Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1888-08-15
GEN. ]. E. B. STUART.
CAPTAIN r. e. FRAYSER's TRIBUTE
TO HIS MEMORY.


CAPTAIN r. e. FRAYsER's TRIBUT
TO HIS MEMORY.
SPEECH PREPARED TO BE DELIVERED A
THE DEDICATION OF THE STUART MoNJ
MENT AT YELLOW TAvERN-AUTHENTI
BIOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT CAvALR,
| LEADER.
On the 18th day Of June last, the mon
ument erected to the memory of the lat
General j. E. B. Stuart was dedicated a
Yellow Tavern, the spot where he FELL
Among those who were to have delivered
addresses on that occasion was Captain r.
E. Frayser, of Stuart's staff, but owing tc
the heightened proceedings, and the late
ness cf the hour, he was prevented from
speaking. His address, however, was
really an authentic sketch of the gallant
cavalry leader, and as it is both exceeding
ly interesting and instructive it is repro
duced, as follows /:
Mr.. Presaaest, my Comrades and Country
men:
We are here to-day to honor the boy oi
Laurel Hill and the hero of more than q
hundred battles, by dedicating to his men,
ory an transformations granite shaft to mark
the spot upon which he fell mortally
wounded little more than twenty-four
years ago while defending the city of Rich
mond.
The name of James Ewell Brown Stuart
has already been inscribed indelibly upon
the pages of history, and his illustrious
deeds are known to all civilized nations
His career was brief, but brilliant as the
meteor that flashes athwart the heavens
and leaves in it's track refulgent light. Our
hero was born at Laurel Hill, Patrick
county, Virginia, on the 9th day of Febru-
ary, 1888, and fell on this field the 11th
day of May, 1864. In this short period of
thirty-one years, four months and twelve
days he won a glorious and imperishable
name and one that posterity will delight to
cherish and honor for his noble attributes
and his trapscendent military achievements.
1t would be supererogation in me to follow
through the school room at Wytheville,
Emory and Henry, at West Point, and the
trackless forest in pursuit of the red man for
the protection of the early settlers on the
frontiers in the great Western wilds, or the
conspicuous part he took in all the cam
paigns in our late civil war until he fell on
this field, and now known to every intelli-
gent school boy.
He received thorough military educa-
tion at West Point graduating thirteen in a
class of forty six members. He hesitated
when about to leave his alma mater, wheth-
or he would pursue the law or arms as a
profession. He finally chose the latter,
and received commission as brevet second
lieutenant in the regiment of mounted rifle
men, then serving in Texas, dated July 1st,
1854, and he first rendered active service in
an expedition against the Apache Indians
in portion of the country that was little
known at the time. In this march the
Muscalero Apaches were forced to fee
across the Rio Grande into Mexico. 1t
would consume too much time for me to
give an account of the skirmishes, scouts
and hardships of this expedition. That
you may know how well this great leader
we are honoring to-day acquitted himself,
we will mention here what General J. 8.
Simonson, his commanding officer at the
time, says about him Lieutenant Stuart
was brave and gallant, always prompt in
the execution of orders, and reckless of
danger and exposure. l considered him at
that time one of the most promising young
officers in the United States Army" This
is, indeed, high compliment when taken
in connection with the large number of
young officers serving at that time in the
army. believe the first fight in which
Stuart was engaged was with band of
Comanche Indians while crossing Peacus
river.
In the spring Of 1866 he was transferred
to the First Regiment, United States Cav
kho l. of
In December of the same year he was pro-
NOTED to be first lieutenant in his regiment.
With this rank and in this regiment on the
goth day of July, 1857, upon the north
fork of Solomon's river, he was engaged in
very severe battle with three hundred
Cheyenne warriors, in which he was shot in
the breast, and the ball was never extract
ed. There was the same valor exhibited
in this engagement that he evinced in all
subsequent ones. He acted as volunteer
aid to Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee
in the suppression of the John Brown in
surrection at Harper's Ferry, and in par
ley with old fOssawatomie," at the engine
house where he and his followers had taken
shelter. Stuart says 81 approached the
door in the presence of perhaps two thous-
and spectators, and told Mr.. Smith that I
had a communication for him from Col.
Lee. He opened the door about four
inches, and placed his body against the
crack, with carbine in his hand. Hence
his remark after his capture that he could
have wiped me out like mosquito. When
Smith first came to the door recognized
old Ossawatomie Brown, who had given US
so much trouble in Kansas. No one pres
ent but myself could have performed that
service"
In March, 1861, Lieutenant Stuart OBJ
tanned a two months furlough, in order
that he might be able to direct his own
course in the event of his State seeding,
and with the view of returning to Virginia
or removing with his family to Fort Lyon
as soon as there was some decided action
of his State. He first learned of the ordi-
nance of secession at Fort Riley, but his
leave of absence had not at that time ex-
pired. But he at once removed with his
family to st, Louis, and started down the
river on a steamboat for Memphis. At
Cairo be forwarded his resignation to the
War Department. Immediately thereafter
he was informed that he had been promoted
to captaincy in his regiment. On the 7th
day of May he reached Wytheville, Vir-
ginia, and on that day his resignation was
accepted by the War Department.
His first commission in the Lost Cause
was that of lieutenant colonel of infantry,
dated May the 10th, 1861, with orders to
report to Colonel L. j. jackson, then at
Harper's Ferry. This officer now rose
rapidly in his new field of operations, for
he possessed all the qualities that usually
insure success in life, intelligence, sokriety,
energy, vigilence, firmness, and unerring
Judgment. Stuart's mental faculties were
splendid, even in the very heat of battle,
and to this is greatly due his great victories
in the field. / have seen him in some hot
and perilous places, but / never saw him
unduly excited. Always calm in the face
of danger with presence of mind that
could not be surpassed, thus verifying the
couplet
"Errors not to be recalled do find
Their best redress from presence of mind"
Yes, this presence of mind was of incalcu-
liable value to him. It enabled him to over
come obstacles and to meet all emergencies,
by which at times he extricated himself
and command from the powerful grasp of
the enemy. This I witnessed in June,
1862, in his memorable raid around Nc
Clellan's army, which was applauded by
the civilized world at the time as a brilliant
achievement, and pronounced by Napoleon
Ill, then on the throne of France, as