YEAR OF GLORY: The Life and Battles of Jeb Stuart and His Cavalry, June 1862-June 1863

1-216130

No commander during the Civil War is more closely identified with the 'cavalier mystique' as Major General J.E.B. (Jeb) Stuart. And none played a more prominent role during the brief period when the hopes of the nascent Confederacy were at their apex, when it appeared as though the Army of Northern Virginia could not be restrained from establishing Southern nationhood.

Jeb Stuart was not only successful in leading Robert E. Lee's cavalry in dozens of campaigns and raids, but for riding magnificent horses, dressing outlandishly, and participating in balls and parties. Longstreet reported that at the height of the Battle of Second Manasses, Stuart rode off singing, 'If you want to have good time, join the cavalry . . .' Porter Alexander remembered him singing, in the midst of Chancellorsville, 'Old Joe Hooker, won't you come out of the Wilderness?'

Stuart was blessed with an unusually positive personality-always upbeat, charming, boisterous, and humorous, remembered as the only man who could make Stonewall Jackson laugh, reciting poetry when not engaged in battle, and yet never using alcohol or other stimulants.

The book focuses on the 12 months in which Stuart's reputation was made, following his career on an almost day-to-day basis from June 1862, when Lee took command of the army, to June 1863, when Stuart turned north to regain a glory slightly tarnished at Brandy Station, but found Gettysburg instead.

Includes 16 pages of illustrations.