Details
[CIVIL WAR]. STUART, J.E.B. (1833-1864). Autograph letter signed "J.E.B. Stuart," as Brigadier General, to unidentified, Head Quarters, 9 mile point, 7 a.m., 22 May 1862. 1 page, 8vo, ruled paper, in pencil. Matted and framed with an engraved portrait of Stuart.
A BATTLEFIELD DISPATCH FROM JEB STUART Writing "in haste," Stuart tells his commanding general: "A good deal of ambuscading by the enemy at our advanced videttes [mounted sentries] last night & I fear we lost one or two men. I received the enclosed [not included] through [Bening?] before daylight this morning. The river below Robertson's right is picketed by Goode's regt. from this side, connecting across the RR to this road." Stuart's actions on the Cheasapeake Peninsula in May 1862 was part of a brilliant, concerted Confederate effort to keep McClellan's massive but immobile force from moving against Richmond. While the Union commander had some 100,000 men near Yorktown, smaller Rebel forces were harassing Yankee armies under McDowell and Banks in the Shenandoah Valley. The Confederate activity in the Valley kept a jittery Lincoln anxious about the safety of Washington, and he withheld the reinforcements from McClellan that the "little Napoleon" felt he needed before moving against Richmond. Stuart, under General Joseph Johnston's command, kept up pestering attacks against McClellan. Three weeks after this letter he would embarrass the Union commander with his famous ride around McClellan's forces--a complete circuit of the Union position that would give the new Confederate commander in Virginia, Robert E. Lee, crucial information. That entire spring, McClellan did nothing except "ambuscade" against Rebel forces, while Stuart, Jackson and Lee won great victories.
A BATTLEFIELD DISPATCH FROM JEB STUART Writing "in haste," Stuart tells his commanding general: "A good deal of ambuscading by the enemy at our advanced videttes [mounted sentries] last night & I fear we lost one or two men. I received the enclosed [not included] through [Bening?] before daylight this morning. The river below Robertson's right is picketed by Goode's regt. from this side, connecting across the RR to this road." Stuart's actions on the Cheasapeake Peninsula in May 1862 was part of a brilliant, concerted Confederate effort to keep McClellan's massive but immobile force from moving against Richmond. While the Union commander had some 100,000 men near Yorktown, smaller Rebel forces were harassing Yankee armies under McDowell and Banks in the Shenandoah Valley. The Confederate activity in the Valley kept a jittery Lincoln anxious about the safety of Washington, and he withheld the reinforcements from McClellan that the "little Napoleon" felt he needed before moving against Richmond. Stuart, under General Joseph Johnston's command, kept up pestering attacks against McClellan. Three weeks after this letter he would embarrass the Union commander with his famous ride around McClellan's forces--a complete circuit of the Union position that would give the new Confederate commander in Virginia, Robert E. Lee, crucial information. That entire spring, McClellan did nothing except "ambuscade" against Rebel forces, while Stuart, Jackson and Lee won great victories.