James Ewell Brown Stuart, more commonly known as Jeb, was born on February 6, 1833, at Laurel Hill Farm in Patrick County, Virginia, to Archibald Stuart and Elizabeth Letcher Pannill. His father was a lawyer and Democratic politician who served in the War of 1812. Stuart lived at Laurel Hill Farm until around 1845, when he began attending school in Wytheville, Virginia. He enrolled at Emory and Henry College in 1848, and he received an appointment at West Point two years later.  

 

Stuart graduated from the military academy in 1854, and he was commissioned a brevet 2^nd lieutenant with the Regiment of Mounted Rifles. He married Flora Cooke in 1855, and they had four children: William, born around 1856; Flora, born around 1857; James, born around 1860; and Virginia, born around 1863. He was promoted to 1^st lieutenant in December 1855. Stuart spent his career on the country’s western frontier, and he witnessed the violence of Bleeding Kansas. He was wounded on July 29, 1857, while fighting against the Cheyenne Indians.

 

In 1859, he served as aide-de-camp to Colonel Robert E. Lee during the capture of John Brown at Harpers Ferry. He returned to Kansas afterward, and by 1860, he reported $2,000 in real estate and $12,000 in personal property. He was promoted to captain in April 1861, but he resigned from the United States Army on May 3, 1861, in order to join the Confederacy.

 

Stuart received a commission as a lieutenant colonel in the Virginia infantry. He was promoted to colonel in July 1861 and then to brigadier general later that year. By 1862, he had risen to the rank of major general. He participated in the First Battle of Manassas, the Peninsula campaign, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Battle of Gettysburg, and the Overland Campaign.

 

He was wounded in the Battle of Yellow Tavern on May 11, 1864. Despite his injury, he reportedly urged his men to continue fighting. He died in Richmond, Virginia, the following day. He was buried in Hollywood Cemetery.

SOURCES