"The Army was much embarrassed by the absence of the cavalry," Robert E. Lee wrote of the Gettysburg campaign, stirring a controversy that has never died. Lee's statement was an indirect indictment of General James Ewell Brown ("Jeb") Stuart, who was the cavalry.

Here is a full and definitive biography of the dashing and enigmatic Confederate hero of the Civil War, General J.E.B. Stuart. This life-size portrait of Stuart surveys his life from childhood through his training at West Point, his years on the Western frontier, and his decision to stand with Virginia when war arrived. His brilliant Civil War career is covered in detail, from the raid on Chambersburg through to his final, fatal clash at Yellow Tavern. "The rudimentary field communications of the Civil War demanded of the cavalry the utmost in bravery, durability, and vigilance", writes Burke Davis in his introduction to this edition. "Victory or defeat of armies was often in the hands of their cavalrymen".

Rolls of the 2nd and 3rd regiments, and of Companies B, E, F and K of the 1st regiment, Virginia cavalry: p. [423]-468.

Characterized by precision of statement and clarity of detail, W.W. Blackford's memoir of his service in the Civil War is one of the most valuable to come out of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. It also provides a critically important perspective on one of the best-known Confederate cavalrymen, Major General J.E.B. Stuart.Blackford was thirty years old when the war began, and he served from June 1861, until January, 1864, as Stuart's adjutant, developing a close relationship with Lee's cavalry commander. He subsequently was a chief engineer and a member of the staff at the cavalry headquarters. Because Stuart was mortally wounded in 1864, he did not leave a personal account of his career. Blackford's memoir, therefore, is a vital supplement to Stuart's wartime correspondence and reports.In a vivid style, Blackford describes the life among the cavalrymen, including scenes of everyday camp life and portraits of fellow soldiers both famous and obscure. He presents firsthand accounts of, among others, the battles of First Bull Run, the Peninsular campaign, Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, and Cold Harbor, and describes his feelings at witnessing the surrender at Appomattox.It is not certain precisely when Blackford penned his memoir, but evidence suggests it was before 1896. The book was originally published in 1945, four decades after his death, but until now has never been reprinted.

This book is an operational and tactical study of cavalry operations in Northern Virginia from September 1862 to July 1863. It examines in detail John Mosby's first six months as a partisan, within the context of the larger threat to the Union capital posed by Jeb Stuart. Previous studies of Mosby's career are largely based on postwar memoirs. This narrative balances those accounts with previously unpublished official contemporary records left by the Union soldiers assigned to the defense of Washington, D.C. The formation of the Michigan Cavalry Brigade is fully documented, along with the exploits of the brigade in the months before George Custer took command. Largely forgotten events, such as Jeb Stuart's Christmas Raid, the fight at Fairfax Station during Stuart's ride to Gettysburg, as well as the vital role played by Union general Julius Stahel's cavalry division in the critical month of June 1863, are examined at length.

Jeb Stuart, leader of the cavalry of the Army of Northern Virginia, earned the admiration of his enemies during the first three years of the Civil War. Famed for his daring ride around McClellan during the Peninsula Campaign, and his raid behind Union lines in Virginia and into Maryland and Pennsylvania, he was a legend long before he was killed at Yellow Tavern in 1864.

Hardly any biography could contain the robust and romantic Jeb Stuart, but John W. Thomason Jr. goes as far as anyone ever has in pinning down the quality of the Confederate cavalry commander. Virginia-bred, James Ewell Brown Stuart graduated from West Point, where he was called ?Beauty,? and rode with the Mounted Rifles against the Apaches and Comanches on the western frontier. When Virginia seceded from the Union, Jeb Stuart joined the Confederate army. His lightning-like raids became legendary. From Bull Run to Brandy Station he served as Robert E. Lee?s eyes and ears, becoming a major general at the age of twenty-eight. Less than three years later Stuart?s meteoric career ended with his death in a cavalry charge.

Fighting with JEB Stuart: Major James Breathed and the Confederate Horse Artillery is the first biography of this important Southern officer, a brave and virtuous warrior who embodied all the qualities that made the Confederate Army one of the finest in history. Breathed?s resume of combat mirrors that of General Lee?s legendary Army of Northern Virginia. Major Breathed was involved in eighty-six battles, engagements and skirmishes.When the Civil War began, James Breathed was a 21-year-old physician at the beginning of his medical career. A Virginian by birth, and raised on a plantation in Maryland, he cast his lot with the Confederacy in April 1861. By chance, he shared a seat on a train with James Ewell Brown (JEB) Stuart, who encouraged Breathed to join the 1st Virginia Cavalry, a regiment commanded by Stuart. Breathed was then transferred to the newly formed Stuart Horse Artillery. For the doctor-turned-warrior, it was a perfect assignment.Unencumbered by formal military training, Breathed developed his own unique style of command. Relentless in his efforts to defeat the enemy, he exhibited conspicuous gallantry and accomplishments on so many fields that his actions separated him from the pack of other battery commanders?inside and outside the cavalry arm. Breathed?s handling of horse artillery and accurate fire became recognizable to his enemies. Alexander C. M. Pennington, the leader of a celebrated Union battery of the horse artillery, looked forward to and dreaded his many encounters with Breathed. In the minds of the Confederate veterans who knew him best, Breathed was no less of a legend than artillerist John Pelham. After the war doctor Breathed returned to continue his practice of medicine in Hancock, Maryland. He died February 14, 1870. This study is based upon previously unknown or overlooked family primary documents and archival sources, a keen appreciation of the terrain over which Breathed?s guns rolled and fought, and a broad foundation of knowledge of the American Civil War in the Eastern Theater. Fighting With JEB Stuart adds something dramatically new to the literature of the Civil War.

Civil War historians have long been puzzled by Pickett’s seemingly suicidal frontal attack on the Union center at Gettysburg. Here, for the first time, Paul D. Walker reveals Robert E. Lee’s true plan for victory at Gettysburg: a simultaneous strike against the Union center from the front and rear—Pickett’s infantry to charge the front, while Stuart’s cavalry struck the rear. The frontal assault by Pickett went off as scheduled, but as Stuart’s forces approached from the rear, they encountered a Union cavalry contingent. As the forces joined, the Union cavalry leader was quickly killed, and command fell to one of the most dynamic figures in American history—George Armstrong Custer. What followed was America’s greatest cavalry battle: 7,500 Confederate horsemen ranged against 5,000 Union cavalry, Jeb Stuart against George Custer, with the outcome of the Civil War at stake.

Jeb Stuart was one of the most colorful soldiers in the Confederate Army.