J. E. B. Stuart

J. E. B. Stuart
Birth name	James Ewell Brown Stuart
Nickname(s)	"Jeb", "Beauty",[1] "Knight of the Golden Spurs",[2] "J.E.B."
Born	February 6, 1833 Patrick County, Virginia
Died	May 12, 1864 (aged 31) Richmond, Virginia
Buried	Hollywood Cemetery
Allegiance	United States of America  Confederate States of America
Service/branch	United States Army  Confederate States Army
Years of service	1854–1861 (USA) 1861–1864 (CSA)
Rank	Captain (USA)  Major general (CSA)
Commands held	1st Virginia Cavalry Cavalry Corps, Army of Northern Virginia
Battles/wars	Bleeding Kansas American Civil War First Battle of Bull Run Peninsula Campaign Northern Virginia Campaign Maryland Campaign Battle of Fredericksburg Battle of Chancellorsville Gettysburg Campaign Overland Campaign Battle of Yellow Tavern †
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James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart (February 6, 1833 – May 12, 1864) was a United States Army officer from Virginia who became a Confederate States Army general during the American Civil War. He was known to his friends as "Jeb", from the initials of his given names. Stuart was a cavalry commander known for his mastery of reconnaissance and the use of cavalry in support of offensive operations. While he cultivated a cavalier image (red-lined gray cape, yellow sash, hat cocked to the side with an ostrich plume, red flower in his lapel, often sporting cologne), his serious work made him the trusted eyes and ears of Robert E. Lee's army and inspired Southern morale.^[3]

Stuart graduated from West Point in 1854, and served in Texas and Kansas with the U.S. Army. In 1855, he married Flora Cooke. His father-in-law was the "Father of the US Cavalry', Philip St. George Cooke. Stuart was a veteran of the frontier conflicts with American Indians and the violence of Bleeding Kansas, and he participated in the capture of John Brown at Harpers Ferry. He resigned, when his home state of Virginia seceded, to serve in the Confederate Army, first under Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley, but then in increasingly important cavalry commands of the Army of Northern Virginia, playing a role in all of that army's campaigns until his death.

He established a reputation as an audacious cavalry commander and on two occasions (during the Peninsula Campaign and the Maryland Campaign) circumnavigated the Union Army of the Potomac, bringing fame to himself and embarrassment to the North. At the Battle of Chancellorsville, he distinguished himself as a temporary commander of the wounded Stonewall Jackson's infantry corps.

Stuart's most famous campaign, the Gettysburg Campaign, was flawed when his long separation from Lee's army left Lee unaware of Union troop movements so that Lee was surprised and almost trapped at the Battle of Gettysburg. Stuart received significant criticism from the Southern press as well as the proponents of the Lost Cause movement after the war. During the 1864 Overland Campaign, Union Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan's cavalry launched an offensive to defeat Stuart, who was mortally wounded at the Battle of Yellow Tavern. Stuart's widow wore black for the rest of her life in remembrance of her deceased husband.