Really enjoying the re-read Eric & JD, and looking forward to the 3rd volume.

Tom

Well, we’ve never claimed that all the evidence is on Stuart’s side – hence the title of the book 🙂

We were (and are) just trying to make the case that Stuart did indeed try to forward intelligence on the AOP’s movement – contrary to the other extreme, which is what you always hear… that Stuart did absolutely nothing to notify Lee or anyone else. Consider this – if the note had indeed reached Lee (on or about June 29) would it have made any difference? Perhaps. It certainly would have reinforced what the spy Harrison was saying. The note may have caused Lee to take different and/or quicker action.

The end result certainly came about by a combination of factors – Stuart’s one and only missive that didn’t get to Lee is certainly one.

JD

“One of the myths that J. D. Petruzzi and I tried to dispel in our book […] is the criticism that Jeb Stuart failed to take steps to provide intelligence to Robert E. Lee during his ride to Gettysburg. That criticism is not well-founded, as Stuart did, indeed, forward significant intelligence to the Confederate authorities.”

OK, there was one dispatch from northern Virginia on June 27th, a full week before the armies collided far to the north of the Potomac River. Lee clearly felt let down by Stuart prior to the latter’s eventual appearance on the battlefield. Why were Hill’s troops surprised on July 1st — “Look at those black hats! That’s the Army of the Potomac!” (as I recall reading somewhere) If it’s a myth, I still need to be convinced.

Your book, by the way, was outstanding. I gave it the “full monte” on Amazon.

I agree. We’re all starting to use newspaper accounts much more these days (well, at least Eric and I are:) because they’re so much more easily accessible – online and on film. But I also wonder where the heck the original of that message is, if it exists? I’ve never seen mention of the original, and since it went to the War Dept, I’d bet my life it got burned up in one of the War Dept record trains when Richmond was evacuated near the end of the war. Jones, since he quoted it word-for-word except for the address to Gen. Cooper, must have had it in front of him as he wrote his diary entry. It probably stayed in the War Dept, and got toasted when the trains and records were burned.

JD