Plenty of Blame to Go Around: Jeb Stuart's Controversial Ride to Gettysburg

547 Pages·2006·5.9 MB·English

by  Eric J. Wittenberg

© 2006 by Eric J. Wittenberg & J. David Petruzzi All rights reserved. No part of
this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the
United States of America.
Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN: 1-932714-20-0
Digital Edition ISBN: 978-1-61121-017-0
05 04 03 02 5 4 3 2 1
Second edition, second printing
Published by
Savas Beatie LLC
521 Fifth Avenue, Suite 3400
New York, NY 10175
(E-mail) [email protected] Savas Beatie titles are available at special
discounts for bulk purchases in the United States by corporations, institutions,
and other organizations. For more details, please contact Special Sales, P.O. Box
4527, El Dorado Hills, CA 95762, or you may e-mail us at
[email protected], or visit our website at www.savasbeatie.com for
additional information.
Cover Art: “The Shelling of Carlisle—July 1-2, 1863,” by Ron Lesser. © 2003
Ron Lesser. All rights reserved.
The original oil painting was commissioned by F&M Trust of Chambersburg,
Pennsylvania, for the 2003 Commemoration of the 140th Anniversary of J.E.B.
Stuart’s Shelling of Carlisle in July 1863. The painting (41″ × 27″) is in the
permanent collection of the Cumberland County Historical Society in Carlisle.
Limited Edition prints are available at the society or through the Chambersburg
Heritage Center, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. For more information on the
artist, please go to www.ronlesser.com.
This book is dedicated to the memory of the men of
both sides who followed the guidon.
It is also respectfully dedicated to the memory of
Brian C. Pohanka, historian, mentor, preservationist,
and friend. Your wise counsel will be missed.
Major General James Ewell Brown (JEB) Stuart,
General Lee’s cavalry chief and commander of the
expedition.
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments
Foreword
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Ride Begins
Chapter 2: Across the Potomac
Chapter 3: Cavalry Clash at Westminster
Chapter 4: The Battle of Hanover Begins
Chapter 5: The Second Phase of the Battle of Hanover
Chapter 6: The Long Road to Carlisle
Chapter 7: A Night to Remember: Carlisle
Chapter 8: The Battle of Hunterstown
Chapter 9: The Controversy Begins
Chapter 10: The Controversy Continues
Chapter 11: The Controversy Rages
Chapter 12: Conclusion
Appendix A: Stuart’s Command in the Ride to Pennsylvania
Appendix B: Orders of Battle
Appendix C: Major General Jeb Stuart’s Official Report
Appendix D: A Driving Tour of Stuart’s Ride to Gettysburg
Notes
Bibliography
Maps and illustrations have been placed throughout
the text for the convenience of the reader.
Preface
The Gettysburg Campaign has had more than its share of controversies, many of
which began before the guns fell silent. From the time the confident and stalwart
Jeb Stuart was surprised by Alfred Pleasonton’s Union troopers at Beverly Ford
in the predawn of June 9, 1863, near Brandy Station, Virginia, until after Stuart’s
arrival on the Gettysburg battlefield late on the afternoon of July 2, the Southern
cavalry chieftain was the subject of much chatter among the Confederate upper
crust. Not much of it was complimentary. Southern newspapers lambasted Stuart
for allowing himself to be surprised by the Federals at his own headquarters on
Fleetwood Hill, and tongues wagged among the infantry that perhaps Stuart was
not up to his former game.
Debate over the merits and results of Stuart’s ride to Pennsylvania was, and still
is, a virtual cottage industry. Not long after the war, as Gettysburg evolved into
“the battle that lost the war” (whether justified or not), arguments raged among
veterans in newspapers, magazines, articles, books, and face-to-face. Non-
veteran commentators of all types got in on the act.
Any serious treatment of the Gettysburg Campaign must, out of sheer necessity,
mention in some form the impact Stuart’s ride had on the outcome of the three-
day conflagration in Pennsylvania. Today, an increasingly educated reading
public demands it. To do otherwise is to leave a gap so large that the work itself
will collapse into it, leaving the reader feeling somehow unfulfilled. Discussions
about Stuart and his proud horsemen—the “eyes and ears” of Robert E. Lee’s
army—and their detachment from it during the ride north have become an
integral thread in the fabric known as the Gettysburg Campaign.
In fact, entire books have been devoted to this subject. In the middle of the
postwar controversy among the veterans came John Singleton Mosby’s Stuart’s
Cavalry in the Gettysburg Campaign(1908). An icon of the Confederacy and
southern pluck—and one of Stuart’s most stalwart supporters—Mosby argued
for Stuart’s case as well as any lawyer could hope. As would be expected, the
appearance of the book stirred up the hornet’s nest anew and left surviving
veterans (notably officers who had served under Lee and Stuart) and anyone else
with an opinion, freshly invigorated to debate the issues in public speeches and a
new round of newspaper articles.