GDG- Stuart and the historians II

[J. David Petruzzi]

The papers certainly did, and we quote from them, as well as Stuart's
comments in letters to his wife Flora, but to take the leap such as what
Bowden, Ward, and other writers do - that "everything" Stuart did was driven
by some revenge following Brandy, etc... there's simply no hard evidence in
the primary record.  It's a small, important part of the puzzle, but such
comments take away from the full story.  Hence the need for our book :-)

J.D.


>>Roger that, J.D.  As Jim Cameron said in an earlier post, these things
take
on a life of their own, and are passed from one writer to another as gospel.
I've seen this type of speculation about Stuart countless times over the
years.  Its derivation may well be from Freeman's "Lee's Lieutenants" where
he quoted from critical Southern newspaper articles published after the
Union cavalry attack at Brandy Station caught Stuart by surprise.

Regards, Tom>>