No commander during the Civil War is more closely identified with the “cavalier mystique” as Major General J.E.B. (Jeb) Stuart. And none played a more prominent role during the brief period when the hopes of the nascent Confederacy were at their apex, when it appeared as though the Army of Northern Virginia could not be restrained from establishing Southern nationhood.
Jeb Stuart was not only successful in leading Robert E. Lee’s cavalry in dozens of campaigns and raids, but for riding magnificent horses, dressing outlandishly, and participating in balls and parties that epitomized the “moonlight and magnolia” image of the Old South. Longstreet reported that at the height of the Battle of Second Manasses, Stuart rode off singing, “If you want to have good time, jine the cavalry . . .” Porter Alexander remembered him singing, in the midst of the miraculous victory at Chancellorsville, “Old Joe Hooker, won’t you come out of the Wilderness?”
Stuart was blessed with an unusually positive personality—always upbeat, charming, boisterous, and humorous, remembered as the only man who could make Stonewall Jackson laugh, reciting poetry when not engaged in battle, and yet never using alcohol or other stimulants. Year of Glory focuses on the twelve months in which Stuart’s reputation was made, following his career on an almost day-to-day basis from June 1862, when Lee took command of the army, to June 1863, when Stuart turned north to regain a glory slightly tarnished at Brandy Station, but found Gettysburg instead.
It is told through the eyes of the men who rode with him, as well as Jeb’s letters, reports, and anecdotes handed down over 150 years. It was a year like no other, filled with exhilaration at the imminent creation of a new country. This was a period when it could hardly be imagined that the cause, and Stuart himself, could dissolve into grief, Jeb ultimately separated from the people he cherished most.
FOREWORD BY STEPHEN W. SYLVIA
PROLOGUE THE MAN OF THE YEAR
1 STUART’S MILITARY FAMILY ASSEMBLES
2 THE FIRST RIDE AROUND MCCLELLAN
JUNE 1–15, 1862
3 THE SEVEN DAYS AND THE JAMES
JUNE 15–JULY 3, 1862
4 VERDIERSVILLE TO SECOND MANASSAS
JULY 4–AUGUST 31, 1862
5 TO SHARPSBURG AND BEYOND
SEPTEMBER 1, 1862–SEPTEMBER 27, 1862
6 THE SECOND RIDE AROUND MCCLELLAN
SEPTEMBER 28–OCTOBER 12, 1862
7 THE BOWER AND BEREAVEMENT
OCTOBER 13-NOVEMBER 16, 1862
8 FREDERICKSBURG AND THE DUMFRIES RAID
NOVEMBER 17, 1862–JANUARY 1, 1863
9 THE LONG COLD WINTER
JANUARY 2, 1863–FEBRUARY 28, 1863
10 IRREPARABLE
MARCH 1, 1863–APRIL 16, 1863
11 CHANCELLORSVILLE AND THE SECOND CORPS
APRIL 17, 1863–MAY 31, 1863
12 FLEETWOOD AND YEAR’S END
JUNE 1–JUNE 23, 1863
EPILOGUE AND SO THE SOUTH LOST THE WAR
NOTES
INDEX
Monte Akers is the author of several books, including The Accidental Historian: Tales of Trash and Treasure (2010); Flames After Midnight: Murder, Vengeance and the Desolation of a Texas Community (1999); and Tales for the Tellings: Six Short Stories of the American Civil War. He followed up the highly-praised Year of Glory with Year of Desperate Struggle: Jeb Stuart and His Cavalry, from Gettysburg to Yellow Tavern, 1863-1864 (Casemate 2015). An attorney as well as historian, a collector of Civil War artifacts, song lyricist (since age nine), and an admirer of Jeb Stuart, he currently lives near Austin, Texas.
