new him well wrote: "Every thing striking, brilliant, and
picturesque, seemed to centre in him. The war seemed to be to Stuart a
splendid and exciting game, in which his blood coursed joyously, and
his immensely strong physical organization found an arena for the
display of all its faculties. The affluent life of the man craved
those perils and hardships which flush the pulses and make the heart
beat fast. He swung himself into the saddle at the sound of the bugle
as the hunter springs on horseback; and at such moments his cheeks
glowed and his huge mustache curled with enjoyment. The romance and
poetry of the hard trade of arms seemed first to be inaugurated when
this joyous cavalier, with his floating plume and splendid laughter,
appeared upon the great arena of the war in Virginia." Precise people
shook their heads, and called him frivolous, undervaluing his great
ability. Those best capable of judging him were of a different
opinion. Johnston wrote to him from the west: "How can I eat or sleep
in peace without _you_ upon the outpost?" Jackson said, when he fell
at Chancellorsville: "Go back to General Stuart, and tell him to act
upon his own judgment, and do what he thinks best, I have implicit
confidence in him." Lee said, when he was killed at Yellow Tavern:
"I can scarcely think of him without weeping." And the brave General
Sedgwick, of the United States Army, said: "Stuart is the best cavalry
officer ever _foaled_ in North America!"

In the summer of 1862, when we present him to the reader, Stuart had
as yet achieved little fame in his profession, but he was burning to
distinguish himself. He responded ardently, therefore, to the order of
Lee, and was soon ready with a picked force of about fifteen hundred
cavalry, under some of his best officers. Among them were Colonels
William H.F. Lee and Fitz-Hugh Lee--the first a son of General Lee, a
graduate of West Point, and an officer of distinction afterward;
the second, a son of Smith Lee, brother of the general, and famous
subsequently in the most brilliant scenes of the war as the gay and
gallant "General Fitz Lee," of the cavalry. With his picked force,
officered by the two Lees, and other excellent lieutenants, Stuart set
out on his adventurous expedition to Old Church. He effected more
than he anticipated, and performed a daring feat of arms in addition.
Driving the outposts from Hanover Court-House, he charged and broke a
force of Federal cavalry near Old Chu