Originally aired on October 13,1995 - In part 59 of our Civil War series, Virginia Tech history professor James Robertson profiles Confederate General Jubal Anderson Early. Though hated in some quarters, the eccentric lawyer had a deep loyalty to the South.
#59 – “Old Jube” Early
Dark and sarcastic – a cold, uncompromising general in his mid-forties – heavily bearded and profane in speech, he walked with a slight stoop and chewed tobacco incessantly. Never generally liked, and in some quarters actively hated, he nevertheless displayed fighting qualities and abiding loyalty to the South. Such was Jubal Anderson Early, a character in a civil war filled with characters.
Early was born November 3, 1816, in Franklin County, Virginia. He was the third of ten children of a well-to-do farmer, and he graduated in the West Point class of 1837. Although he saw action against the Seminoles and the Mexicans, Early left the army to practice law in Rocky Mount. By the outbreak of the civil war, he had been commonwealth attorney for Franklin County, a representative in the General Assembly, and a delegate to the Virginia Secession Convention.
His Confederate service mirrored the history of the Army of Northern Virginia. Every man in that army came at least to recognize the general they called “Old Jube” or “Old Jubilee”. Conspicuous conduct at the battles of First and Second Manassas, Williamsburg, Antietam, Second Fredericksburg, and Salem Church brought Early promotions to the rank of lieutenant general. In the spring of 1864, he took command of Stonewall Jackson’s old Second Corps.
By then, his peculiarities were well-known. A Confederate officer described Early in this fashion: “He was eccentric in many ways…Although he was not an old man, his shoulders were so stooped and rounded that he brought his countenance to a vertical position with difficulty. He wore a long, straggling beard. His eyes were very small, dark, deep-set, and glittering…His step was slow, shuffling, and almost irresolute…His voice was a piping (nasal twang), and he talked with a long-drawn whine.”
Early’s military high and low came in 1864 in rapid succession. First, his corps routed a Union army threatening Lynchburg. Old Jube then swept down the Shenandoah Valley, won a victory at Monocacy, Maryland, and marched to the gates of Washington itself. Forced to retire, Early went back into Shenandoah. Thereupon occurred the Second Valley Campaign, marked by stunning Confederate defeats at Third Winchester, Fisher’s Hill, and Cedar Creek. For Early, it was total disaster.
His reputation plummeted. Observers began emphasizing his slovenly dress. A belief persisted that the canteen he bore was kept full of “Old Crow”. One general wrote distastefully of Early’s “pungent style of commenting on things he did not like”. Another officer stated that Early’s “irritable disposition and biting tongue made him anything but popular”. A former aide to Jackson declared: “If (Early) had a tender feeling, he endeavored to conceal it and acted as though he would be ashamed to be detected in doing a kindness”.
Fleeing to Mexico instead of surrendering, and never “reconstructed”, Early spent most of the years after the civil war practicing law in Lynchburg, serving as president of the Southern Historical Society, and waging a bitter war of words with General James Longstreet. He refused to wear any color but gray. The old warrior died March 2, 1894; and by his wishes, Early was buried in Lynchburg, clad in his Confederate uniform, and wrapped in a Southern battle flag.
Jube Early never won any popularity contests. He lacked the dash of an A. P. Hill and the magnetism of a John B. Gordon. Yet Early possessed devotion to duty, courage, native intellect, sagacity, and an unbending strength that breathed fire into what became The Lost Cause.
Efforts are now underway to restore his home place in Franklin County. Old Jube might not smile with open pleasure at that, but he assuredly would respond with a snort of satisfaction.
