By Tom Perry
In 1855, Walt Whitman published the Leaves of Grass. John Brown arrived in Kansas to fight against slavery, which led to the massacre on Pottawatomie Creek with broad swords. The Civil War began six years before the firing on Fort Sumter. The winter of 1855-56 was brutally cold, and elections in Kansas were marred by fraud.
Into this powder keg rides James Ewell Brown “Jeb” Stuart, who was recently assigned to the 1st United States Cavalry and appointed to the position by the Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, in March 1855 under the 14th President of the United States, Franklin Pierce. 1st US Cavalry was at Jefferson Barracks under the command of Colonel Edwin Vose Sumner and Lieutenant Colonel Joseph E Johnston. Both future generals are on opposite sides in the coming war. Others in the regiment are Major John Sedgwick, Robert Ransom, and Robert Garnett.
Arriving in June and sporting a new beard, Stuart was “the only man he ever saw that a beard improved.” He wrote that the beard “so much altered my physique that you could not recognize me.” Stuart was assigned to Company H under the command of Captain Edward Newby, 1st Lt James McIntosh, and 2nd Lt J. E. B. Stuart.
The regiment was stationed at Fort Leavenworth in the Kansas Territory. Post returns report 1st Cavalry with 14 commissioned officers, 248 enlisted men for an aggregate of 262 men in the regiment, including young Stuart. This information is located in the National Archives, where I spent many hours many years ago following Stuart’s career in the United States Army.
Stuart was appointed the Regimental Quarter Master on July 5, 1855, and confirmed on July 24, 1855. It was about this time that he adopted the nickname “Jeb” to distinguish himself from George Steuart. His family referred to him as James in letters.
1st Lieutenant George H Steuart joined the regiment on August 4, 1855. He was a member of the West Point Class of 1848 and a friend of Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson. During the Civil War, he was known as “Maryland” Steuart, where he commanded Infantry and Cavalry. He was captured at the Mule Shoe in a famous encounter with Winfield Hancock.
On August 10, 1855, Stuart wrote to his cousin A.S. Brown, “I feel lonely here in the west.” His personal life improved. “Some seven or eight ladies can always hoist sail for amusement. I have been riding with one nearly every suitable evening since I went up.” By September 20, 1855, Stuart wrote, “I am to be married.” He was engaged to Flora Cooke, daughter of Phillip St. George Cooke, a Virginian, who wrote the cavalry manual for the U. S. Army. Flora could ride a horse, shoot a gun, and play guitar. Stuart wrote in Latin that he came, he saw, he was conquered.
Stuart had just received consent from his father to marry when the sad news of the death of Archibald Stuart back at Laurel Hill in Patrick County on September 20, 1855, arrived. Jeb wrote, “Alas! What a shadow is life!” Echoing a theme, he would say throughout his life and the grief he was feeling, he wrote, “His will not mine be done.” Archibald Stuart was buried at Laurel Hill until 1952, when he was moved to Saltville, Virginia, to lie beside his wife, Elizabeth Letcher Pannill Stuart.
Archibald Stuart’s estate gave his youngest son an inheritance of 1/8 of his father’s effects, Missouri lands, servants, and a trust fund of $ 7,200 in cash. One inflation calculator reports that the amount would be $253,130.51 in 2025.
Sumner took the command to Fort Riley on September 20 and then, on October 1, left for the Little Blue River. On October 10, the regiment arrived at Cottonwood. On October 17, it left Cottonwood for Fort Kearney, which is a state park in present day Nebraska. On October 20, left Kearney, arrived at Camp on the Big Muddy on October 31, and left on November 1. The regiment traveled 468 miles in a month. Stuart’s Company H had an aggregate of 80 men, with 720 for the entire regiment. On November 4, 1855, the 1st Cavalry returned from the field to Fort Leavenworth. In 1855, Company H suffered 2 deaths and 23 desertions.
On November 14, 1855, Stuart married Flora Cooke, saying she went from “Cook to a Steward.” Being the daughter of an officer, she adapted well to life on the frontier. Stuart wrote about their life at the “ranch,” which consisted of two rooms and a kitchen. They planned to leave soon for a visit to Virginia to introduce his new wife to his family.
Stuart was given 60 days’ leave and left on November 19, 1855. While on leave, Stuart received a promotion to 1st Lieutenant on December 20, 1855. Stuart would return in March 1856 after getting an extension on his leave. In 1856, Stuart would encounter John Brown and Henry Clay Pate at the Battle of Black Jack. He would meet future Virginia Tech President Lunford Lomax and begin patrolling the Santa Fe Trail.
Such was one year in the life of Patrick County native James Ewell Brown “Jeb” Stuart. Most of this information came from the Post Returns in the National Archives and Stuart’s personal letters that are located throughout the country in various university libraries.
