Jubal Anderson Early (November 3, 1816 – March 2, 1894) was an American lawyer, politician and military officer who served in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War. Trained at the United States Military Academy, Early resigned his United States Army commission after the Second Seminole War and his Virginia military commission after the Mexican–American War, in both cases to practice law and participate in politics. Accepting a Virginia and later Confederate military commission as the American Civil War began, Early fought in the eastern theater throughout the conflict. He commanded a division under generals Stonewall Jackson and Richard S. Ewell, and later commanded a corps.
A key Confederate defender of the Shenandoah Valley, during the Valley campaigns of 1864, Early made daring raids to the outskirts of Washington, D.C., and as far as York, Pennsylvania, but was eventually pushed back by Union Army troops led by General Philip Sheridan, losing over half his forces. After the war, Early fled to Mexico, then Cuba and Canada, and upon returning to the United States took pride as an "unrepentant rebel." Particularly after the death of Gen. Robert E. Lee in 1870, Early delivered speeches establishing the Lost Cause of the Confederacy, cofounding the Southern Historical Society and several Confederate memorial associations.J. Tracy Power, "Jubal A. Early (1816–1894)"
Early life and family
Early was born on November 3, 1816, in the Red Valley section of Franklin County, Virginia, third of ten children of Ruth (née Hairston) (1794–1832) and Joab Early (1791–1870). The Early family was well-established and well-connected in the area, either one of the First Families of Virginia, or linked to them by marriage as they moved westward toward the Blue Ridge Mountains from Virginia's Eastern Shore. His great-grandfather, Col. Jeremiah Early (1730–1779) of Bedford County, Virginia, bought an iron furnace in Rocky Mount (in what became Franklin County) with his son-in-law Col. James Calloway, but soon died. He willed it to his sons Joseph, John, and Jubal Early (grandfather of the present Jubal A. Early, named for his grandfather). Of those men, only John Early (1773–1833) would live long and prosper—he sold his interest in the furnace and bought a plantation from his father-in-law in Albemarle County. Earlysville, Virginia, was named after him. Jubal Early (for whom the baby Jubal was named) only lived a couple of years after his marriage. His young sons Joab (this Early's father) and Henry became wards of Col. Samuel Hairston (1788–1875), a major landowner in southwest Virginia, and in 1851 reputedly the richest man in the South, worth $5 million (~$ in ) in land and enslaved people.Henry Wiencek, The Hairstons: an American Family in Black and White (Macmillan, 2000) p. 8
Joab Early married his mentor's daughter, as well as like him (and his own son, this Jubal Early), served in the Virginia House of Delegates part-time (1824–1826), and become the county sheriff and led its militia, all while managing his extensive tobacco plantation of more than 4,000 acres using enslaved labor.1830 U.S. Federal Census for Franklin county, Southwest section shows Jubal Early as owning 7 enslaved persons. The same census names five Early households; the others were headed by his father Joab Early, as well as Henry Early, Lamarck Early and Melchizidek Early. His eldest son Samuel Henry Early (1813–1874) became a prominent manufacturer of salt using enslaved labor in the Kanawha Valley (of what became West Virginia during the American Civil War), and was a Confederate officer. Samuel H. Early married Henrian Cabell (1822–1890); their daughter, Ruth Hairston Early (1849–1928), became a prominent writer, member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and preservationist in Lynchburg, which became her family's home before the American Civil War and this Jubal Early's base during his final decades. His slightly younger brother Robert Hairston Early (1818–1882) also served as a Confederate officer during the Civil War but moved to Missouri.
Jubal Early had the wherewithal to attend local private schools in Franklin County, as well as more advanced private academies in Lynchburg and Danville. He was deeply affected by his mother's death in 1832. The following year, his father and Congressman Nathaniel Claiborne secured a place in the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, for young Early, citing his particular aptitude for science and mathematics. He passed probation and became the first boy from Franklin County to enter the Military Academy.Benjamin Franklin Cooling III, Jubal Early: Robert E. Lee's "Bad Old Man" (Rowman and Littlefield, 2014) p. 2 Early graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1837, ranked 18th of 50 graduating cadets and sixth among its engineering graduates.Early, Ruth Hairston. The Family of Early: Which Settled Upon the Eastern Shore of Virginia and Its Connection with Other Families, Brown-Morrison, 1920, pp. 107–108. During his tenure at the Academy, fellow cadet Lewis Addison Armistead broke a mess plate over Early's head, which prompted Armistead's departure from the Academy, although he, too, became an important Confederate officer.Resignation of Lewis A. Armistead, January 1836, RG 77, E18, National Archives. Some historians characterize Armistead's departure as a dismissal from the Academy; see citations in Lewis Addison Armistead. Other future generals in that 1837 class were Union generals Joseph Hooker (with whom Early would have a verbal mess hall altercation over slavery), John Sedgwick and William H. French, as well as future Confederate generals Braxton Bragg, John C. Pemberton, Arnold Elzey and William H. T. Walker. Other future generals whose time at West Point also overlapped with Early's included P.G.T. Beauregard, Richard Ewell, Edward "Allegheny" Johnson, Irvin McDowell and George Meade.Cooling pp. 2–3
Early military, legal and political careers Upon graduating from West Point, Early received a commission as a second lieutenant in the 3rd U.S. Artillery regiment. Assigned to fight against the Seminole in Florida, he was disappointed that he never even saw a Seminole and merely heard "some bullets whistling among the trees" not close to his position. His elder brother Samuel counseled him to finish his statutory one-year obligation, then return to civilian life. Thus Early resigned from the Army for the first time in 1838, later commenting that if notice of a promotion that reached him in Louisville during his return to Virginia had come earlier, he might have withheld that letter of resignation.Cooling p. 4
Early studied law with local attorney Norborne M. Taliaferro and was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1840. Franklin County voters the next year elected Early as one of their delegates in the Virginia House of Delegates (a part-time position); he was a Whig and served one term alongside Henry L. Muse from 1841 to 1842.Cynthia Miller Leonard, Virginia General Assembly 1619–1978 (Richmond: Virginia State Library 1978) p. 400 After redistricting reduced Franklin County's representation, his mentor (but Democrat) Norborne M. Taliaferro was elected to succeed him (and was re-elected many times until 1854, as well as become a local judge).Catalogue of Officers and Alumni of Washington & Lee University, p. 75, available at https://books.google.com/books?id=SS_PAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA75&lpg Meanwhile, voters elected Early to succeed Talliaferro as Commonwealth's attorney (prosecutor) for both Franklin and Floyd Counties; he was re-elected and served until 1852, apart from leading other Virginia volunteers during the Mexican–American War as noted below.
During the Mexican–American War (despite the opposition of prominent Whig Henry Clay to that war), Early volunteered and received a commission as a Major with the 1st Virginia Volunteers. During Early's time at West Point, he had considered resigning in order to fight for Texas' independence, but had been dissuaded by his father and elder brother.Cooling pp. 4–5 He served from 1847 to 1848, although his Virginians arrived too late to see battlefield combat. Major Early was assigned to logistics, as inspector general on the brigade's staff under West Pointers Col. John F. Hamtramck and Lt. Col. Thomas B. Randolph, and later helped govern the town of Monterrey, bragging that the good conduct of his men won universal praise and produced better order in Monterrey than ever before, as well as that by the time they were mustered out of service at Fort Monroe, many of his men conceded that they had misjudged him at the beginning. While in Mexico, Early met Jefferson Davis, who commanded the first Mississippi Volunteers, and they exchanged compliments. During the winter in damp northern Mexico, Early experienced the first attacks of the rheumatoid arthritis that plagued him for the rest of his life, and he was even sent home for three months to recover.Cooling pp. 6–7
However, his legal career was not particularly remunerative when he returned although Early won an inheritance case in Lowndes County, Mississippi. He handled many cases involving slaves as well as divorces, but owned one slave during his life. In the 1850 census, Early owned no real estate and lived in a tavern, as did several other lawyers; likewise, in the 1860 census, he owned neither real nor personal property (such as slaves) and lived in a hotel, as did several other lawyers and merchants.1850 U.S. Federal Census for Franklin County, dwelling no. 5; 1860 U.S. Federal Census for Franklin County, South Western district, dwelling 157. Likewise in the 1880 census, he lived in a boardinghouse. All such censuses are available at libraries on ancestry.com During this time, Early lived with Julia McNealey, who bore him four children whom Early acknowledged as his (including Jubal L. Early). She married another man in 1871. A biographer characterized Early as both unconventional and contrarian, "yet wedded to stability and conservatism".Cooling pp. 7–8
Although Early failed to win election as Franklin County's delegate to the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850, Franklin County voters elected Early and Peter Saunders (who lived in the same boardinghouse, although the son of prominent local landowner Samuel Sanders) to represent them at the Virginia Secession Convention of 1861.Leonard p. 475 A staunch Unionist, Early argued that the rights of Southerners without slaves were worth protection as much as those who owned slaves and that secession would precipitate war. Despite being mocked as "the Terrapin from Franklin," Early strongly opposed secession during both votes (Saunders left before the second vote, which approved secession).
American Civil War However, when President Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to suppress the rebellion, Early was furious. After Virginia voters ratified secession, like many of his cousins, he accepted a commission to serve in the state’s militia. Initially, Early became a brigadier general in the Virginia Militia and was sent to Lynchburg, where he raised three regiments and then commanded one of them. On June 19, 1861, Early formally became a colonel in the Confederate army, commanding the 24th Virginia Infantry, including his young cousin (previously expelled from Virginia Military Institute (VMI) for attending a tea party), Jack Hairston.According to Wiencek p. 144, Jack Hairston died early in the war, despite being his parents' only son and easily capable of hiring a substitute, and his cousin who tried to locate his body also died of disease contracted during the search.