James Ewell Brown “Jeb” Stuart seemed fated to be involved in the Civil War. He was born during the Nullification Crisis of 1833, wanted to join the U. S. Army during the Mexican-American War of 1848 that expanded our nation to the Pacific Ocean, found himself at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, from 1850-54, where he encountered many personalities of the coming War, such as Robert E. Lee. He then found himself in the middle of “Bleeding Kansas,” where he encountered many people, such as John Brown.
On May 24, 1856, John Brown led the “Pottawatomie Massacre” against pro-slavery Kansans. On June 5, 1856, Stuart and the 1st United States Cavalry, under the command of Edwin Sumner, went into John Brown’s camp three days after the “Battle of Black Jack.” Stuart and John Brown would cross paths again.
During a trip east in 1859, I believe Stuart visited his birthplace, Laurel Hill, for the last time as his mother sold the property later that year. The trip included business, as Stuart received Patent No. 25684 for a saber-attaching device on October 4, 1859, that he invented. The United States Government purchased “Stuart’s Lightning Horse Hitcher” for $5,000 ($106,616.37 in 2005).
During his visit on October 17, Stuart was in the War Department Office at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 17th Street, awaiting a meeting with Secretary of War John Floyd, when news from Harper’s Ferry of a possible takeover of the Federal Arsenal came across the telegraph. Stuart, in civilian clothes, went to Arlington to inform Colonel Robert E. Lee. Today, the Custis-Lee House sits on the hill in Arlington National Cemetery. A legend states that Stuart found Colonel Robert E. Lee at an Alexandria apothecary, what we would call a drug store, and informed him of the situation. Together, the two officers, Stuart and Lee, traveled into Washington City, where they met with Floyd and the 15th President of the United States, James Buchanan, at the White House. The two then boarded a fast train and headed northwest to put down the disturbance, with a contingent of Marines commanded by Lt. Israel Greene and the Maryland Militia arriving in Harper’s Ferry before midnight.
On October 18, 1859, at 7 a.m., Stuart delivered an ultimatum from Lee to the firehouse, where the townspeople had trapped the raiders. Stuart was to signal to Lee if his ultimatum was rejected. “Jeb” found a cocked carbine held by “Isaac Smith,” aka John Brown, pointing at him. Stuart told the raiders their lives would be spared if they surrendered. Brown refused, saying, “No, I prefer to die here.” After some haggling between the two, Stuart stepped back and signaled by waving his hat. Stuart, Greene, and 24 Marines approached On October 18, 1859, at 7 a.m., Stuart delivered an ultimatum from Lee to the firehouse, where the townspeople had trapped the raiders. Stuart was to signal to Lee if his ultimatum was rejected.
“Jeb” found a cocked carbine held by “Isaac Smith,” aka John Brown, pointing at him. Stuart told the raiders their lives would be spared if they surrendered. Brown refused, saying, “No, I prefer to die here.”
After some haggling between the two, Stuart stepped back and signaled by waving his hat. Stuart, Greene, and 24 Marines approached the fire engine house with 2,000 spectators on hand. During the three-minute attack, Stuart took John Brown’s Bowie knife, which is on display at the Virginia Historical Society.. During the three-minute attack, Stuart took John Brown’s Bowie knife, which is on display at the Virginia Historical Society.
As the Marines dragged Brown unconscious out of the firehouse, Stuart informed Lee of his real identity. Stuart wrote later that “the greatest service I rendered the state” involved recognizing Brown from Kansas Territory. Brown claimed he could have wiped Stuart out “like a mosquito,” but Stuart felt his razor-sharp saber “would have saved Virginia the expense of Brown’s trial.”
For many, John Brown is a hero who martyred himself to bring attention to slavery and the abolition of the economic system that dominated the Southern economy before the War Between the States, 1861-65. For others, John Brown is a terrorist who killed many innocent people in Kansas and was on a suicide mission at Harper’s Ferry. I can see both sides of the argument, but I think that killing innocent people for your cause is not an option in a civilized society.
After the raid, newspaper stories reported that Stuart and Brown had an exchange during Brown’s interrogation, where Stuart interrupted, questioning the prisoner about what he paid his fellow raiders, saying, “The wages of sin is death.” Brown responded, “Young man, had you been my prisoner and wounded, I would not have insulted you.” If Stuart had been Brown’s prisoner, he would have been dead, especially if in Kansas Territory. This shows an interesting take on the whole business. Just as with the coming War, these two men had divergent views on their Christianity and what is right and wrong.
I believe that Stuart’s involvement changed his viewpoint on many things. He began writing letters to the Governor of Virginia, Henry Wise, among others, while still an officer in the U. S. Army, stating that he had “done all in my power to encourage and help organize military companies.” Five years earlier, Stuart wanted to do all he could to pay back his debt to the United States, but John Brown’s Raid and the trouble in Kansas now turned him to write, “For my part, I have no hesitancy from the first that, right or wrong, alone or otherwise, I go with Virginia.” War was on the way, and J. E. B. Stuart chose a side. John Brown influenced that decision by trying to cause a slave uprising and seizing arms at the U. S. Arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, which is today a national park at the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers.
Virginia tried and executed John Brown for treason on December 2, 1859. Brown passed a note to his jailer on his way to the gallows. “I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood.” John Brown was correct. He and J. E. B. Stuart would both lose their lives.
[Remove these lines or replace with proper photo captions]
