A LIFE OF GEN. ROBERT E. LEE. BY JOHN ESTEN COOKE. "Duty is the
sublimest word in our language." "Human virtue should be equal
to human calamity." LEE. 1876 IN FRONT OF RICHMOND. V. Stuart's
"Ride around McClellan" General James E.B. Stuart, who now made
his first prominent appearance upon the theatre of the war, was
a Virginian by birth, and not yet thirty years of age. Resigning
his commission of lieutenant in the United States Cavalry at the
beginning of the war, he had joined Johnston in the Valley, and
impressed that officer with a high opinion of his abilities as a
cavalry officer; proceeded thence to Manassas, where he charged
and broke a company of "Zouave" infantry; protected the rear of
the army when Johnston retired to the Rappahannock, and bore an
active part in the conflict on the Peninsula. In person he was
of medium height; his frame was broad and powerful; he wore a
heavy brown beard flowing upon his breast, a huge mustache of
the same color, the ends curling upward; and the blue eyes,
flashin