

Speaker 2 (41:46):
Mead reported the comments to Grant, who replied, did Sheridan
say that, well, he generally knows what he's talking about.

Speaker 3 (41:52):
All right, let's start.

Speaker 2 (41:55):
Let him start right out and do it. There you go.
Sheridan immediately organized rating against Confederate supply and railroad lines
close to Richmond, which he knew would bring Stuart to battle.

Speaker 3 (42:04):
Yeah, they got to lure him out, had to. Sheridan
moved aggressively to the southeast, crossing the North Anna River
and seas in Beaver Dam station on the Virginia Central Railroad.
This is where his men captured a train and liberating
three thousand Union prisoners, destroying more than one million Russians,
dam and medical supplies destined for Lee's army. Oh Jeb

(42:27):
dispatched a force of three thousand cavalrymen to intercept Sheridan's cavalry,
which was more than three times their numbers. As he
rode and pursued, accompanied by his aide, Major Andrew R. Venable,
they were able to stop briefly along the way to
be greeted by Stuart's wife, Flora and his children Jimmy
and Virginia. Oh I mean that fucking names.

Speaker 2 (42:48):
Oh Venable. He rode of Stuart. He told me he
never expected to live through the war, and then if
we were conquered, that he did not want to live.

Speaker 3 (42:55):
Oh wow.

Speaker 2 (42:57):
The Battle of Yellow Tavern took place May eleven at
an abandoned inn located six miles north of Richmond. Comvettered
troops resisted from the low Ridge line bordering the road
to Richmond, fighting for over three hours. After receiving a
scouting report from Texas jack Al mahundro, Stuart, you let
a counter charge and push the advancing Union troopers back

(43:17):
from the hilltop. Stuart, who was on horseback, shouted encouragement
from in front of Company K of the First Virginia Cavalry.
Well fire and as revolver at the Union troopers.

Speaker 3 (43:26):
Nice is yelling, oh well this has happening. As the
fifth Mission Cavalry streamed and retreat past Stuart, a dismounted
Union private forty four year old John A.

Speaker 2 (43:36):
Huff forty four year old Wow.

Speaker 3 (43:39):
Turned and shot Stuart with his forty four caliber revolver
from a distance about ten to thirty yards. The lodge
caliber around cut through Stuart's abdomen and exited an inch
to the right of a spine. Stuart fell into the
arms of Company Case Commander Gus Dorsey. Dorsey caught him
took him from his horse. Stuart told him, Dorris, save

(44:01):
your man. Doris refused to leave him and brought Stuart
to the rear.

Speaker 2 (44:06):
He suffered great pain as an ambulance took him to
the Richmond As an ambulance took him to Richmond to
await his wife's arrival. At the home of doctor Charles Brewer,
who was brother in law. As he was being driven
from the field in an ambulance wagon, Stuart noticed disorganized
ranks of retreated men and called out to them his
last words on the battlefield, go back, go back and
do your duty as I have done mine, and our

(44:28):
country will be safe. Go back, go back.

Speaker 3 (44:31):
I had rather die than be whipped ooh. Stuart ordered
his sword and spurs be given to his son. As
his aide, Major McLennan left his side. Confederate President Jefferson
Davis came in, took Stuart's hand and asked, General, how
do you feel? Stuart answered, easy, but willing to die
God in my country. Think I have fulfilled my destiny

(44:52):
and done my duty. His last whispered words were, I
am resigned. God's will be done.

Speaker 2 (45:01):
He died at seven thirty eight pm and May twelfth,
the following day, before Flora Stewart reached his side, and
he was thirty one years old.

Speaker 3 (45:08):
It's crazy.

Speaker 2 (45:09):
Stuart was buried in Richmond's Hollywood Cemetery. Upon learning of
Stuart's death, Generally is like I lost both my arms
right Pon learning of Stuart's death, Generally is reported to
have said that he could hardly keep from weeping at
the mere mention of Stuart's name, and that Stuart had
never given him a bad piece of information. Oh wow,
John Huff the private Whood fatally wounded Stuart, and a

(45:31):
twist of fate, was killed in action just a few
weeks later at the Battle of Hall Shop. Oh crazy,
do you think they were gunning for him? I knew
who he was, right man.

Speaker 3 (45:42):
Flora wore the black of mourning for the remainder of
her life. She never remarried. She lived in Saltville, Virginia
for fifteen years after the war because she was salty
where she opened and taught at a school and in
log cabin. She worked from eighteen eighty to eighteen ninety
eight as principal of the Virginia Female Institute in Staunton, Virginia,

(46:04):
which was the position for which Robert E. Lee had
recommended her before his death ten years earlier. In nineteen
oh seven, the institute renamed Stuart Hall School in her honor.
Oh good for her.

Speaker 2 (46:18):
Up On the death of her daughter, Virginia from complications
and childbirth.

Speaker 3 (46:21):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (46:22):
At eighteen ninety eight, Flora resigned from the institute and
moved back to Norfolk, Virginia, where she helped Virginia's Would
It Were Robert Page Waller and raising her grandchildren. She
too died in Norfolk nineteen twenty three after striking her
head in a fall on a city sidewalk. Son of
a bitch. So see shit like that? I mean, come on,

(46:42):
She's buried alongside her husband and their daughter, Little Flora,
and Hollywood Cemetery in Rich.

Speaker 3 (46:47):
It's just insane, dude. You lived that long life, you
go through all that tragedy, and you die from falling
and hitting your head.

Speaker 2 (46:55):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (46:57):
Like his intimate friend Stonewall Jackson, General Jeb Stuart was
a legendary figure and is considered one of the greatest
cavalry commanders in American history. His friend from his Federal
Army days, Union Major John Sedgwick, He said that Stuart
was the greatest cavalry officer ever foiled in America. Jackson

(47:20):
and Stuart, both of whom killed in battle, had colorful
public images, although the Latters seemed to have been more
deliberately crafted.

Speaker 2 (47:29):
Wrote about Stuart. Stuart had been the Confederacy's knight Errant,
the bold and dashing cavalier, a tired and resplendent uniform,
plumed hat and cape met a slaughterhouse. He had embodied chivalry,
clinging to the pageantry of a long gone warrior. Crafted
the image carefully, and the image befitted him all right.

(47:51):
He saw himself as the Southern people saw him. Right.
They needed a night He needed to be that night.

Speaker 3 (47:56):
Damn right. Oh. Jeb's birthplace, Lower Hill, Slow Aiden, Patrick County, Virginia,
If you guys want to visit it. It was purchased
by Jeb Stewart's Birthplace Preservation Trusts in nineteen ninety two.
They did that to preserve and interpreted it cool. In
December two thousand and six, a personal Confederate battle flag
sown by Flora Stewart, It was sold in the Heritage

(48:18):
Auction for nine hundred and fifty six thousand.

Speaker 2 (48:20):
Dollars, a world record price for.

Speaker 3 (48:23):
Any Confederate flag. The thirty four inch by thirty four
inch flag was hands sown for Stuart by his dear
wife in eighteen sixty two, and Stuart carried it into
some of the most famous battles for him. It was
a bad luck battle. Then William's Flag, Son.

Speaker 2 (48:38):
Of a Bitch us route fifty eight in Virginia is
named the Jeb Stewart Highway. Eighteen eighty four, the town
of Taylor's, virgin Taylorsville, Virginia was renamed Stuart. The British
Army named two models of American made World War Two tanks,
which is the M three and M five. They named
it the Stewart Tank in general Stuart's honor, well look
at that shit. A middle school in Jacksonville, Florida, is

(49:00):
name for him. High school is also named for him
on Munson's Hill and Falls Church, Virginia, which opened in
nineteen fifty nine fantastic. In early twenty seventeen, Fairfax County
Public Schools established an ad hoc working committee to assist
the Fairfax County School Board and determining whether to rename
the Stuart High School in Virginia count Yeez, and they
say that the Fairfax County Public Schools should not continue

(49:24):
to honor a Confederate general who fought in support of
a cause dedicated to maintaining the institution of slavery in
Virginia in the other states.

Speaker 3 (49:31):
Twenty seventeen, we went and all col crashing down. The
creation of the committee followed the circulation of a petition
start by actress Julianne Moore and Bruce Coe and twenty sixteenth,
which garnered over thirty five thousand signatures and support are
changing the school's name to one honor in the late
United States Supreme Court Justice third grade Marshall. I mean

(49:52):
that's cool. Twenty seventh of July twenty seventeen, Fairfax County
School Board approved a measure to change the school name
no later than the start with the two that was
nineteen year.

Speaker 2 (50:01):
The measure asset the Stuart High School be considered as
a possibility for the new name. October twenty seven, twenty seventeen,
the Fairfax County School Board voted the change the name
of JEB Stuart High.

Speaker 3 (50:10):
School to Justice High School.

Speaker 2 (50:11):
Oh that's Board member Sandy Evans from the Mason District said,
the name of honor Justice Sturgood Marshall, civil rights leader
Barbara Rose, johns US Army Officer Lewis Gonzaga Mendez Junior,
and all those who have fought for justice inequality.

Speaker 3 (50:27):
Yeah. Eighteenth of June twenty eighteen, school Board for Richmond
Public Schools in Richmond, Virginia voted six to one to
rename Jeb Stewart Elementary School to Barack Obama Elementary School.
On the twelfth of June twenty eighteen, students of the
school were given opportunity to narrow down the choices for
renaming the school from seven to three. North Side Elementary
received one ninety, Barack Obama Elementary received one hundred and

(50:49):
six received one hundred and sixty six votes, and Wishtree
Elementary received on hundred twenty seven, so.

Speaker 2 (50:54):
They still named it Barack Obama Elementary, even though the
North Side clearly received the most votes. Right from there,
the administration of Richmond Public Schools recommended to the school
board that it renamed the school after Barack Obama. Superintendent
Jason Cameras he said, it's incredibly powerful that in the
capital of the Confederacy, where we had a school name
for an individual who fought to maintain slavery, that now

(51:14):
were renamed the school after the first black president. They
clearly a lot of our kids and our kids that
Jeb Stewart see themselves in Barack Obama.

Speaker 3 (51:23):
The student population is newly named Barack Obama Elementary School
is made up of more than ninety percent African American
Stuart Hall School is a Staunton, Virginia co educational school
for students from pre K to grade twelve officer boarding
program from grades eight to twelve. It was renamed in
nineteen oh seven. And I'm of his most famous headmistress,

(51:44):
Missus Flora Cook Stewart, which y'all know is the widow
of Confederate Calvary leader Major General.

Speaker 2 (51:53):
Named Joseph Akua. Meanwhile, he played Stuart and again the
films of Getty Berry and Gods in General.

Speaker 3 (52:01):
He did, He did.

Speaker 2 (52:02):
Errol Flynn played Stuart in the movie Santa Fe Trail,
depicting his Antebellum life from fronting John Brown in Kansas
and at Harper's Ferry Nights limited television series based on
the novel The Good Loud The Good Lord Bird was
released with Wyatt Russell as Stewart, Oh that's Goldie and
Kurt's son. In the second season of Twin Peaks, Ben
Horn retreats into a fantasy of being Robert E. Lee

(52:23):
after a mental breakdown and believes his brother Jerry Horn
to be Stuart.

Speaker 3 (52:27):
Oh Well, Stuart along was his war horse Skylark, is
featured in prominently in the novel Traveler by Richard Adams,
and the alternate history novel Grave Victory That Happened in
nineteen eighty eight author Robert Skimming. He depicts Stuart surviving
his wound from the Battle of Yellow Tavern. After the
war and What's the Confederacy emerges victorious, he faces a court.

Speaker 2 (52:49):
Of inquiry over his actions at the battle.

Speaker 3 (52:52):
Getty's Boy and Harry Turtle Doves nineteen nine and two
alternate history novel The Guns of the South Stuart he
features as one of lee these generals as the AWB
bring back AK forty seven rifles from twenty fourteen to
eighteen sixty four. Oh Jeez Man under Stuart's commander of
the first Confederate troops to use the AK forty seven
in battle. Stuart is so impressed with the new rifle

(53:14):
that he sells his personal LaMotte revolver and replaces it
with an AK forty seven.

Speaker 2 (53:19):
Imagine Jeez. Also in Harry Turtdove's alternate history novel How
Few Remain, Stewart is the command in Confederate General in
charge of the occupation and defense of the recently purchased
Mexican provinces of Sonora, and Chihuahua.

Speaker 3 (53:32):
In eighteen eighty one Fantastic.

Speaker 2 (53:34):
This is the first volume of the Southern Victory series,
or the US and CSA fight each other repeatedly in
the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Stuart's son and grandson also
appear in these novels.

Speaker 3 (53:44):
Oh Nice.

Speaker 2 (53:45):
Several short stories in Mary Hannah's collection Airships feature Stewart
as a character. Stuart's Brought to Gettysburg is the impetus
for the sci fi ish book and End of Bugling
by Edmund G.

Speaker 3 (53:57):
Love.

Speaker 2 (53:58):
He's also character in Lam Elliott's Annie Between the States.

Speaker 3 (54:02):
Jeb is also a character in the historical adventure novel
flash Man and the Angel of the Lord. This was
by George McDonald Fraser. It features Stuart's early career role
in the United States Army at John Brown's raid at
Harpers Ferry. Also in the long running comic book g
I Combat featuring Haunted Tank. It's published by d C

(54:23):
Comics from the nineteen sixties through the eighties. The Ghost
of General Stewart Got It a tank crew commanded by
his namestake, Lieutenant Jeb Stewart, the tank being at first
a Stuart later as Sherman.

Speaker 2 (54:34):
Oh wow, that Patredict's things.

Speaker 3 (54:35):
Oh wow, all right, Uh, well that's old Jeb.

Speaker 2 (54:40):
So Jeb not really much that we didn't really learn
in battles. Pretty much all of it was repeated from
the battles. We covered obviously a little bit on his
early life and upbringing, but under naw, I mean, can't
do too much to a guy that died during the war,
didn't have a post life, and so Jeb possibly the
greatest cavalry commander in the history of the United States.

Speaker 3 (55:01):
They say, that's yeah, we'll be back.

Speaker 2 (55:04):
Next week for more behind the battles, most likely another
Union guy. Maybe we'll go someone less known, but not
really less known, but it was still important besides the
major names. But you never know what do we get
there because I tell you one thing and it's completely different.
So oh, the important thing is we'll be back next

(55:24):
week for more Civil War behind the battles, So we'll
see then we are The mother music interwas Hick