Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/195

 V I RC^INIA BIOGRAPHY

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Kil])atrick at Aldie, but was in turn repulsed the next day at Ui)])erville and driven back to Ashby Junction. l\yn days later at Mid- dleburg. after a running tight of eight miles, he was again defeated. (General Stuart has been criticised for disregarding an order to cross the Potomac as advance guard to the infantry, and holding instead the gap in the mountains through which he made a raid in the rear of the Federal army, until the close of the three days fighting at Gettysburg. Whatever justice there may be in such criti- cism, the fact must not be lost sight of that (-eneral .Stuart had problems of his own to face, unknown to General Lee; that for eight days he was without rest, fighting con- stantly three days, and that he formed an effective guard to the retreating army, and by guarding the mountain passes he secured a safe route, repulsing the Federal attacks, and saving for the Confederates their wagon trains and artillery. On this duty he fought Kilpatrick and Buford, and several times engaged hand to hand with the Federals checking their pursuit. Afterward Stuart met Kilpatrick and Buford on the Rappa- hannock at Culpeper and Jack's Shop, but retired in each instance. At Brandy Station he forced back Pleasanton and routed Davis at Buckland. He led Hill's corps agamst Grant at the passage of the Rapidan, and by a detour interposed Sheridan on his Rich- mond raid, and at Yellow Tavern had an obstinate fight with that cavalry- leader, saving the Confederate capital. The fortunes of war turned against his forces only after their gallant leader had received his mortal wound, a shot from a freeing Federal trooper, who had been dismounted in the charge. Noting as he was being carried from the field that his men were retreating in dis- order, he cried to them: "(io back; go back; and do your duty, as I have done mine, and our country will be safe, (io back ; go back ; I had rather die than be whipped.'" These words of entreaty and command were the last he e\-er uttered on the liattlefield. He died in Riclnnond. \'irginia, the next day, June 12, icSf)4.

John Esten Cooke has written thus of his last moments : "As his life had been one of earnest devotion to the cause in which he believed, so his last hours were tranquil, his confidence in the mercy of Heaven unfailing. When he was asked how he felt, he said, 'Easy, but willing to die if God and my coun-

try think I have done my duty.' His last words were: T am going fast now; I am resigned, (iod's will be done.' As he uttered these words he expired."

Writes another, Joseph T. Derry : "In every battle Stuart's black plume had waved in the advance. In every arm of the service he had won the highest honors. Gay and rollicking in canij), merry on the march, often calling Sweeney to ride by his side and thrum upon the banjo an accompani- ment t(i his merry songs, he was always fully awake to the demands of duty and equal to any emergency. With all his gai- etv he was never profane, would not play cards, was one of the purest of men, a de- voted husband and father, and a devout Christian."

History records his daring deeds and awards him a place with Lee and Jackson, as one of the greatest military generals of the Confederacy. The secret of his great- ness in war Avas not alone his personal bravery nor his military genius, but may be found in his own devotion to the cause he championed, and to the faculty he pos- sessed of inspiring his men with his own high spirited devotion, so that where he led all followed, thus making a Stuart of every man in his command. This with his daring and fearlessness rendered him in- vincible.

General Stuart married at Fort Riley, Kansas, November 14, 1855, Flora, daugh- ter of Colonel Philip St. George Cooke, of the United States army, a graduate of West Point, son of Dr. Stephen and Catherine (Esten) Cooke, the latter a daughter of the governor-general of Bermuda, West Indies, during the revolution. Children: i. Flora, born in 1857, died in 1862. 2. James Ewell Brown (2), born in i860; now with the Texas il Company in New York City; married Josephine Phillips, of Hampton, Mrginia ; children : Mary, Flora, Josephine, James F. I'.. (3) and Elizabeth Letcher. 3. X'irginia Pelham, born in 1863, died in 1898; she married Robert Page Waller, of Nor- folk ; children : Flora Stuart. ]\Iatthew Page and \'irginia Stuart.

Mrs. Flora (Cooke) Stuart, now aged seventy-eight, is in good health, and at the inauguration of Governor Stuart of Vir- ginia in February, 1914, was the guest of honor of Governor Stuart, the eldest of the nephews of General Stuart. Her home in