The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1933-02-17
GU SteY Statue in
New Rumiey, Ohio

ton all-important. AS an adored commander
of the horsemen in gray ("Jeb, he never says
go on" He says "COme on!" they used to re-
mark,) he led them in some of the widest caval-
ry escapades of the war.
He circled McClellans army once, then cir
cled it again just to prove that he could do it.
And the name of Stuart became a nightmare to
that nervous Union commander. He exacted
terrible toll from his opponents in men and in
supplies. From his raid into Pennsylvania he
brought back 1,2O0 horses for the Confederacy;
he had captured 80 officials of the United States
government and sent them to Richmond; he had
destroyed Union government property valued at
more than a quarter of a million dollars. Nc
Clellan had to send all his cavalry after the
dashing Confederate leader and by McClellan's
own admission "That exhausting service
pletely broke down our cavalry horses and rem
dered remOunt absolutely indispensable before
we could advance on the enemy
But Mcclellan wasn't the only Union general
whom Stuart harassed Leading his men in the
singing of "Old Joe Hooker, Won't You Get Out
of the Wlderness?" he had prominent part
In the lack of success of Fighting Joe" at Chan
cellorsville And during the week of June o.
1868, it was Stuart who plunged the officials in
Washington from the President and secretary
of war down into what has been called almost
hystercal panic it's communications with its
defenders, the Army of the Potomac, were cut
off and the hostile cavalry troops of Stuart
hewed wreckage-strewn pathway to the very
gates of the national capital"
OF his right to place among the great Amer
lean cavalry leaders another historian, Joseph
Hergesheimer, in Swords and Roses" has said:
He was a bOrn ideal, leader of cavalry
His perceptions there were faultless; he was
never known to make tactical error. His plans
were formed instantly with more than
single sweeping view of a complicated battle
&olI
querabe resolution. cold desperation, saved
him from destruction General Stuart was often
forced to depend upon sharpshooting, but he
enormously preferred pure cavalry fighting; but
when his men were dismounted in skirmishes
he remained stubbornly beside them, buoyant
with encouragement and songs.
His great ability in raiding, in rapid
flank movements, charging and falling back with
horse. His extraordinary energy was practically
inexhaustible; Stuart almost never slept. He
needed, it seemed little if any rest On the night
of the second battle of Manassas he gave COM
prehensible orders when he was asleep. After
days and nights without interruption in the sad
de- he would stop by any roadside and lie down,
safe or in the enemy's country. without pickets
or videttes He did this at Carlisle Pa; wrapped
in his cloak he rested for an hour against a
tree. and then he remounted, completely re-
freshed Through moments of extreme peril he
sat with leg thrown over the pommel of his
saddle. drumming with his fingers on knee.
He was often begged not to expose himself
recklessy; he must. it was pointed out be killed,
but his invariabe response was that he reck-
oned not His life did appear to be charmed he
lived untouched in rain of SHE'LL canister. round
shot and bullets until he was hit fatally at yell
low Tavern
HE died, happily. at the moment of his great
est glory at the last glorious moment of the
Confederacy; he suffered none of the ignominy,
the poverty and sadness, of defeat. For that rea-
son he was the most satisfactory. the most
wholly romantic soldier of the Civil war; Moth
ing about him. nothing in his career. was dis
appointing: Ii was all handsome. all ingratiating,
like his yellow sash with its graceful fringed
ends"
No more appropriate TAPS could be sounded
for this Beau Sabreur of the Gray than by a
fellow fighting man, Captain Thomson, who
writes:
"All his life he was fortunate. 1t was given
him to toll greatly, and to enjoy greatly, to
taste no little fame from the works of his hands,
and to drink the best of the cup of living he
died while there was still thread Of hope for