Now in paperback, this major biography of J.E.B. Stuart—the first in two decades—uses newly available documents to draw the fullest, most accurate portrait of the legendary Confederate cavalry commander ever published. • Major figure of American history: James Ewell Brown Stuart was the South’s most successful and most colorful cavalry commander during the Civil War. Like many who die young (Stuart was thirty-one when he succumbed to combat wounds), he has been romanticized and popular- ized. One of the best-known figures of the Civil War, J.E.B. Stuart is almost as important a figure in the Confederate pantheon as Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. • Most comprehensive biography to date: Cavalryman of the Lost Cause is based on manuscripts and unpublished letters as well as the latest Civil War scholarship. Stuart’s childhood and family are scrutinized, as is his service in Kansas and on the frontier before the Civil War. The research in this biography makes it the authoritative work.

Jeb Stuart, leader of the cavalry of the Army of Northern Virginia, earned the admiration of his enemies during the first three years of the Civil War. Famed for his daring ride around McClellan during the Peninsula Campaign, and his raid behind Union lines in Virginia and into Maryland and Pennsylvania, he was a legend long before he was killed at Yellow Tavern in 1864.

"The Army was much embarrassed by the absence of the cavalry," Robert E. Lee wrote of the Gettysburg campaign, stirring a controversy that has never died. Lee's statement was an indirect indictment of General James Ewell Brown ("Jeb") Stuart, who was the cavalry.

Rolls of the 2nd and 3rd regiments, and of Companies B, E, F and K of the 1st regiment, Virginia cavalry: p. [423]-468.

Here is a full and definitive biography of the dashing and enigmatic Confederate hero of the Civil War, General J.E.B. Stuart. This life-size portrait of Stuart surveys his life from childhood through his training at West Point, his years on the Western frontier, and his decision to stand with Virginia when war arrived. His brilliant Civil War career is covered in detail, from the raid on Chambersburg through to his final, fatal clash at Yellow Tavern. "The rudimentary field communications of the Civil War demanded of the cavalry the utmost in bravery, durability, and vigilance", writes Burke Davis in his introduction to this edition. "Victory or defeat of armies was often in the hands of their cavalrymen".

Characterized by precision of statement and clarity of detail, W.W. Blackford's memoir of his service in the Civil War is one of the most valuable to come out of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. It also provides a critically important perspective on one of the best-known Confederate cavalrymen, Major General J.E.B. Stuart.Blackford was thirty years old when the war began, and he served from June 1861, until January, 1864, as Stuart's adjutant, developing a close relationship with Lee's cavalry commander. He subsequently was a chief engineer and a member of the staff at the cavalry headquarters. Because Stuart was mortally wounded in 1864, he did not leave a personal account of his career. Blackford's memoir, therefore, is a vital supplement to Stuart's wartime correspondence and reports.In a vivid style, Blackford describes the life among the cavalrymen, including scenes of everyday camp life and portraits of fellow soldiers both famous and obscure. He presents firsthand accounts of, among others, the battles of First Bull Run, the Peninsular campaign, Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, and Cold Harbor, and describes his feelings at witnessing the surrender at Appomattox.It is not certain precisely when Blackford penned his memoir, but evidence suggests it was before 1896. The book was originally published in 1945, four decades after his death, but until now has never been reprinted.

This book is an operational and tactical study of cavalry operations in Northern Virginia from September 1862 to July 1863. It examines in detail John Mosby's first six months as a partisan, within the context of the larger threat to the Union capital posed by Jeb Stuart. Previous studies of Mosby's career are largely based on postwar memoirs. This narrative balances those accounts with previously unpublished official contemporary records left by the Union soldiers assigned to the defense of Washington, D.C. The formation of the Michigan Cavalry Brigade is fully documented, along with the exploits of the brigade in the months before George Custer took command. Largely forgotten events, such as Jeb Stuart's Christmas Raid, the fight at Fairfax Station during Stuart's ride to Gettysburg, as well as the vital role played by Union general Julius Stahel's cavalry division in the critical month of June 1863, are examined at length.