NF JEB Stuart

Non-Fiction
I will have to get in touch with him. Sounds like a nice guy.
Yeah I saw an address in a Civil war Trust mailing ( Jeb was investing their money, he worked for Merrill Lynch) and I wrote him four questions about things like the best biography of his ancestor, things like that. He called out of the blue. Imagine how I felt when someone said: "There's a Jeb Stuart on the line for you." He was very nice and by the way he said John Thomason's book was the best because he felt Thomason being a military man had a better perspective than a academician.
 
Yeah I saw an address in a Civil war Trust mailing ( Jeb was investing their money, he worked for Merrill Lynch) and I wrote him four questions about things like the best biography of his ancestor, things like that. He called out of the blue. Imagine how I felt when someone said: "There's a Jeb Stuart on the line for you." He was very nice and by the way he said John Thomason's book was the best because he felt Thomason being a military man had a better perspective than a academician.
I will make sure I get Thomasons book.
 
I will make sure I get Thomasons book.

I like Thomason's book. Thomason clearly worshipped JEB. I'm reading Wert's book now, and his view is balanced. Stuart made several errors of omission and commission during the war, and Wert is not shy about detailing them.
 
Yeah I saw an address in a Civil war Trust mailing ( Jeb was investing their money, he worked for Merrill Lynch) and I wrote him four questions about things like the best biography of his ancestor, things like that. He called out of the blue. Imagine how I felt when someone said: "There's a Jeb Stuart on the line for you." He was very nice and by the way he said John Thomason's book was the best because he felt Thomason being a military man had a better perspective than a academician.

Jeb IV is a terrific guy, and I consider myself extremely fortunate to be able to call him a friend. He's long been one of the strongest and most reliable supporters of battlefield preservation--he served on board of the ABT for a number of years--and always has lent his name to preservation efforts. He was a full colonel in the army before becoming a stockbroker, so he understands the military side of things too.

I have been speaking to crowds for more than 40 years, beginning in high school. It's something I am extremely comfortable with--I do it without even really thinking about it at this point, having done so hundreds of times of these years. Consequently, I rarely ever get nervous or flustered about it--it's just something that I do routinely. However, one year at the Middleburg Conference on the Art of Command in the Civil War, I did my talk based on Plenty of Blame to Go Around: Jeb Stuart's Controversial Ride to Gettysburg with Jeb IV sitting in the front row, directly in front of me, right in my line of vision. Talk about pressure and talk about nervous...my stomach did flip-flops. Fortunately, Jeb had read the book and I already knew that he agreed with our interpretation. But still....that was one of the longer hours of my life...

I will have to see if I can find it...somewhere I have a photo of me speaking on Buford's Knoll at Brandy Station at the 150th anniversary event with Jeb IV and his son John and one of his grandsons sitting in the front row.
 
Jeb IV is a terrific guy, and I consider myself extremely fortunate to be able to call him a friend. He's long been one of the strongest and most reliable supporters of battlefield preservation--he served on board of the ABT for a number of years--and always has lent his name to preservation efforts. He was a full colonel in the army before becoming a stockbroker, so he understands the military side of things too.

I have been speaking to crowds for more than 40 years, beginning in high school. It's something I am extremely comfortable with--I do it without even really thinking about it at this point, having done so hundreds of times of these years. Consequently, I rarely ever get nervous or flustered about it--it's just something that I do routinely. However, one year at the Middleburg Conference on the Art of Command in the Civil War, I did my talk based on Plenty of Blame to Go Around: Jeb Stuart's Controversial Ride to Gettysburg with Jeb IV sitting in the front row, directly in front of me, right in my line of vision. Talk about pressure and talk about nervous...my stomach did flip-flops. Fortunately, Jeb had read the book and I already knew that he agreed with our interpretation. But still....that was one of the longer hours of my life...

I will have to see if I can find it...somewhere I have a photo of me speaking on Buford's Knoll at Brandy Station at the 150th anniversary event with Jeb IV and his son John and one of his grandsons sitting in the front row.

I just bought your book today.

Your story reminds me of the time I first spoke to a large crowd on a scientific topic, and the Noble Prize winner for that topic was in the first row. He fell asleep........
 
Jeb IV is a terrific guy, and I consider myself extremely fortunate to be able to call him a friend. He's long been one of the strongest and most reliable supporters of battlefield preservation--he served on board of the ABT for a number of years--and always has lent his name to preservation efforts. He was a full colonel in the army before becoming a stockbroker, so he understands the military side of things too.

I have been speaking to crowds for more than 40 years, beginning in high school. It's something I am extremely comfortable with--I do it without even really thinking about it at this point, having done so hundreds of times of these years. Consequently, I rarely ever get nervous or flustered about it--it's just something that I do routinely. However, one year at the Middleburg Conference on the Art of Command in the Civil War, I did my talk based on Plenty of Blame to Go Around: Jeb Stuart's Controversial Ride to Gettysburg with Jeb IV sitting in the front row, directly in front of me, right in my line of vision. Talk about pressure and talk about nervous...my stomach did flip-flops. Fortunately, Jeb had read the book and I already knew that he agreed with our interpretation. But still....that was one of the longer hours of my life...

I will have to see if I can find it...somewhere I have a photo of me speaking on Buford's Knoll at Brandy Station at the 150th anniversary event with Jeb IV and his son John and one of his grandsons sitting in the front row.
That must have been surreal. I have your book "Plenty of Blame" and enjoy it quite a lot. Great story.
 
It is interesting, at least in my humble opinion, that JEB's direct ancestor in our time was a military man. I believe Custer 's GGG(?) nephew graduated from West Point.

John
 
I agree with you. I thoroughly enjoyed that book... overall a great read that will not disappoint. The author really delved into who J.E.B. Stuart was in this body of work, covering his early days with the U.S. Dragoons and the 1st U.S. Cavalry (Company "K"), to include his service on the frontier protecting western expansion. And of course his service with the Confederate States Army (Cavalry). I was excited when I purchased the book quite a few years ago and since then I have read it a few times. If I were to recommend one book on J.E.B. Stuart it would be "J.E.B. Stuart; the Last Cavalier."
It isn't really a good reason, but that one too is my only bio of Stuart - other than Thomason's book which isn't really a "typical" biography - and like everything else I've ever read by Davis it was worthwhile. Davis was a staff writer for Williamsburg and specialized on biographies of well-known Virginians. Others of his books are about George Washington during the Revolution, R. E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson.
 
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I like Thomason's book. Thomason clearly worshipped JEB. I'm reading Wert's book now, and his view is balanced. Stuart made several errors of omission and commission during the war, and Wert is not shy about detailing them.
I've also read and enjoyed Thomason's book but I thought it was a little too non-academic; that is, it wasn't well-grounded in research or footnotes and seemed more like a book of Legends & Tales than a work of History.
 
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