*****NOTE - AS OF 2021 THIS STATUE HAS BEEN REMOVED - ITS CURRENT LOCATION IS UNKNOWN****
Perhaps the most accomplished cavalry leader of the American Civil War, James Ewell Brown Stuart was a Virginia graduate of West Point of the class of 1854. Known as Jeb by friends and acquaintances, he was already a veteran of Indian fighting on the great plains of the mid-western United States by the onset of the Civil War.
He accompanied R. E. Lee in 1859 on his mission to end John Brown’s seizure of the Harper’s Ferry Arsenal. There he went forward and read the note calling on Brown and his followers to surrender, and signaled for the assault which recaptured the building when those terms of surrender were refused.
Stuart resigned his captain’s commission in the U.S. Army in May of 1861 and traveled to Richmond where he was made a lieutenant colonel of Virginia infantry. He was appointed captain of Confederate States cavalry on May 24th of that same year.
He saw early service in the Shenandoah Valley and led his cavalry regiment at 1st Bull Run, where he participated in the pursuit of the defeated Federal forces. He directed the army’s outposts in the area following the battle until given command of the newly formed cavalry brigade.
Stuart came to prominence throughout the South following his famous ride around McClellan’s Army of the Potomac during the Peninsula campaign. Although the raid caused little real material damage, it severely embarrassed the Federal commander and confirmed to Lee, now in command of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, that McClellan’s right flank was poorly guarded. Stuart’s report, which was subsequently published in the Richmond newspapers, made him a hero to the southern cause. He continued his good service throughout the balance of the Seven Days campaign, confirming McClellan’s “change of base” to Harrison’s landing.
He was in command of the cavalry after Chancellorsville, and he participated in the largest cavalry battle ever to take place in North America, at Brandy Station in June of 1863. The battle was a draw. The quality of Federal cavalry had improved to the point that the Confederates could not always automatically be assured of victory when facing it in battle.
During the Gettysburg Campaign, Stuart led another raid around the rear of the Federal army. Much controversy surrounds this ride, and the interpretation that he made of Lee’s orders to him regarding his proposed role in the campaign. Regardless of whether he felt himself justified in cutting himself loose from the Army of Northern Virginia, his presence with the army, directing and interpreting the scouting effort was greatly missed. Lee’s army moved blindly into Pennsylvania, and was drawn into an unplanned general engagement, against the initial wishes of its commander, at Gettysburg. Stuart arrived with his command at the end of the second day and was unable to effect the outcome of the battle, which ended as a major Confederate defeat.
Continuing in command of the Confederate cavalry with the Army of Northern Virginia following the Gettysburg debacle, he was present for much of the fighting which comprised the early stages of Grant’s overland campaign the following year. He was mortally wounded while trying to fend off a thrust toward Richmond by Union cavalry under Phil Sheridan on May 11, 1864 at Yellow Tavern, Virginia. He died the next day in Richmond, at age thirty-seven.
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This statue of General Stuart stands in Stuart Circle at the center of Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia. The statue faces East and shows Stuart with his famed plumed hat and cloak looking right with a staid expression and his horse in a fiery pose. This statue was dedicated on May 30, 1907.
THIS STATUE IS LOCATED AT THE CENTER OF MONUMENT AVENUE IN RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, WHICH IS A BUSY CITY STREET. CAUTION SHOULD BE USED WHEN VISITING THIS STATUE AS PARKING IS VERY LIMITED AND VISITORS SHOULD BE AWARE OF VEHICLE TRAFFIC.