CIVIL WAR]. STUART, J.E.B. Autograph letter signed ("J.E.B. Stuart") TO GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE, Head Quarters, Cavalry Corps, 5 April 1864. 1 page, 8vo, ruled paper, mat burn . ON THE EVE OF THE BLOODY 1864 CAMPAIGNS STUART SENDS LEE A "FINE WATERMELON" AND A DRAFT ORDER ABOUT POW CONDUCT A short, tantalizing letter from J.E.B. Stuart to his commander, with a fascinating context. It reads in full: "I send you by the bearer a Rock from the lower Rappahannock. I send you also a draft of an order I was about to publish to my command, but conceiving it to be important that such an order be published to the army, thought I would send it first to you to see if you did not concur with me. No news." What is the rock and what is the important order that he wants screened by his chief? Lee gives us the answers in his 6 April 1864 reply (published in his Wartime Papers ). The "rock" was a "fine watermelon" which Lee gratefully acknowledges, saying "I tried to tempt General Long to stay to eat it, but he would not. Can't you come over and dine with us?" He tells Stuart he will "embody your remarks, or rather admonition, to our prisoners in a general order. You know I clip my words very much, and it need not interfere with your promulgating to the cavalry your views." The following day, 7 April, Lee issued a Circular to the Army of Northern Virginia: "I hope that few of the soldiers of this army will find it necessary at any time in the coming campaign to surrender themselves prisoners of war. We cannot spare brave men to fill Federal prisons." But if any became captives they were expected to "preserve entire silence with regard to everything connected with the army, the positions, movements, probable strength of any portion of it." Men were not to disclose the "brigade, division, or corps to which they belong, but to give simply their names, company, and regiment." The two Generals did not even want prisoners talking about military matters with fellow prisoners. "Proper prudence on the part of all will be of great assistance in preserving that secrecy so essential to success" ( The Wartime Papers of Robert E. Lee , 691-693). Stuart's short note speaks volumes about the uneasy state of the Confederate command on the eve of the brutal campaigning of 1864--combat that would claim Stuart's own life just one month later in the Wildnerness.
CIVIL WAR]. STUART, J.E.B. Autograph letter signed ("J.E.B. Stuart") TO GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE, Head Quarters, Cavalry Corps, 5 April 1864. 1 page, 8vo, ruled paper, mat burn . ON THE EVE OF THE BLOODY 1864 CAMPAIGNS STUART SENDS LEE A "FINE WATERMELON" AND A DRAFT ORDER ABOUT POW CONDUCT A short, tantalizing letter from J.E.B. Stuart to his commander, with a fascinating context. It reads in full: "I send you by the bearer a Rock from the lower Rappahannock. I send you also a draft of an order I was about to publish to my command, but conceiving it to be important that such an order be published to the army, thought I would send it first to you to see if you did not concur with me. No news." What is the rock and what is the important order that he wants screened by his chief? Lee gives us the answers in his 6 April 1864 reply (published in his Wartime Papers ). The "rock" was a "fine watermelon" which Lee gratefully acknowledges, saying "I tried to tempt General Long to stay to eat it, but he would not. Can't you come over and dine with us?" He tells Stuart he will "embody your remarks, or rather admonition, to our prisoners in a general order. You know I clip my words very much, and it need not interfere with your promulgating to the cavalry your views." The following day, 7 April, Lee issued a Circular to the Army of Northern Virginia: "I hope that few of the soldiers of this army will find it necessary at any time in the coming campaign to surrender themselves prisoners of war. We cannot spare brave men to fill Federal prisons." But if any became captives they were expected to "preserve entire silence with regard to everything connected with the army, the positions, movements, probable strength of any portion of it." Men were not to disclose the "brigade, division, or corps to which they belong, but to give simply their names, company, and regiment." The two Generals did not even want prisoners talking about military matters with fellow prisoners. "Proper prudence on the part of all will be of great assistance in preserving that secrecy so essential to success" ( The Wartime Papers of Robert E. Lee , 691-693). Stuart's short note speaks volumes about the uneasy state of the Confederate command on the eve of the brutal campaigning of 1864--combat that would claim Stuart's own life just one month later in the Wildnerness.
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