By Tom Perry
Continuing with the theme of J. E. B. Stuart and his visits to the homes of former Presidents of the United States, we visit Montpelier, thirty miles to the north of Monticello, the home of James Madison. Stuart and Madison are not two names you automatically think of as having a connection, but the two men have many connections in Orange County, Virginia.
During the War Between the States, James Madison’s former home, Montpelier, was owned by Frank and Thomas Carson, two Irish brothers with banking interests in Baltimore. Confederate officers did not occupy the Montpelier house as a headquarters, but it was a landmark that drew many visiting soldiers. Frank Carson hosted a ball given by General J.E.B. Stuart at Montpelier in 1863. It was not the first time that Stuart and Madison’s families had crossed paths.
Bethenia Letcher, the daughter of William Letcher, was born at Laurel Hill in 1780, just before her father was murdered by a Tory, a person who favored the British during the American Revolution. Bethenia married David Pannill on October 29, 1798.
David Pannill descended from the “Rappahannock” Pannills. Thomas and Catherine Pannill settled on 2500 acres along the Rappahannock River in present day Orange County in 1673. Their son, William, born circa 1670, married Frances Sterne and lived in Richmond County. William II married Sarah Bailey of Middlesex County and lived in Orange County. William III, born in 1737, married Ann Morton and produced fourteen children. The sixth child, David, was born in Orange County, Virginia, on January 15, 1772.
On January 4, 1801, Bethenia gave birth to her first child, a daughter she named Elizabeth Letcher Pannill, the mother of J. E. B. Stuart. The second child, William Letcher Pannill, came into this world on September 10, 1803, just months before his father’s death. David Pannill died in November 1803, leaving a wife and two small children. His tombstone reads, “He had a warm, generous heart, was just to all men, and died among many friends who sincerely regretted the death of their best friend and benefactor.” Bethenia found herself in the same situation as her mother over twenty years earlier.
On February 3, 1809, the United States Congress organized the Illinois Territory with Alexander Stuart, the grandfather of J. E. B. Stuart, serving as one of three territorial judges. Stuart began a career serving on the state and federal levels of the judiciary in the Illinois and Missouri territories and then in the states. On July 17, 1809, Governor Edwards of Illinois took the oath of office before Judge Stuart. On July 9, 1813, Alexander Stuart resigned as judge, but returned on February 9, 1814. President James Madison and Secretary of State James Monroe commissioned Stuart as a United States Judge. Territorial records listed Judge Stuart as being double paid in Illinois and Missouri on April 27, 1814. On April 3, 1816, Governor William Clark (of Lewis and Clark) of Missouri granted a pardon on the advice of Alexander Stuart.
At noon on October 5, 1829, former President of the United States, James Madison, rose to call a meeting to order in Richmond, Virginia. He stood in the Capital of Virginia, designed by his old friend Thomas Jefferson. The assembled ninety-eight men were to revise the 1776 Virginia Constitution. As the elder statesman spoke, thirty-four year old Archibald Stuart no doubt marveled at the men around him.
Archibald Stuart, the father of J. E. B. Stuart, found himself in the presence of several giants of Virginia and American History at the convention. Madison had once written, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” Standing before Archibald Stuart this day, he was one of the last “Founding Fathers,” and he spoke on constitutional matters as few could. Today, we consider him the “Father” of the United States Constitution. James Madison still had seven years to live, and on this day, he nominated the former fifth President, James Monroe, as President of the Convention. The Chief Justice of the United States, Virginian John Marshall, seconded the nomination. Madison, Marshall, and Monroe, who crossed the Delaware River with George Washington in 1776, were joined in the assembly by the infamous John Randolph of Roanoke and the future tenth President of the United States, John Tyler, who lived long enough to serve in the government of the Confederate States of America. Archibald Stuart served as a Delegate to the Virginia Constitutional Convention from October 5, 1829, until January 15, 1830. Among others serving from the 21st Senatorial District were Joseph Martin of Henry County, Benjamin W. S. Cabell, and George Townes of Pittsylvania County.
The Convention of 1829-30 revised the 1776 Constitution of Virginia. Stuart served on a committee charged with “Bill of Rights and matters not referred to foregoing Committees.” Described as a “reformer,” Stuart voted 80% of the time for change in the constitution. He was one of only four delegates east of the Blue Ridge, along with Henry A. Wise, calling for a “white basis” in representation that challenged the authority of piedmont plantation owners and increased the power of the western part of Virginia. While that measure failed, along with a resolution on dueling, an amendment passed to make the removal of corrupt or incompetent judges “more efficient.” Stuart supported opening the right to vote to “leaseholders,” not just property owners.
In the summer of 1862, the Army of Northern Virginia fought its way into the history books. After pushing McClellan away from Richmond, Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia took the initiative and began to move north. J. E. B. Stuart had one nearly disastrous stop in Orange County. Union cavalry almost captured Stuart after Georgian Robert Tombs failed to guard a river crossing.
Stuart fled the porch of the house he was sleeping on, losing his plumed hat and nearly his dignity as a prisoner of war. Stuart repaid the Union by raiding Catlett’s Station and capturing the dress uniform of the Union army commander John Pope and several hundred thousand dollars in greenbacks. Stuart jokingly sent a telegram proposing a swap of the prisoners, his hat for Pope’s uniform. No reply came in response. Stuart received a promotion to Major General in the summer of 1862. He was twenty-nine years old and would command Lee’s cavalry for the rest of his life. The following year, he would visit James Madison’s Montpelier.
James Madison’s Montpelier eventually came to be owned by the DuPont family. They donated the property to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which has restored the home to its appearance in Madison’s time. Showing the influence of Thomas Jefferson’s architectural vision, the home once hosted James Ewell Brown “Jeb” Stuart.
For more, visit https://savingplaces.org/places/montpelier.
