JEB Stuart and the Biggest Controversy of the War

J.E.B. Stuart was pretty much the "Big guy" when it came to cavalry in the south during the civil war. General Lee really relied on him to complete some pretty complex tasks, in terms of 1800's combat operations.

During the week and a half leading up to the conflict that opened up in Gettysburg, Lee had ordered Stuart to ride to the back lines of the Union army, and to conduct recon, and launch small raids to distract, and return with the information. However, Stuart was not seen until the lines had been drawn, and the battle orders worked up, and was far too late.

There's a good deal of differing opinions on if Stuart was right or wrong. The way I see it, he was probably too engaged in maintaining his own grandeur than ensuring a timely response to Lee.

What are your thoughts, ATS

Speculation has it Stewart was actually captured by The Union Army at Westminster for a few hours. He was threatened and bought off and sent off to sabotage upcoming reports back to General Lee!! Could be true. The details and what he "failed" to do might be interesting. 😀 Might be worth some deep study.

a reply to: xuenchen

Hmm, I don't buy it! The unit attached to Stuart from the 22nd of may until the end of the 3rd of June would have a lot to say about that!

originally posted by: xuenchen
Speculation has it Stewart was actually captured by The Union Army at Westminster for a few hours. He was threatened and bought off and sent off to sabotage upcoming reports back to General Lee!! Could be true. The details and what he "failed" to do might be interesting. 😀 Might be worth some deep study.

Illinois got a piece of Wisconsin attached to its northern end before the war because they might have otherwise gone Confederate.

Vegas is close to Arizona. Arizona territory was Confederate.

Both places you list as locations are likely to have believers in the Lost Cause.

Wikipedia seemed to think he simply misinterpreted some of Lee's orders and took too long capturing, then protecting a mule driven wagon train of 140 wagons. He wanted to get the supplies to the Rebels instead of destroying it.

In another thread I put forth my theory that one reason the war took so long is some of the men on both sides had decided to assume the moral position that if they wanted their state to theirs, they had to leave the other side's states to them. They were men of faith. Maybe they thought God would let them have "their" state if they let the other fellow have his.

So each side fought very hard on their own soil but the North had to keep replacing generals because they couldn't get any action out of the army, and the South ruined several campaigns with blunders which belied their abilities.

Obviously soldiers can't do what they want but morale is important.

originally posted by: Solvedit

originally posted by: xuenchen
Speculation has it Stewart was actually captured by The Union Army at Westminster for a few hours. He was threatened and bought off and sent off to sabotage upcoming reports back to General Lee!! Could be true. The details and what he "failed" to do might be interesting. 😀 Might be worth some deep study.

Illinois got a piece of Wisconsin attached to its northern end before the war because they might have otherwise gone Confederate.

Vegas is close to Arizona. Arizona territory was Confederate.

Both places you list as locations are likely to have believers in the Lost Cause.

YES!! Anything's Possible! 😊