Fabled Confederate general (1833–1864) best known for his consummate skill in reconnaissance and as a cavalry officer. After leading successful offensive actions during the Northern Virginia Campaign—as well as a “late,” disastrous showing at Gettysburg, which led to a personal rebuke by Lee—Stuart was killed during the Overland Campaign at the age of 31. War-dated ALS signed “J. E. B.,” one page, 3.75 x 6, January 31, 1862. Stuart writes to “My dear Ladies.” In full: “It is such a muddy day that I refrain from visiting you because I would dislike to appear in such an unpresentable a costume as the roads would give me. Nevertheless you may expect me soon rain or shine.” Accompanied by the original Headquarters Cavalry Brigade transmittal envelope, most likely addressed in Stuart’s hand, to “Miss Laura Ratcliffe, Beauty’s Bower, Fairfax.” Stuart’s susceptibility to the fair sex is well documented. In the 1986 biography Bold Dragoon, for example, author Emory M. Thomas observes that, after losing the attention of an early sweetheart, Stuart “continued to crave the company of women and attended winter band concerts, as much to see the ‘smiles of the ladies’ as to listen to the music.” Even after his 1855 marriage to the former Flora Cooke, during a wartime visit to the outskirts of Middleburg, Virginia, Stuart attracted the attention of “a group of very pretty young girls.” As the group of “fifty or sixty females of all ages” showered him with attention, kissing his hand and his uniform, Stuart invitingly observed, “Ladies, your kisses would be more acceptable to me if given on the cheek,” and, in the words of an observer, the women “charged ... the kisses now popped in rapid succession like musketry, and at last became volleys....” Stuart met Ratcliffe when she and her sister were nursing wounded soldiers at his camp during the winter of 1861. Ratcliffe and Stuart quickly became friends, and she provided him and his fellow cavalryman, "Gray Ghost" Colonel John Singleton Mosby, with information on Union troop activity in Fairfax County. Stuart wrote several letters to Ratcliffe during that time, and, in December 1862, Stuart led his cavalry troops on several raids against Federal forces in Fairfax County, and visited Laura at her home many times. Although it was obvious that Laura’s home was the center of much Confederate activity, she was never arrested or charged with any crime. Allover wrinkling, otherwise fine, clean condition. Auction LOA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
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