Booknotes: J.E.B. Stuart

New Arrival:

• J.E.B. Stuart: The Soldier and the Man by Edward G. Longacre (Savas Beatie, 2024).

Serious biographical coverage of the life and Civil War career of James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart is solid enough, though one would think the overall number produced would be more befitting of his historical popularity and stature. I haven't read the pre-Centennial titles from Thomason and Davis, but I have read Emory Thomas's Bold Dragoon (1986) way back when and Jeffry Wert's Cavalryman of the Lost Cause (2008). Thinking back on it, the long gap between Thomas and Wert is a bit puzzling, especially after considering the exciting state of Civil War publishing during the 1990s boom when the bays and shelves at B&N and Borders fairly sagged with a wonderful array of new and old releases.

Anyway, removing the nostalgia glasses and getting back to the present, Edward Longacre's J.E.B. Stuart: The Soldier and the Man is out now for those interested in another full biography. Having no detailed recollection of Thomas's book (it's been waaaay too long since I read it), the marketing claim that Longacre's new book is "the first balanced, detailed, and thoroughly scrutinized study of the life and service of the Civil War’s most famous cavalryman" may be a fair assessment when weighed against the twentieth-century titles, but I thought Wert's 2008 bio was also more than sufficiently balanced, detailed, and thoughtful. Regardless, another up to date impression, particular one formulated by a subject-matter expert of Longacre's established record, is of course always welcome.

Longacre certainly aims to provide a 'warts and all' portrait of the impressively bearded general's Civil War career. At this point in time, every fair-minded observer should be willing to concede that Stuart displayed considerable gifts and abilities over his extensive tenure leading Confederate cavalry in Virginia, but he "also under-performed. On occasion, he underestimated his opponents, took unnecessary risks with his habitually understrength command, failed to properly discipline and motivate his troopers, and was prone to errors both strategic and tactical." His performance during the Gettysburg Campaign has always provided his critics with the most fodder for complaint. There, his "wayward route to the battlefield deprived Lee of the ability to safely negotiate his path toward a climactic confrontation with the Union Army of the Potomac. Because of his outsized wartime reputation—one embellished in the century-and-a-half since—most of Stuart’s errors have passed virtually unnoticed or, when addressed, have been excused or explained away in some fashion."

More from the description: Longacre's J.E.B. Stuart "is based on hundreds of published works, archival sources, and newspapers. He probes not only Stuart’s military career but elements of his character and personality that invite investigation. Even the man’s fiercest partisans admitted that he was vain and inordinately sensitive to criticism, with a curious streak of immaturity—at times the hard-edged veteran, at other times a devotee of the pageantry of war, given to affectations such as ostrich-plumed hats, golden spurs, and the headquarters musicians who accompanied him on the march. Ever motivated by appeals to vanity, he curried the patronage of powerful men and responded readily to the attentions of attractive women even though by 1861, he was a long-married man."

In sum: "Personal flaws and limitations aside, Stuart was popular with his officers and men, beloved by members of his staff, and considered by the people of his state and region the beau ideal of Confederate soldiery. The distinction endures today." This book "is an attempt to determine its validity." I would say that there's more than an even chance that I'll get to this one.