| Synopsis: |
'Thomason's volume is a spirited and eloquent one...His account of the ride around McClellan is a fine piece of description as you are likely to meet, and his accounts of Seven Days, Antietam, Chambersburg, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville are both full and brilliant' - Henry Steele Commager. 'An intimate biography, warm, colorful, convincing. The picture of a happy warrior rejoicing in life, love, and the task he was supremely fitted to do' - "New York Evening Post". 'Captain Thomason neglects none of the little touches that so clearly reveal the human and lovable side of Jeb Stuart. At the same time he retells, in unforgettable language, the story of the Confederate cavalry's part in the fighting done by the Army of Northern Virginia' - "Christian Science Monitor". 'We cannot recall any biography of a Civil War leader with half the dash, color, and smartness of Jeb Stuart' - "Outlook".'Set forth with engaging phrase and infectious gusto which carry the reader' - "Saturday Review of Literature". Hardly any biography could contain the robust and romantic Jeb Stuart, but John W. Thomason Jr. goes as far as anyone ever has in pinning down the quality of the Confederate cavalry commander.Virginia-bred, James Ewell Brown Stuart graduated from West Point, where he was called "Beauty," and rode with the Mounted Rifles against the Apaches and Comanches on the western frontier. When Virginia seceded from the Union, Jeb Stuart joined the Confederate army. His lightning-like raids became legendary.From Bull Run to Brandy Station he served as Robert E. Lee's eyes and ears, becoming a major general at the age of twenty-eight. Less than three years later Stuart's meteoric career ended with his death in a cavalry charge. John W. Thomason Jr., a captain in the U. S. Marine Corps in World War I, interviewed members of the Stuart family for this book, first published in 1930. This Bison Book edition is introduced by Gary W. Gallagher, a professor of history at Pennsylvania State University and the author of "Fighting for the Confederacy: Personal Recollections of General Edward Porter Alexander" and "The First Day at Gettysburg: Essays on Confederate and Union Leadership". |