454 



A HISTORY OF CAVALRY. 



[period v. 



of Willicam H. Leo's and Jones's brigades against the 

 Federal right, whicli was entirely successful and swept 

 all before it. The Federal position being thus turned, 

 they fell Ijack, and crossing the Rappahannock, prevented 

 pursuit by a heavy fire of artillery from a num])er of 

 batteries placed upon the opposite bank of the river. 



General Stuart was killed on the 1 1th May, 18G4, while 

 bravely fighting, with only 1,100 men, against General 

 Sheridan, who was making a dash upon Richmond with 

 a mounted force 8,000 strong in the hope of cap- 

 turing it, as Haddick did Berlin in the wars of Frederick 

 the Great. Stuart was a most efficient cavalry officer, 

 his energy and impetuosity were unrivalled, while his 

 tact and promptitude of resource saved his command on 

 many critical occasions. His power of obtaining infor- 

 mation of the enemy's movements was extraordinary. 

 His loss was severely felt Ijy the whole army, but by none 

 more than by General Lee, who had planned all his best 

 campaigns upon the information gained for him by 

 Stuart and his cavalry. 



In the continuous fighting from the Wilderness to 

 Hanover Court House and Petersburg, in 1864, General 

 Lee had great difficulty in getting his reconnoitring 

 work properly done. He sent one cavalry officer after 

 another to obtain information, repeatedly ejaculating at 

 one important crisis, " Oh, for an hour of General 

 Stuart ! " Turning to his staff, he remarked, " I can do 

 nothing if my young men cannot keep me well 

 informed." 



Stuart was the ablest cavalry officer that the war 

 produced, unless an exception be made in favour of 

 General Forrest, who, although totally uneducated to 

 the military profession, gave proof of an energy and an 

 iron will such as distinguished Oliver Cromwell, and a 

 soldierly aptitude for command such as could not be 

 surpassed. 



A few pages cannot be better employed in a " History 

 of Cavalry," than in referring to the gallant operations 

 -of Forrest and his cavalry in the war in the South 

 Western States. 





