  While General Stuart’s life was ebbing away, General Sheridan retired from the attack on Richmond. The delay at Ashland and the all-day fight at Yellow Tavern in which two brigades of Stuart’s cavalry had detained the ten thousand men of Sheridan’s command, had given the authorities at Richmond time to collect forces for the defense of the city. General Fitz Lee who now commanded the cavalry, harassed the retreat of Sheridan for a while, but his men and horses were too worn-out to attempt to cut off so large a force. Sheridan, therefore, marched through the swamps of the Chickahominy river to the Pamunkey, and after an absence of more than two weeks, rejoined Grant’s army which was still vainly attempting to get between Lee and Richmond. General Fitz Lee in his Life of General Robert E. Lee, says: “Sheridan’s raid would have been the usual record of nothing accomplished and a broken-down command except that at Yellow Tavern the Confederate cavalry chieftain was mortally wounded and died the next day in Richmond. This sad occurrence was of more value to the Federal cause than anything that could have happened, and his loss to Lee was irreparable. He was the army’s eyes and ears—vigilant always, bold to a fault, of great vigor and ceaseless activity. He had a heart ever loyal to his superior, and duty, was to him the ‘sublimest word in the language.’” In a letter to his wife a few days after General Stuart’s death, General Robert E. Lee said: “As I write, I expect to hear the sound of guns every moment. I grieve for the loss of the gallant officers and men, and miss their aid and sympathy. A more zealous, ardent, brave, and devoted soldier than Stuart the Confederacy cannot have.” General Lee’s order to the army announcing the death of Stuart was as follows: “Among the gallant soldiers who have fallen in the war, General Stuart was second to none in valor, in zeal, and in unflinching devotion to his country. His achievements form a conspicuous part of the history of this army, with which his name and services will be forever associated. To military capacity of a high order, he added the brighter graces of a pure life guided and sustained by the Christian’s faith and hope. The mysterious hand of an all-wise God has removed him from the scene of his usefulness and fame. His grateful countrymen will mourn his loss and cherish his memory. To his comrades in arms he has left the proud recollection of his deeds and the inspiring influence of his example.” General Wade Hampton’s order to his cavalry corps was also an eloquent tribute to the great cavalry leader. It was as follows: “In the midst of rejoicing over the success of our arms, the sad tidings come to us from Richmond of the death of our distinguished Chief of Cavalry. Death has at last accepted the offering of a life, which before the admiring eyes of the Army, has been so often, so freely and so nobly offered, on almost every battlefield of Virginia. In the death of Major-General J. E. B. Stuart the Army of Northern Virginia has lost one of its most brilliant, enthusiastic and zealous military leaders, the Southern cause one of its earliest, most untiring and devoted supporters, and the Cavalry arm of the service a chieftain who first gave it prominence and value, and whose dazzling achievements have attracted the wonder and applause of distant nations. His spirit shone as bright and brave in the still chamber of death, as amid the storm of the battlefield, and he passed out of life the same buoyant hero he had lived. Blessed through a short but glorious career with many instances of almost miraculous good fortune, it was his great privilege to die with the consciousness of having performed his whole duty to his country. To his children he leaves the rich legacy of a name which has become identified with the brightest acts of our military history and, when the panorama of our battles shall be unfolded to posterity, in almost every picture will be seen the form of our gallant leader. His name will be associated with almost every scene of danger and of glory, in which the Cavalry of the Virginia Army has borne a part, and they will recount the exploits of Stuart with the pride which men feel in their own honorable records. “The Major General commanding hopes that this division will show by their own noble conduct their high appreciation of the character of their lost commander, and when the danger thickens around them and the cause of their country calls for heroic efforts they will remember the example of Stuart. No leader ever set a more glorious example to his soldiers on the battlefield than he did, and it becomes the men he has so often led, while they mourn his fall, to emulate his courage, to imitate his heroic devotion to duty and to avenge his death.” While General Lee and his army continued to wrestle with the hosts of Grant, the city of Richmond was in deep gloom and mourning. Once more the tide of battle had come near her gates; and this time the beloved and gallant Stuart had fallen. He had been the pride of her heart, her brave and chivalrous defender. But Stuart was to sleep his last long sleep upon her bosom, in beautiful Hollywood around whose promontories sweep the waters of the James as they rush onward to the Chesapeake and where the tall pine trees whisper of the life eternal. The city aroused herself from her grief to do homage to the noble dead. The City Council of Richmond passed resolutions of respect and sympathy for the family of General Stuart and asked that the body of him who “yielded up his heroic spirit in the immediate defense of their city, and the successful effort to purchase their safety by the sacrifice of his own life,” might “be permitted to rest under the eye and guardianship of the people of Richmond and that they might be allowed to commemorate by a suitable monument their gratitude and his services.” At five o’clock on the afternoon of May 13, the funeral of General Stuart took place from old St. James Church in Richmond. The coffin containing the remains of the brave soldier was carried up the aisle and, covered with wreaths and flowers, was placed before the altar. The funeral service was conducted by Reverend Dr. Peterkin who had been with General Stuart during his last hours. The church was filled with officials of the Confederate government and citizens of Richmond. President Davis sat near the front, with a look of great sadness upon his careworn face. His cabinet officers were around him and on either side of the church were the senators and representatives of the Confederate Congress. But the cavalry officers and soldiers who loved and followed Stuart were all absent. They were on the firing line, either in the Wilderness or on the Chickahominy,—fighting in defense of Richmond which he had died to save. MONUMENT No military escort could be spared from the front to accompany the funeral procession to Hollywood or to fire the usual parting salute to the dead commander. But as the body was lowered into the grave, the earth trembled with the roar of artillery from the battlefield where his old troops were obeying his last command and driving back the Federals. No better salute could have been given the gallant leader. Leaving the body of their brave defender beneath the pines of Hollywood, the officials and citizens of Richmond returned to their homes to meet other sorrows. Before a year passed, the devoted city was overtaken by the fate which Stuart had so ably aided Lee in averting. Richmond fell into the hands of the Federals, General Lee surrendered, and the southern Confederacy was no more. When the city arose from her ashes and again put on the garb of peace, one of her first works was to erect memorials in honor of the men who had fought so nobly in her defense. In 1888, a monument was erected by some of Stuart’s comrades to mark the place at Yellow Tavern where he received his mortal wound. Governor Fitzhugh Lee was the orator of the occasion. He had been one of Stuart’s most trusted brigadier generals, and had known him since they were cadets together at West Point. In beautiful and touching language, he reviewed the chief events of Stuart’s life, his brilliant campaigns, and his last hours. MONUMENT AT YELLOW TAVERN The shaft at Yellow Tavern is twenty-two feet high and stands on a knoll about thirty feet from the spot where Stuart was wounded. Upon it are the following inscriptions:
In 1891, the “Veteran Cavalry Association of the Army of Northern Virginia” was organized for the purpose of marking the grave of General Stuart with a suitable monument; but it was afterwards decided that, with the aid of the city of Richmond, the association would erect an equestrian statue. The city donated the site on Monument avenue, near the equestrian statue of General Lee, and also contributed a large sum of money, so that the association was enabled to erect the statue. The sculptor, Mr. Fred Moynihan, designed and executed a statue, which is an excellent likeness of General Stuart and a striking example of the sculptor’s skill. In 1907, the memorial was unveiled in the presence of an immense concourse of people, including large numbers of veterans from all parts of the South. Chief among the guests of honor were Miss Mary Custis Lee, Mrs. Stonewall Jackson, and Mrs. J. E. B. Stuart. Fully ten thousand men marched in the column which took over an hour to pass a given point. Veterans who were too feeble to endure the fatigue of the march went early to the monument, and joined the great multitude that crowded the sidewalks and even the housetops. When the parade reached the monument, the crowd was so dense that it was with difficulty that the police made way for the orator and distinguished guests. The multitude was called to order by Major Andrew R. Venable, of Farmville, Virginia, a member of the staff of General Stuart, who introduced Rev. Walter Q. Hullihen, of Staunton, Virginia, another member of Stuart’s staff, who made the dedicatory prayer. Major Venable then introduced the orator of the day, Judge Theodore S. Garnett of Norfolk, Virginia, another member of the staff of General Stuart. It was indeed a remarkable incident that three of General Stuart’s staff officers presided at the unveiling of his statue forty-three years after his death. Judge Garnett in an eloquent speech reviewed the life and campaigns of Stuart, paying glowing tributes to the general, to the “ever-glorious and gallant” Stuart Horse Artillery, and to his comrades of Mosby’s Battalion. He closed with these words: “To the city of Richmond, as its faithful guardian, we commit this monument, in whose care and keeping it will henceforth stand in token of a people’s gratitude and in perpetual memory of his heroic name.” STUART STATUE The veil was then drawn from the monument by the hand of little Virginia Stuart Waller, General Stuart’s granddaughter. As the canvas fell from the heroic figure of General Stuart mounted on his powerful horse, the guns of the Howitzers boomed a salute and the cheering of the vast throng arose in billows of sound. “Stuart was again riding with Lee.” |
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