James Ewell Brown Stuart

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It is April 1861; the Civil War has just begun with the first attack on Fort Sumter. The Southern states have already seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. Now the country is split, Union in the North and the Confederacy in the South. Both the Union and the Confederacy will soon be in need of resources especially since war is about to be declared by Abraham Lincoln. Leadership for the Union and the Confederate armies are given away mostly to those with seniority rather than to those who deserve it by merit. James Ewell Brown (“Jeb”) Stuart is among the Confederacy leaders to gain his position as general not only because of his age but also because of his experience with fighting the Indians and other whites on the frontier in Bleeding Kansas. Jeb Stuart along with thirteen other Virginian’s was part of the Confederate leadership which was made up of a total forty-four men. Jeb Stuart was given his position because of the seniority he had over the other men signed up for the war, but did he also earn the position by merit and if so, does he keep his merit throughout the Civil War?
Jeb Ewell Brown Stuart was born on February 6, 1933 on a plantation in Patrick County, Virginia. Stuart was the seventh child of eleven children, but the youngest son to Archibald Stuart. Jeb Stuart was well educated and attended Emory and Henry College from 1848 to 1850. Archibald Stuart was a lawyer and according to Burke Davis’ book, Jeb Stuart: The Last Cavaliert. Jeb Stuart was determined to escape from the life of a “petty-fogger lawyer” and his way of going about doing that was by joining the army. Stuart then entered the United States Military Academy on July 1, 1850 Stuart graduated in 1854 from West ...

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