commissions. In 1775 he went to England, and became a pupil of Benjamin West in 1778. His work, however, shows none of the influence of West, and after four years Stuart set up a studio for himself in London, meeting with much success. Living beyond his means, he got into financial difficulties, and in 1788 escaped to Dublin. In London he had painted George III. and the future George IV., and in Paris had painted Louis XVI., and his success was no less great in Ireland. After five years he left Ireland for his native land in order to paint General Washington, who was said to 'be the only 'person in whose presence Stuart found himself embarrassed, and his first portrait Stuart felt was a failure; but Washington sat to him again, the result being the “Athenaeum” head on an unfinished canvas, showing the left side of the face. This remains the accepted likeness of Washington, of whom he also painted a full-length for Lord Lansdowne; of each of these portraits he executed many replicas. Among his portraits are those of Presidents Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe and John Quincy Adams, and John Jay, Governor Winthrop, Generals Gates and Knox, Bishop White, Chief Justice Shippen, John Singleton Copley, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Benjamin West, Lords Clinton, Lyndhurst, and Inchiquin, Sir Edward Thornton, Mme Patterson-Bonaparte and Horace Binney. Stuart's original colouring and technique, and his insight into character, make him not only one of the few great American artists, but one of the greatest portrait painters of his time. He settled at Boston in 1805, and died there on the 27th of July 1828.
See George C. Mason, Life and Works of Gilbert Stuart (New York, 1879).
STUART, JAMES EWELL BROWN (1833–1864), American
soldier, was born in Virginia on the 6th of February 1833 and
entered West Point military academy in 1850. Commissioned
in 1854 second lieutenant of cavalry, he saw considerable service in Indian warfare, and took part also in the repression of civil
disorder in Kansas. In 1855 he had married a daughter of
Colonel Philip St George Cooke, who was regarded as the most
capable cavalry officer in the United States service, and gave
his son-in-law the benefit of his experience and judgment. In
18 SQ Stuart, while staying in Washington on official business,
was sent to assist Colonel R. E. Lee in the suppression of the
John Brown raid on Harper's Ferry. Two years later the
Civil War presaged by the Kansas troubles and John Brown's
expedition broke out, and when Virginia seceded Stuart resigned
his commission in the United States army to share in the defence
of his state. He had resigned as a lieutenant-a notification
of his promotion to captain had actually crossed his letter of
resignation in the post-but trained officers, especially of cavalry,
were so scarce that he was at once made a colonel. With very
little delay, and with the scantiest of formal training, his
regiment was mustered into the Confederate army, and assigned
to Joseph Johnston's force in the Shenandoah Valley. His men
were mounted on their own horses, knew the country thoroughly,
and in his capable hands soon made themselves proficient in
outpost duty. In the opening campaign Stuart's command
acted as a screen to cover Johnston's movement on Manassas,
and at the first battle of Bull Run which followed, Stuart distinguished
himself by his personal bravery. During the autumn
and winter of 1861 he continued his outpost service and was
somewhat severely handled by General Ord's force at the action
of Dranesville. He was now promoted brigadier-general and
placed in command of the cavalry brigade of the army of
Northern Virginia. Just before the Seven Days' Battle (q.v.)
he was sent out by Lee to locate the right flank of McClellan's
army, and not only successfully achieved his mission, but rode
right round McClellan's rear to deliver his report to Lee at
Richmond. After the battle of Gaines's Mill on the 27th of June
Stuart's cavalry raided McClellan's abandoned line of communication
with White House, and his dismounted riflemen, aided
by a light howitzer, successfully engaged-a-Federal gunboat
on the Pamunkey. But such romantic and far-ranging raids on
this occasion, as on several others, contributed little or nothing
to the success of the army as a whole. In the next campaign,
it is true, he had the good fortune, in his raid against General
Pope's communications, not only to burn a great quantity of
stores, but also, what was far more important, to bring off
the headquarters' staff document of the enemy, from, which
Lee was able to discover the strength and positions of his opponents
in detail. Stuart, now a major-general and commander
of the cavalry corps, was present at the second battle of Bull
Run, and during the Maryland campaign he brilliantly defended
one of the passes of South Mountain (Crampton's Gap), thus
enabling Lee to concentrate his disseminated army in time to
meet McClellan's attack. After this battle the indefatigable
troopers embarked upon a fresh raid, which, though without any
definite object, had its value as an assertion of unbroken courage
after the quasi-defeat of Antietam, and in addition wore out
the Federal cavalry in vain efforts to pursue them. On this
occasion the swift Virginians covered 80 miles in 27 hours and
escaped with the loss of but three men. At Fredericksburg
Stuart's cavalry were as usual in the flank of the army, and his
horse artillery under Major Pelham rendered valuable service
in checking Franklin's attack on “Stonewall” Jackson's corps by
diverting a whole infantry division that formed part of Franklin's
command. At Chancellorsville Stuart was specially appointed
by Lee to take over command of the II. army corps after
Jackson had been wounded, and though unused to commanding
so large a force of all arms he acquitted himself so well in the
second»day's fighting that many considered that a grave injustice
was done to him by the promotion of Major-General Ewell,
Jackson's principal lieutenant, to fill the position left vacant
by Jackson's death. The next campaign, Gettysburg, was
preluded by the cavalry battle of Brandy Station, in which for
the first time the Federal cavalry showed themselves worthy
opponents for Stuart and his men. The march to the Potomac
was screened by the cavalry corps, which held the various approaches
on the right flank of the army, but at the crisis of the
campaign Stuart was absent on a raid, and although he attempted
to rejoin Lee during the battle, he was rnet and checked some
miles from the field by General Gregg, so that the skill and
courage which might have turned the scale in favour of Lee on
the first and second days of the great battle were employed only in covering his retreat. The cavalry took part in the war of manœuvre between Meade and Lee in the autumn of
1863, and then went into winter quarters. Very shortly after
the opening of the campaign of 1864 Stuart's corps was drawn
away from Lee's army by the Union cavalry under Sheridan,
and part of it, with which was Stuart himself, was defeated at
Yellow Tavern on the 10th of May. Stuart himself was killed.
Stuart possessed the ardent and resolute character of the true cavalry leader, and although he was fortunate enough to command brigades and regiments exclusively composed of men who were both born horsemen and natives of Virginia, and to be opposed, for the first two years, by docile but unenterprising squadrons which were recruited in a more ordinary way, yet it was undeniable that he possessed the gift, indeed the genius, of a great leader. That his energy was sometimes squandered on useless raids was but natural, considering the character of his forces, but in regard to his performances in the more exhausting and far more vital service of security and reconnaissance, General Johnston could ask “How can I sleep unless he is on the outpost?” and General Lee could say “He never brought me a false report.” Stuart preserved under all circumstances the gaiety of a cavalry subaltern and the personal character of an earnest Christian, and the army regarded his loss as almost as heavy a blow to the Confederate cause as that of Jackson.
See Life by H. B. McClellan (1885).
STUART, SIR JOHN, Count of Maida (1759–1815), British lieutenant-general, was born in Georgia. His father, Colonel John Stuart, was superintendent of Indian affairs in the southern district, and a prominent royalist in the War of Independence. Educated at Westminster School, young Stuart entered the 3rd Foot Guards in 1778, and almost immediately went to America with his regiment. He was present at the siege of
