by Burke Davis
Laurel Hill was a big rambling house in an oak grove, with a view of the Blue Ridge. Slaves carried the burden of the plantation's work, but they seem not to have been numerous. James came to know the place well and to love its hills, trees and flowers; he formed a habit of collecting flower specimens. This training came from his mother, and remained with him. He also had tutors of ability in early years. He went to nearby Emory and Henry College at fifteen, and in need of a testimonial as to his accomplishments, wrote his old teacher of the Latin learning, "which you instilled into me partly by the mouth and partly by the rod."1
He also wrote this man: "It is not my intention not to read Virgil at all, but as I expect to teach school some when I leave here, then will be my time to read it."
Stuart's father was Presbyterian, his mother, Episcopalian; the home life was not fanatically religious. Young James faced a moral issue in the innocence of twelve: He took an oath that he would never touch liquor.
The few stories from his childhood emphasize young James's strength of will. One, told by his older brother, William Alexander, described the conquest of a hornet's nest by nine-year-old James, who climbed a tree despite stings of the insects and destroyed their nest, while his companion fled.
Nearing manhood James was a gangling boy with long arms and legs, short in the body, striking only when on horseback. He spent much time in the saddle.
In 1848 he worked briefly in the office of the county clerk in nearby Wytheville, when he was perhaps being urged to study law. That fall, however, he entered Emory and Henry. One item of record this year: James was swept up in a local revival, and joined the Methodist church.
About a year later his father lost his seat in Congress. Young James almost simultaneously tried to enter West Point. The first official act of the newly elected Congressman, H. T. Averett, was to appoint the son of his rival to the military academy. James seems to have had no early dreams of military glory; his decision was abrupt. He left for the Academy in late June, 1850. A letter to a relative en route revealed him as an intent tourist, as he paused in Washington:
I am green as a gourd vine yet. Unfortunately I did not come on reception day and was thereby deprived of the pleasure of an introduction to Zack [President Zachary Taylor]. I have seen him twice on the streets. He is a plain looking old fellow with a slight squat as he walks. ... A day in the U.S. Senate is worth no little to anyone. I think Mr. Webster decidedly the finest looking man in the Senate. He speaks slowly but forcibly, but of all the pleasant speakers give me Jeff Davis of Mississippi. I heard Mr. Clay make some remarks. He is very nervous. . . . Mr. Fillmore is a better looking man than I expected to find him. Mr. Houston is very fine looking. ... I was in the House, but this is a rowdy place compared with the Senate.
James reported to West Point July first. He found his country schooling adequate, and worked as hard as his gay nature permitted. At the end of the term he stood high in a class of 71 which included men destined for fame: eighth in mathematics, fifteenth in French, twelfth in English. In general merit he was eighth in his class. His conduct was almost exemplary, for he was No. 82 among the 229 cadets of the corps, with 43 demerits.
In his second year he held his ground: seventh in a class of 60 in mathematics, twenty-first in drawing, eighth in French. He was seventh in general merit, and 57 among the 229 in conduct, with 29 demerits. Thereafter he seemed to abandon himself to the good life at The Point.2
Fitzhugh Lee, the nephew of Major Robert E. Lee, the superintendent, recalled Stuart: "It was in 1852 that I first knew him. . . .
'Beauty' Stuart he was then universally called, for however manly and soldierly in appearance he afterwards grew, in those days his comrades bestowed that appellation upon him to express their idea of his personal comeliness in inverse ratio to the term employed."
When Fitz Lee met him, Stuart was orderly sergeant of his company. Lee wrote: "His distinguishing characteristics were a strict attention to his military duties, an erect, soldierly bearing, an immediate and almost thankful acceptance of a challenge from any cadet to fight, who might in any way feel himself aggrieved, and a clear, metallic, ringing voice."
Lee remembered Stuart on the parade ground: "There was so much music in his voice ... sounding like the trumpet of the Archangel."3
Stuart's belligerence was real enough. His father wrote him near the end of his third class year:
I am proud to say that your conduct has given me entire satisfaction. I heard, it is true (but no thanks to you for the information) of the little scrape in which you involved yourself; but I confess, from what I understand of the transaction, I did not consider you much to blame. An insult should be resented under all circumstances. If a man in your circumstances gain credit by submitting to an insult as a strict observer of discipline, he loses more in proportion in his standing as a gentleman and man of courage.
Six months later, however, the father's tone became firmer:
I have received your letter, and much regret that you have been involved in another fighting scrape. My dear son, I can excuse more readily a fault of the sort you have committed, in which you maintained your character as a man of honor and courage, than almost any other. But I hope you will hereafter, as far as possible, avoid getting into difficulties in which such maintenance may be demanded at your hands.
Academy records began to lengthen under Stuart's name. "Delinquencies for the Year of 1853" included:
July 14. Allowing a loud noise to be made in his company 4:30 and 5 A.M. 8 demerits.
July 14. Answering another cadet in a boisterous tone of voice, in the immediate vicinity of the Commandant's office, 7:30 and 8:30 A.M. 5 demerits.
Also in July:
Bedding out of order at evening inspection; wearing cap not uniform; not placing his handspike in proper position at Artillery drill; late at formation of artillery section; tent walls not raised at breakfast.
There was an odd assortment throughout the year. Stuart was charged with "occupying and causing citizens [probably girls] to occupy seats on a sentinel's post"; with "raising hand at parade"; with "swinging arms marching"; with keeping a dirty floor, unclean shoes, and, "loitering, 11 A.M."4
In his letters of this time Stuart revealed a sensitive spirit evidently at war with that of the heedless soldier he had become. He had been in Virginia on furlough in the summer of 1852, and wrote a girl cousin of his boat trip up the Hudson:
The lovely prospect spreads before you on either side, with here and there a magnificent country seat. . . . Among these are the princely dwelling of Forrest the tragedian, and the more plain, but no less elegant mansion of Washington Irving . . . myriads of flowers lean forth, laughing with joy, and then imagine the incessant warble of the winged songsters. . ..
You find your view suddenly confined by the Palisades which consist of an immense barrier of solid rock extending for several miles along the river on your left, rising in unique grandeur to the clouds. . . . You find yourself suddenly in the midst of the romantic scenery of the highlands. Your eyes now rest upon West Point. Its broad plain about 150 feet above the river, surrounded by high mountains, its beautiful buildings, magnificent barracks, the proud banner floating gracefully.
Stuart also wrote of the "August Ball," which attracted
... such an assemblage of beauty, fashion and gaiety as I never saw before. Notwithstanding the violent storm which raged without, all night, the Hall was crowded with ladies, and continued so until 12. Although the music and the busy whirl of the dance succeeded in drowning out the rain, yet the thunder ... roared far above every noise. With many a long face we marched into Barracks next day to resume the arduous duties of another year.5
He had brought from Virginia a gourd, which hung on his barracks wall, carved with "Bettie" in honor of his cousin. Fellow cadets teased him about it, but he often drank Bettie's health from the gourd. He wrote frequently and ardently of home:
In Dear Old Virginia October and November I consider by far t
he most delightful months of the year.
And:
I am very well pleased with West Point for the limited stay which I expect to make ... but so long as there is such a bright spot as Virginia I can never be content to take up my abode here permanently. If it could be grafted on Virginia soil I would consider it a paradise.
He added:
I am as glad to see any Virginian as if he were an old acquaintance.
He became the supreme Virginia partisan when it came to women:
The more I see of these Yankee girls the more thoroughly I am convinced of their inferiority in every respect to our Virginia ladies, in beauty especially.
His letters reveal a growing fondness for the company of young women. He met a "Miss B" walking on the Hudson and got an ornament from her hat as a souvenir; he went walking to the Crow's Nest with several young ladies, chaperoned by Mrs. R. E. Lee, who was prevented from repeating the outing by the death of her mother, at Arlington. Stuart admired Mrs. Lee's daughter Mary "both as regards beauty and sprightliness."
But of love Stuart wrote mournfully:
I must say that with all the array of love-seekers and heart-breakers I have escaped unscathed. Whether my escape has been effected by my own generalship or whether Cupid regarded me as too unworthy a victim I leave to your fancy to determine. . . . They say that to be in love is a glorious predicament, but if it costs as much sleep as my classmates lose in midnight communion with the stars and renders vacant seats in the mess hall as it seems to have done, save me from such a monster.
And again:
I suppose you received the usual number of Valentines this year. For my part I did not receive any, thus showing that after all my devotion to the ladies during last summer they have forgotten me in so short a time.
Stuart formed strong attachments for two older women, Mrs. R. E. Lee and Mrs. Winfield Scott, wife of the elderly commander-in-chief of the army. He left glimpses of the relationships:
Mrs. Lee, of whom you have so often heard me speak highly, has left us for a visit of some months to Arlington. She was like a mother to me and I miss her in proportion, but in compliance with her invitation I will stop at Arlington on my way home.
Again:
Last Saturday I had the pleasure of dining at Colonel Lee's and found the Colonel in a fine humor. Mrs. Lee is still in Virginia. ... I have formed a high regard for the family.
Of Mrs. Scott:
Our honored "Alma Mater", Mrs. General Scott, too has been on The Point for about a month, loading us as usual with her kind attentions. I received from her the other day a very
kind note with a basket of grapes She claims all the corps as
her children, and is often asked by strangers if she has any sons, .to which she gives the invariable reply, "250".
I often tell Ma what an indulgent mother I have, and tell her there is great danger of my being spoilt, in which I fear there is more truth than jest.
Most telling of all his letters was one written in his final year, when he was Cadet Captain, and an orator on the occasion of his rising to First Classman. He described his part in the ceremony:
The reader of the Declaration was—your cousin; elected by the Dialectic Society. The audience was very large, for besides the Corps there congregated together samples of beauty and fashion from almost every part of the country except Virginia.
I always thought I had enough brass, but when I rose before such an audience to perform the part assigned me I felt quite embarrassed and would willingly have "crawfished" if it had been possible. But I had to "stand up to the rack, fodder or no fodder", so I put on a bold face and drove ahead.
He wrote often of his favorite horse, Tony, which carried him on cavalry exercises at The Point until a day in March, 1853, when Stuart wrote:
Tony was condemned by a board of officers as being unfit, and suffered "the penalty". But there is consolation in the thought that such is the fortune of war, and we are all victims ready for sacrifice when it shall please U.S. I propose therefore that we wear mourning on the little finger for one week. His loss I deeply deplore.
But there was plenty of horseflesh at home, and he asked of Bettie:
I suppose I will have to content myself with Duroc, Bembo, Rhoderick, Don Quixote, Forager, or Jerry. Which do you prefer?
Rarely did Stuart reveal an awareness of growing tension between North and South, but at the approach of a national election he wrote Bettie in favor of the Democratic Party:
I join with you in your best wishes for the success of Democracy. Experience has fully demonstrated that its principles are the only ones which will secure the permanency of our government and preserve the Constitution and the rights of the states inviolate.
While Bettie was in school at Salem Academy, North Carolina, Stuart wrote:
I never admired Salem as an institution, but it is perhaps as good as any except those contaminated by abolitionism. I ask your pardon for introducing the subject, but I do know that I have seen more misery in a limited sphere within the period of my sojourn North than I ever dreamed of seeing South during my lifetime. This shows how perfectly absurd are all the outcries and attacks of Yankees against Southern Institutions. They seem to forget that charity begins (where slander never does) at home.
Near the end of his West Point career Stuart wrote two letters on his choice of profession. To his father:
I have not as yet any fixed course determined upon after graduation; still I can't help but regard it as the crisis of my life. Two courses will be left for my adoption, the profession of arms and that of the law; the one securing an ample support, with a life of hardship and uncertainty—laurels, if any, dearly bought, and leaving an empty title as a bequeathment; the other an overcrowded thoroughfare, which may or may not yield a support—may possibly secure honors, but of doubtful worth. Each has its labors and rewards. In making the selection I will rely upon the guidance of Him whose judgment cannot err, for "it is not with man that walketh to direct his steps".
He was much more outspoken to Cousin Bettie:
Were I to consult my own inclination at present I would continue in the army. It has attractions which are . . . overpowering. There is something in "the pride and pomp and circumstance of glorious war" which makes "Othello's occupation" the most desirable of all.
Now tell me candidly, had you not rather see your cousin a bold Dragoon than a petty-fogger lawyer? I have no doubt that you have a sort of partiality for the life of a farmer but the young man for whom capital has not already been accumulated is forced to adopt one of the hireling professions, Law, Medicine, Engineering and Arms.
The officer has his toils, but he has his reward. The lawyer has his cases but seldom receives his fee. The physician has his patients; his sleepless nights, but his patients are very patient in waiting to pay him. The Engineer must first have a reputation before he can get desirable employment.
But young James was only entertaining. He was already lost, for the moment mounted squadrons charged in cavalry drill, he knew he was forever a soldier.
He had expressed to Bettie Hairston what he could not to his father, his chagrin at being the seventh child of a none-too-prosperous country lawyer, denied a landed estate to provide him a start in life and comfortable leisure, and driven to be a "hireling" because clients seldom paid Lawyer Stuart their fees.
Nothing seemed to mar James's increasing gaiety. He graduated from West Point in July, 1854, and waited impatiently for a vacancy in his assigned regiment.
He finished thirteenth in a class of forty-six survivors. His accomplishments were respectable:
Engineering, twenty-ninth; Ethics, ninth; Mineralogy and Geology, thirteenth; Infantry Tactics, fourteenth; Artillery, thirteenth; Cavalry Tactics, tenth.
His conduct was deplorable by comparison: He stood 103rd among 206 cadets, with a total of 129 demerits. But his class standing was high, and above him were young soldiers of promise. G. W.
Custis Lee, son of the comm
andant, was first, and O. O. Howard of Maine was fourth—men Stuart would meet in the years ahead.
Just below him were others to become known in war: Stephen D. Lee, William D. Pender, Archibald Gracie.
There is a family tradition that Stuart's grades were higher in the last year, but that he feared fine marks would place him in the elite corps of engineers, a relatively dull place, and that he deliberately slowed his pace to make poorer grades.6
Jeb went home to Patrick County and wandered restlessly for several weeks. He fell ill in Richmond, and returned home to be cared for by a family physician. The illness was brief, but Stuart complained:
I have not yet recovered my lost appetite, a loss which I have so seldom been made to feel that it almost grieves me, especially when I find myself unable to do justice to a meal for which I have to pay full price, for it has always been my consolation that I always got the worth of my money in the eating line, and precious little did a hotel keeper ever make off me.
