Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 08.djvu/464

452 sure to witness some successful stratagem against peace and sobriety in our camp. Sometimes after hours of close application in office duties Stuart would call his adjutant from his desk and demand a contest in a game of marbles, which he would pursue with all the eagerness of a boy for half an hour, and then return to serious labor. Sometimes the call would be for a serenade, and a midnight stroll, with his bugler as chief musician, and a few of the staff as assistants, would break the monotony of camp life.

Would you tie down this laughing spirit to that gravity of conduct which is expected of an old man? He would not then have been Stuart.

In a somewhat graver form this joyous temperament constituted one of the strong points of his character, and was one of the elements which gave to him that wonderful control over the minds and actions of his men. Now it was the expression of that indomitable will and cheerful courage which could dispute the ground over miles of country, foot by foot, and day after day, when falling back in the presence of a superior force of the enemy. Did destruction threaten a portion of the line? Stuart was sure to appear when danger was most imminent, and his cheerful voice would restore confidence to the drooping. You might hear the men say as he rode along the line, "There he goes, boys! we're all right now." It was the expression of that tenacity of purpose, which would not relax its grasp until the desired object was attained, or its attainment was proven clearly impossible. It gave him his two great maxims of war: "If you are in doubt what to do, attack," and "Believe that you can whip the enemy, and you have half won the battle." It inspired that wonderful courage which seemed, and yet only seemed, unconscious of danger; which might be overwhelmed with numbers, but which death itself could not subdue.

Had this light and joyous nature constituted the controlling feature of Stuart's character, he would never have achieved greatness. The temptations of youth would probably have carried him away into excesses which would have ruined his usefulness. But, as I have already said, in his boyhood he professed the religion of Christ, and ever afterward maintained a consistent Christian character. He was absolutely pure and temperate in his personal habits. I have heard him say repeatedly, never had one drop of spirituous liquor of any kind passed his lips, and that he had not even tasted wine except at the sacramental table. Devotion to duty—duty to his God, duty to his country, was the ruling principle of his life. His reliance upon an overruling Providence was simple and complete. When about to graduate at West Point, he discusses, in letters to his father, the future which lies before