Life of J. E. B. Stuart

by Mary L. Williamson

In the meantime, Stuart was in Virginia watching the Federals, in order to report to Lee the moment that Hooker began to move. He wrote General Lee that he thought he could move with some of his cavalry around General Hooker’s rear into Maryland, thus throwing himself between the Federals and Washington, and so probably delay Hooker’s northward movement. General Lee wanted General Stuart and his cavalry to join General Early and guard his flank as he marched toward York, Pennsylvania; he thought that Stuart could reach him in this way just as easily as by crossing at Shepherdstown where the rest of the army crossed. Therefore, he gave Stuart permission to cross at one of the lower fords, telling him to annoy the Federals in the rear and collect all possible supplies for the army.

Major Von Borcke, the young Prussian officer, had been severely wounded and Major McClellan was now Stuart’s adjutant general. He tells us that on the night before General Stuart started, a cold drizzling rain was falling, but the general insisted on sleeping on the ground under a tree, because he said his men were exposed to the rain and he would not fare better than they. He could have had more comfortable quarters on the porch of a deserted house near by, where McClellan, by the light of a tallow “dip,” was receiving and writing dispatches. When General Lee’s letter, containing instructions for Stuart’s march, came, McClellan carried it to the general, who quietly read it, and then turned to go to sleep on his hard, cold bed.

It was by such an example as this, as well as by his bravery in battle, that Stuart won the undying love of his soldiers. I am going to quote for you a beautiful tribute paid him by Mosby, his chief scout, who guided Stuart past the Federal lines on the first part of this expedition.

Mosby says that when he went to the general for instructions before starting, “he was in his usual gay humor. I never saw him at any time in any other. Always buoyant in spirits, he inspired with his own high hopes all who came in contact with him. I felt the deepest affection for him. My chief ambition was to serve him. He was the rare combination of the Puritan and the knight-errant,—he felt intensely the joy of battle and he loved the praise of fair women and brave men.

“I served under him from the beginning of the war until he closed his life, like Sidney, leading a squadron on the field of honor. Yet I do not remember that he ever gave me an order. There was always so much sympathy between us and I felt so much affection for him that he had only to express a wish, that was an order for me.”

In making their plans, neither Lee nor Stuart had counted on an immediate northward movement of the Federal army. Yet when Stuart with three brigades passed eastward through a gap in Bull Run Mountain, he found Hooker’s army already moving northward. He at once sent General Lee a dispatch conveying this valuable information, but the courier bearing it never reached headquarters, and so Lee did not know of this important movement until Hooker’s whole army had crossed the Potomac and moved toward Frederick, Maryland.

It was now impossible for Stuart to cross the river where he had intended, and it would take too much time to retrace his steps and cross at Shepherdstown, so he determined on the bold move of crossing at Rowser’s Ford, or Seneca, only thirteen miles from Washington city. At this point, the water was very deep and swift, and the artillery had difficulty in crossing, but time was too precious for them to seek a better ford.

The caissons and limber chests were emptied and dragged through the water, and the ammunition was carried over in the hands of troopers. By three o’clock on the morning of June 28, Stuart’s command was on the Maryland side of the river, but the whole Federal army now lay between the cavalry and General Lee. Stuart would have to march around this army before he could obey Lee’s order to join Early at York.

But General Lee had also told Stuart to collect all the supplies that he could get for the use of the army. He now had an opportunity to carry out these instructions, for he met and captured a long line of Federal supply wagons.

Fitz Lee’s brigade tore up the track of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, burned the bridge, and cut the telegraph wires, thus destroying the line of communication between Washington city and General Meade who had taken Hooker’s place as commander of the Federal forces. At one time, Stuart’s troopers were so near Washington that they could see the dome of the Capitol, and the whole North was in a panic lest the dreaded Stuart should attack the city. General Stuart, however, was hastening northward in order to join General Early at York.