James Ewell Brown Stuart

Stuart, James Ewell Brown

 

Born Feb. 6, 1833, in Patrick County, Va.; died May 12, 1864, in Richmond, Va. American military commander; major general (1862).

After graduating from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1854, Stuart served in the wars of extermination against the Indians. During the American Civil War (1861–65), he showed himself to be a brilliant and resourceful commander of the Confederate Army of the Southern slaveholding states. He commanded a separate cavalry detachment and then a cavalry corps. He took part in the battles of First and Second Bull Run (1861 and 1862) and Fredericksburg (1862). He conducted a number of successful cavalry raids deep in the rear of the Northern army. On May 11, 1864, during a clash at Yellow Tavern (near Richmond) with Northern cavalrymen commanded by General P. Sheridan, Stuart was mortally wounded.