Bold Dragoon: The Life of J.E.B. Stuart

Jeb Stuart would sing these lines at the top of his lungs as he rode with his troops into battle. It must have been some popular tavern song of that time. A very enjoyable read about this country's finest cavalry officer, James Ewell Brown Stuart, educated at West Point. He was the eyes and ears of General Robert E. Lee, Lee's best scout. He could "command both small and large numbers of horsemen, and he was able to integrate his cavalry with artillery and infantry, as well as to conduct independent operations." This book, like Robertson's biography about Stonewall Jackson is more about the man than actual battle tactics and history. He could trigger stampeeds, just by his presence. Many of his battles were won before they ever started. He and Stonewall were some of this country's finest soldiers of the nineteenth century whose ancestors came from Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The South's poor horses, that last year of his life, and they had one more year to fight after Stuart's death. They were eating bark off of trees, on scant provisions of feed and hay and regularly slaughtered on the battle field, increasing the number of dismounted soldiers. And of course, the southern soldiers were in desperate straits too. Thomas faithfully tells the life story of this gallant southern warrior's character. He himself helped to create his legendary character. He was a fighter and one of his last words on the battlefield at Yellow Tavern after he was shot was "I'd rather die than be whipped." His most famous feat was his twice repeated ride around McClellan's huge Federal host, numbering tens of thousands. The Civil War was a mass slaughter. Not everyone in this country has revered Abraham Lincoln. My great grandmother whose father was a 16 year old cavalry hand for Nathan Bedford Forrest in Mississippi once remarked at the base of the Lincoln statue at the Lincoln Memorial, "THE OLD COOT!" Would things have turned out differently in that war, if they had had the kind of technology and information we have now available at that time? Could war have been avoided, if the issue of slavery were dealt with differently and laid on the table from the very beginning?? (Sounds like a book for Newt Gingrich). Particularly intriguing for me was the story of Stuart's apprehension of John Brown, the mass murderer who inflamed the whole slavery issue right before the start of the war. And strange, that this country would exalt a criminal to hero status in song and words. Anyway, it's something to ponder. Jeb Stuart was a good ole southern boy who didn't touch a drop of liquor following his mother's orders until the last hours of his life. On his deathbed, those gathered in his room sang his favorite hymn, "Rock of Ages". I did love how retired UGA Athens professor Thomas told his story. This book is probably one of the best biographies of Stuart's life.

I had forgotten I still had this book on my shelf! I used it early in my college years (1991)to write a Cival War Cavalry paper for an English class. I got a B on the paper, but I had so much fun writing it. This book and others were a big help. Thomas uses actual letters, diaries and news stories to tell the story of J.E.B. Stuart. Terrific book and I highly recomend it to anyone who is into Civil War or general American history!

A delightful bio of Stuart dealing with his early years, West Point, John Brown's rebellion, his relationship with women and of course the Civil War. Stuart the virtual romantic knight who enjoyed the role and traveled like a characer from Robin Hood with a banjo playing musician and a sect of followers that almost mirrors Custer's post Civil War band and family of followers. Besides Stuart himself, he has a fascinating collection of subordinate such as the Prussian Heroes Von Brocke, Fitz Lee, Rooney Lee, Wade Hampton, Grumble Jones (not his favorite) and Thomas Rosser who was a great friend of Custer's who never got the star he sought. As his legend develops it seems that Stuart became caught up with it particularly by the time of Brandy Station where the day after an elaborate parade showing of his calavry units for Lee he is shocked by aggressive and highly succesful attacks by the transformed union calvary. This may have led to Stuart's desire for a sensational trip around he Union army talking himself out of the picture at the battle of Gettysburg. At the end, Sheridan's forces seem to exhaust Stuart's calvary due to shortages of horses and the addition of repeaters. Fascinating description of the seeming vain yet outging Stuart sparking a unique friendship with the religious and stern Jackson. In the end, it seems that Stuart, the seemingly last cavalier, is undone by the modern use of calvary signifying the change in warfare and the abrupt decline of the confederacy.

This book is a very sensitive look at Jeb Stuart, yet at the same time revealing the harshness of the man/soldier behind the great legend. I must say that the amazingly "real-looking" pencil portrait of Jeb Stuart (by artist Gary Nichols), which I was lucky enough to see last year in an art show, would have lended itself well somewhere in this book. I think it would have made a much more "personal-looking" cover than the one the author chose. I really do cherish this book in my vast collection of the civil war, and I recommend it highly to anyone wishing to learn more about what made this general so great. Thank you for the space in which to offer my opinions. I welcome emails from fellow civil war buffs. Peter Eisenberg ([email protected])

James Ewell Brown (Jeb)Stuart is a true enigma to any serious student of military history, especially that dealing with the American Civil War. Bright, even brilliant, when it came to the tactical use of the mounted arm, Stuart rewrote the book on how to deploy and use lightly armed horsemen as scouts, raiders and screening forces. I think in this book, Emory Thomas does the best job I have yet seen in making the case that Stuart developed his concept of cavalry tactics through observation of another more primitive but highly effective light cavalry, the plains Indians, while a young officer on the new frontier. He adapted this to a time when technological advances like the railway, telegraph and the first network of "improved" roads since Roman times enabled smaller armies to move, concentrate, strike and disperse with telling effect on larger more powerful but static opponents. This worked very well, while Stuart had the best horsemen and horses, and the latitude and audacity to use them in critical mass. Then something happened. The enemy finally understood the rules of the game and found leaders like Sheridan, Buford and Grierson who could employ the same tools and tactics but with a difference, they had clear strategic objectives, first to fix then destroy the opposing military forces, then the infrastructure and finally the will to resist.Emory methodically develops and presents the two major flaws that undid Stuart as the war entered its total war phase: his complete lack of strategic sense (which I believe was shared in part by no other than Robert E. Lee) and his arrogant self-absorbtion.That fatal combination of flaws merely blunted his effectiveness in the early part of the war when the Confederate cavalry always got there first and with most and best forces, but finally cost the Army of Northern Virginia (not anything Longstreet did or didn't do) the campaign that ended at Gettysburg. And that cost them the war. I once had the great fortune, as a boy, to meet and talk often with a 100 year old veteran of the 1st Virginia Cavalry. He rode with Stuart from First Manassas to Yellow Tavern. Once, when I got enough courage to ask him who was the best cavalry general in the Civil War, he astounded me by promptly answering, "Sheridan, then Stuart". When I asked why he gave that answer, he replied, "Sheridan came after Stuart and killed him, not the other way around." After reading this very well-written book, you will see what he meant.