Read Ebook: Life of J. E. B. Stuart by Williamson Mary L Mary Lynn Wiggins Evelina Oakley Editor

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Ebook has 639 lines and 46275 words, and 13 pages

"About this time I observed Stanley and McIntyre close by; the former said, 'Wait, I'll fetch him,' and dismounted from his horse so as to aim deliberately, but in dismounting, his pistol accidentally discharged the last load he had. He began, however, to snap the empty barrels at the Indian who was walking deliberately up to him with his revolver pointed.

"I could not stand that, but drawing my saber rushed on the monster, inflicting a severe wound across his head, that I think would have severed any other man's, but simultaneous with that he fired his last barrel within a foot of me, the ball taking effect in the breast, but by the mercy of God glancing to the left and lodging so far inside that it cannot be felt. I rejoice to inform you that it is not regarded as at all fatal or dangerous, though I may be confined to my bed for weeks."

At the end of about ten days, some Pawnee guides who had been attached to the expedition brought orders for this little detachment to leave the camp where it was exposed to attacks from the wandering bands of Cheyenne Indians and go back to Fort Kearny a hundred miles away.

Stuart was just able to sit on his horse again, yet we shall see that in spite of his wound he was the life and salvation of the little party. The Pawnees said they were only four days distant from the fort, but the second day these unreliable guides deserted and the soldiers were lost in a heavy fog, without a compass. They were forced to depend on a Cheyenne prisoner for information. After four days' fruitless and difficult marching through the forest, Stuart, who believed that the guard was willfully misleading them, volunteered to go ahead with a small force, find the fort, and send back help for those who were still suffering too seriously from their wounds to keep up on a rapid and uncertain march.

After many dangers and deep anxiety on his part, taking his course by the stars when the fog lifted at night and working his way through it as best he could by day, he finally reached Fort Kearny. The Pawnees had come in three days before, and scouting parties had been searching for Captain Foote's command about which much anxiety was felt. Help was immediately sent them, and as a result of Stuart's indomitable will and able services, the little party was rescued and brought safely to the fort.

From the autumn of 1857 until the summer of 1860, Stuart was stationed at Fort Riley. During these three years, there were few skirmishes with the Indians and Stuart had leisure to perfect the invention of a saber attachment that he had been thinking of ever since his student days at West Point. This invention was bought and patented by the government in October, 1859, while the inventor was on leave of absence in Virginia, visiting his mother and his friends.

It was on the night of the sixteenth of this same October that a band of twenty men, under the leadership of John Brown, seized the United States arsenal at Harper's Ferry. Brown was a fanatic who believed that all slaves should be set free and who had taken an active part in the recent disturbances in Kansas. After seizing the arsenal at Harper's Ferry, he sent out his followers during the night to arrest certain citizens and to call to arms the slaves on the surrounding plantations. About sixty citizens were arrested and imprisoned in the engine house, within the confines of the armory, but the slaves, either through fear or through distrust of Brown and his schemes, refused to obey his summons.

The next morning as soon as news of the seizure of Harper's Ferry spread over the country, armed men came against Brown from all directions. Before night he and his followers took refuge in the engine house, but it was so crowded that he was obliged to release all but ten of his prisoners.

When the news of Brown's raid was telegraphed to Washington, Lieutenant Stuart, who was at the capital attending to the sale of his patent saber attachment, was requested to bear a secret order to Lieutenant-Colonel Robert E. Lee, his old superintendent at West Point, who was then at his home, Arlington, near Washington city. Stuart learned that Colonel Lee had been ordered to command the marines who were being sent to suppress the insurrection at Harper's Ferry, and he at once offered to act as aid-de-camp. Colonel Lee, who remembered Stuart well as a cadet, immediately accepted his offer of service.

Upon arriving at Harper's Ferry on the night of October 17, they found that John Brown and his men were still in the engine house, defying the citizen soldiers who surrounded the building. Colonel Lee proceeded to surround the engine house with the marines; at daylight, wishing to avoid bloodshed, he sent Lieutenant Stuart to demand the surrender of the fanatical men, promising to protect them from the fury of the citizens until he could give them up to the United States government.

When Lieutenant Stuart advanced to the parley, Brown, who had assumed the name of Smith, opened the door four or five inches only, placed his body against it, and held a loaded carbine in such a position that, as he stated afterward, he might have "wiped Stuart out like a mosquito." Immediately the young officer recognized in the so-called Smith the identical John, or "Ossawatomie," Brown who had caused so much trouble in Kansas. Brown refused Colonel Lee's terms and demanded permission to march out with his men and prisoners and proceed as far as the second tollgate. Here, he declared, he would free his prisoners and if Colonel Lee wished to pursue he would fight to the bitter end.

Stuart said that these terms could not be accepted and urged him to surrender at once. When Brown refused, Stuart waved his cap, the signal agreed upon, and the marines advanced, battered down the doors, and engaged in a hand-to-hand fight with the insurgents. Ten of Brown's men were killed by the marines and all the rest, including Brown himself, were wounded.

That same day, Lieutenant Stuart, under Colonel Lee's orders, went to a farm about four miles and a half away that Brown had rented and brought back a number of pikes with which Brown had intended to arm the negroes. Colonel Lee was then ordered back to Washington and Stuart went with him. John Brown and seven of his men were tried, were found guilty of treason, and were hanged.

The John Brown Raid cast a great gloom over the country. While many people in the North regarded Brown as a martyr to the cause of emancipation, the southern people were justly indignant at the thought that their lives and property were no longer safe from the plots of the Abolition party which Brown had represented. The bitter feelings aroused by this affair culminated, in 1861, in the bloody War of Secession.

There seems to have been no doubt in the mind of Lieutenant Stuart as to what he should do in the event of Virginia's withdrawal from the Union. As soon as he heard that the Old Dominion had seceded, he forwarded to the War Department his resignation as an officer in the United States army, and hastening to Richmond, he enlisted in the militia of his native state. Like most other southerners, he preferred poverty and hardships in defense of the South to all the honors and wealth which the United States government could bestow.

On May 10, 1861, Stuart was commissioned as lieutenant colonel of infantry, and was ordered to report to Colonel T. J. Jackson at Harper's Ferry. While he was at Harper's Ferry, Stuart organized several troops of cavalry to assist the infantry and he was soon transferred to this branch of the service.

On May 15, General Joseph E. Johnston was sent by the Confederate government to take command of all the forces at Harper's Ferry; while Colonel Jackson, who had previously been in command of the place, was assigned charge of the Virginia regiments afterwards famous as the "Stonewall Brigade." General Johnston found that he was unable to hold the town against the advancing Federal force; so he destroyed the railway bridge and retired with his guns and stores to Bunker Hill, twelve miles from Winchester, where he offered battle to the Federals. They declined to fight and withdrew to the north bank of the Potomac river.

When the Federals under General Patterson again crossed the river, General Jackson with his brigade was sent forward to support the cavalry under Stuart and to destroy the railway engines and cars at Martinsburg. Jackson then remained with his brigade near Martinsburg, while his front was protected by Colonel Stuart with a regiment of cavalry.

On July 1, General Patterson advanced toward General Jackson, who went forward to meet him, with only the Fifth Regiment, several companies of cavalry, and one piece of artillery. The Confederate general posted his men behind a farm house and barn, and held back Patterson so well that he threw forward an entire division to overpower the small force of Jackson. The latter then fell back slowly to the main body of his troops, with the trifling loss of two men wounded and nine missing.

While supporting Jackson in this first battle in the Shenandoah valley, known as the battle of Haines' Farm or Falling Waters, Colonel Stuart had a remarkable adventure. Riding alone in advance of his men, he came suddenly out of a piece of woods at a point where he could see a force of Federal infantry on the other side of the fence. Without a moment's hesitation, he rode boldly forward and ordered the Federal soldiers to pull down the bars.

They obeyed and he immediately rode through to the other side, and in peremptory tones said, "Throw down your arms or you are dead men."

The raw troops were so overcome by Stuart's boldness and commanding tones that they obeyed at once and then marched as he directed through the gap in the fence. Before they recovered from their astonishment, Stuart had them surrounded by his own force which had come up in the meantime, thus capturing over forty men--almost an entire company.

After some marching backward and forward, General Johnston retired to Winchester; while General Patterson moved farther south to Smithfield as if he intended to attack in that direction. Stuart with his small force was now compelled to watch a front of over fifty miles, in order to report promptly the movements of the Federals, yet he did this so efficiently that later on when General Johnston was ordered west, he wrote to Stuart:

"How can I eat, sleep, or rest in peace, without you upon the outpost?"

General Johnston now received a call for help from General Beauregard who commanded a Confederate army of twenty thousand men at Manassas Junction. Beauregard was confronted by a Federal army of thirty-five thousand men, including nearly all of the United States regulars east of the Rocky Mountains. This army, commanded by General McDowell, was equipped with improved firearms and had fine uniforms, good tents, and everything that money could buy to make good soldiers. The North was very proud of this fine army and fully expected it to crush Beauregard and to sweep on to Richmond.

Beauregard was indeed in danger. He had a smaller army and his infantry was armed, for the most part, with old-fashioned smooth-bore muskets, and his cavalry with sabers and shotguns. One company of cavalry was armed only with the pikes of John Brown, which had been stored at Harper's Ferry. Beauregard stationed his forces in line of battle along the banks of Bull Run from the Stone Bridge to Union Mills, a distance of eight miles. On July 18, the Federals tried to force Blackburn's Ford on Bull Run, but were repulsed with heavy loss. Beauregard, knowing that the attack would be renewed the next day, sent a message to Johnston at Winchester, sixty miles away.

"If you are going to help me, now is the time," was Beauregard's message.

Two days before, Stuart had been transferred to the cavalry, with a commission as colonel, and he entered at once upon his arduous labors. At first he had in his command only twenty-one officers and three hundred and thirteen men, raw to military discipline and poorly armed with the guns they had used in hunting, but all were fine horsemen and good shots.

General Johnston, leaving Stuart with a little band of troopers to conceal his movements, immediately commenced his march from Winchester to Manassas. So skillfully did Colonel Stuart do his work that General Patterson was not aware of General Johnston's departure until Sunday, July 21, when the great battle of Manassas was fought. Owing to a collision which had blocked the railway, some of the infantry did not reach Manassas until near the close of the battle, but the cavalry and the artillery marched all the way and arrived in time to render effective service during the entire battle.

It was at Manassas that General Jackson won his name of "Stonewall" because of the wonderful stand that his brigade made, just when it seemed that the Federals were about to overcome the Confederates. But we are concerned particularly with the movements of the cavalry which rendered fine service, protecting each flank of the army. Colonel Stuart, with only two companies of cavalry, protected the left flank from assault after assault. At one time Stuart boldly charged the Federal right and drove back a company of Zouaves resplendent in their blue and scarlet uniforms and white turbans.

General Early, who arrived on the field about three o'clock in the afternoon and assisted in holding the left flank, said, "But for Stuart's presence there, I am of the opinion that my brigade would have arrived too late to be of any use. Stuart did as much toward saving the First Manassas as any subordinate who participated in it."

General Jackson, in his report of the battle, said: "Apprehensive lest my flanks be turned, I sent orders to Colonels Stuart and Radford of the cavalry to secure them. Colonel Stuart and that part of his command with him deserve great praise for the promptness with which they moved to my left and secured my flank from the enemy, and by driving them back."

Thus we see at the very crisis of the battle, Stuart with only a small force aided largely in gaining the great victory. When he saw the Federals fleeing from all parts of the field, he pursued them for twelve miles, taking many prisoners and securing much booty.

After the battle of First Manassas, the main armies were inactive for many months; but the Confederate cavalry was kept busy in frequent skirmishes with the Federal pickets and in raids toward the Potomac river. Stuart took possession of Munson's Hill, near Washington, and for several weeks sent out his pickets within sight of the dome of the Capitol.

In a letter from General F. E. Paxton, of the Stonewall Brigade, we find this interesting mention of Colonel Stuart and his life at the outpost: "Yesterday I was down the road about ten miles, and, from a hill in the possession of our troops, had a good view of the dome of the Capitol, some five or six miles distant. The city was not visible, because of the woods coming between. I saw the sentinel of the enemy in the field below me, and about half a mile off and not far on this side, our own sentinels. They fire sometimes at each other. Mrs. Stuart, wife of the colonel who has charge of our outpost, visits him occasionally--having a room with friends a few miles inside the outpost. Whilst there looking at the Capitol, I saw two of his little children playing as carelessly as if they were at home. A dangerous place, you will think, for women and children."

Mrs. Stuart, however, was a soldier's daughter and a soldier's wife, and she took advantage of every opportunity to be with her husband at his headquarters. During the beginning of the war, before the engagements with the Federals became frequent, she was often able to be with her husband or to board at some home near which he was stationed. Although he was a favorite with women, there was no woman who, in General Stuart's eyes, could compare with his wife, and he was never happier than when with her and his children. When the general's duties compelled him to be away from her, two days seldom passed that Mrs. Stuart did not hear from him by letter or telegram.

On September 11, Stuart's forces encountered a raiding party which was forced to retire with a loss of two killed and thirteen wounded, while Stuart lost neither man nor horse.

During the summer, Stuart had been ordered to report to General James Longstreet who commanded the advance of the Confederate army.

General Longstreet in a letter to President Davis said of Stuart: "He is a rare man, wonderfully endowed by nature with the qualities necessary for an officer of light cavalry. Calm, firm, acute, active, and enterprising, I know no one more competent than he to estimate events at their true value. If you add a brigade of cavalry to this army, you will find no better brigadier general to command it."

On September 24, 1861, Stuart received his promotion as brigadier general. His brigade included four Virginia regiments, one North Carolina regiment, and the Jeff Davis Legion of Cavalry. These regiments were composed of high-spirited, brave young men who could ride dashingly and shoot with the skill of backwoodsmen, but who were for the most part untrained in military affairs. Stuart, however, was an untiring drillmaster and by his personal efforts he developed his brigade into a command of capable and devoted soldiers.

The young general was not yet twenty-nine years old. He was of medium height, had winning blue eyes, long silken bronze beard and mustache, and a musical voice. He usually wore gauntlets, high cavalry boots, a broad-brimmed felt hat caught up on one side by a black ostrich plume, and a tight-fitting cavalry coat that he called his "fighting jacket." He rode as if he had been born in the saddle.

Fitz Lee, who served under him, said: "His strong figure, his big brown beard, his piercing, laughing blue eyes, the drooping hat and black feather, the 'fighting jacket' as he termed it, the tall cavalry boots, formed one of the most jubilant and striking pictures in the war."

Later on, John Esten Cooke described Stuart thus: "His 'fighting jacket' shone with dazzling buttons, and was covered with gold braid; his hat was looped up with a golden star and decorated with a black ostrich plume; his fine buff gauntlets reached to the elbow; around his waist was tied a splendid yellow sash and his spurs were of pure gold."

One who formed an opinion of him from a casual glance might have thought that he was merely a gay young fop, fond of handsome and even showy dress. But his friends and his enemies knew better. Gay and even boyish as he was when off duty, loving music and good cheer, his men knew that the instant the bugles called him he would become the calm, daring, farsighted commander, leading them to glorious deeds. No leader of the southern army was more feared by the Federal troops or more admired by the commanders of the Federal cavalry--Sheridan, Pleasanton, Buford, and others--than Stuart whom they nicknamed "the Yellow Jacket." He seemed to fly from place to place, guarding the Confederate line and charging the Federals at the most unexpected times and places; gayly dressed as that brilliant-colored insect, he was as sharp and sudden in attack.

Possessing the daring courage that is necessary for a great cavalry leader, he was so wary and farsighted that he won the respect of conservative leaders as well as the confidence of his men. And in victory or defeat he was the soul of good cheer. His mellow musical voice could be heard above the din of battle singing,

"If you want to have a good time Jine the cavalry."

Once General Longstreet laughingly ordered General Stuart to leave camp, saying he made the cavalrymen's life seem so attractive that all the infantrymen wanted to desert and "jine the cavalry."

On December 20, 1861, while the army was in winter quarters at Manassas, Stuart was placed in command of about 1,500 infantry, a battery of artillery, and a small body of cavalry, for the purpose of covering the movements of General J. E. Johnston's wagon train which had been sent to procure forage for the Confederate troops. It was most important that this wagon train should be protected and the pickets had advanced to Dranesville with the cavalry following closely, when a Federal force of nearly 4,000 men, supported by two other brigades, attacked the pickets. The pickets were driven back, and the Federal artillery and infantry occupied the town, where they posted themselves in a favorable position.

Stuart, when informed that the Federals held the town, sent at once to recall the wagons and advanced as quickly as possible with the rest of his force to engage the Federals while the wagons were gaining a place of safety. The Federals had a much larger force of infantry and had a good position for their artillery; so Stuart, after two hours of unequal combat, was forced to retire with heavy loss in killed and wounded. The wagons, however, were saved from capture; and the next morning when Stuart returned to renew the attack, he found that the Federals had retired.

In this battle of Dranesville, the Confederate loss was nearly 200 and that of the Federals was only 68. This was the first serious check that Stuart had received, but he had displayed so much prudence and skill in extricating the wagons and his small force from the sudden danger that he retained the entire confidence of his men.

Writing about this battle to his wife, Stuart said, "The enemy's force was at least four times larger than mine. Never was I in greater personal danger. Horses and men fell about me like tenpins, but thanks to God neither I nor my horse was touched."

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