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The Cavalry

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Originally aired on May 12, 1995 - In part 37 of our Civil War series, Virginia Tech history professor James Robertson recounts a cavalry battle in Richmond on the northern outskirts of the town at the hamlet of Yellow Tavern. It pitted Union General Phillip Sheridan against General Jeb Stuart, the embodiment of a Virginia cavalier.

#37 – General Jeb Stuart

May 11, 1864, might have been a beautiful spring day in Richmond had not a major battle exploded on the northern outskirts of town at the hamlet of Yellow Tavern. It was a cavalry fight, with nearly 10,000 Union horsemen pitted against 3,000 mounted Confederates. It was Federal General Phil Sheridan going against the embodiment of a Virginia cavalier, General Jeb Stuart.

Born in 1833 in Patrick County (just west of Martinsville), Stuart graduated in the upper third of his West Point class. For a time he served on a Kansas frontier with the 1st U. S. Cavalry. In 1859 Stuart assisted then – Colonel Robert E. Lee in quelling the attack on Harper’s Ferry by abolitionist John Brown and his band.

Attention and promotion came to Stuart early in the Civil War. As colonel of the first cavalry regiment that Virginia sent into the field, he participated in actions in the Shenandoah Valley and at Manassas. Promotion to brigadier general came that autumn.

The Stuart legend began in earnest in the spring of 1862, when new army commander Robert E. Lee dispatched Stuart and 1200 cavalry to pinpoint the northern flank of the huge Union army pushing on Richmond from the east. Stuart had a compulsive desire for the limelight and the military talent to get it. He not only carried out his assignment quickly; he then journeyed back to Richmond by leading his little brigade completely around the Federal army of 100,000 men. The so-called “Ride around McClellan” cost Stuart one casualty; it brought him promotion to major general.

Thereafter Stuart was chief of cavalry for the Army of Northern Virginia. An outstanding intelligence officer, fearless, aggressive, intuitive, Stuart also looked the part of a great horseman. He was almost six feet in height, stocky and powerful. He neither drank nor used tobacco.

Stuart wore an ostrich plum in his hat, had a gray coat lined with scarlet, and kept a banjo player on his staff to provide strum-strum music when Stuart was not galloping off to battle. Mixing vanity with valor, Jeb Stuart became one of the most famous cavalrymen of all time.

This is not to say that he did not have bad moments. He was caught napping in June, 1863, at Brandy Station, and his absence for two of the three days’ fighting at Gettysburg will always be one of the major controversies of the Civil War. Yet Lee had the utmost confidence in the 30-year-old general. “He never brought me false information,” Lee stated.

Such was the situation that Wednesday in May, 1864, when two cavalry forces collided at Yellow Tavern. Stuart was outnumbered 3-1, but his dismounted soldiers beat back several Union attacks. Near 4 p. m. Sheridan launched the heaviest assault of the day. It threatened to splinter the Confederate left flank. Stuart dashed to that sector and managed to drive back the Union horsemen of General George A. Custer.

Federals began to leave the field; the battle was ending. A Michigan cavalryman looked back. Fifteen yards away was a flashily dressed Confederate officer with large reddish beard. The Federal took quick aim and fired. The .44 caliber bullet pierced the lower abdomen of Jeb Stuart. An ambulance bore the general to his brother-in-law’s home in Richmond. In that age, deep wounds of the torso were fatal. Twenty-six hours after being shot, and while family and physicians stood around his bed and sand Rock of Ages, Jeb Stuart died. When he did, a part of the Confederacy died with him.

Today some dedicated folks are working hard to secure and restore Stuart’s birthplace. In an age when bulldozers seem more important than history, the efforts in Patrick County to save a hero’s home are worthy of support, as well as high commendation.

Dr. James I. "Bud" Robertson, Jr., is a noted scholar on the American Civil War and Alumni Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Virginia Tech.