John J. Fox III

James Ewell Brown Stuart was an unknown figure at the beginning of the American Civil War. A junior cavalry officer in the U.S. Army prior to the war, Stuart quickly rallied to his state's colors and swiftly rose from regimental to brigade command in Virginia's cavalry force. The early battles of the war did not test the mettle of the Confederate horsemen--at least not until U.S. Army of the Potomac commander George McClellan began his deep penetration of Virginia soil during the Peninsula campaign did the opportunity appear for decisive Confederate cavalry action. That action took the form of the events described in John Fox's book.

"Stuart's Finest Hour: The Ride Around McClellan, June 1862" captures a four-day period in which the new commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, Robert E. Lee, used Stuart's cavalry in a classic reconnaissance role. The author is a former U.S. Army armor and aviation officer with considerable interest in the Civil War; he as two other books and a number of articles to his credit. The book's 325-page length contains 23 numbered chapters, five appendices, endnotes, a bibliography, and an index. The book is laid out logically in chronological order, the first seven chapters essentially setting the stage for the action to follow. Chapter 8 details the planning for the raid, while Chapter 9 tells of the beginning of the raid on 12 June 1862. The story flows quickly afterwards, as Fox's chapters follow the track of the raid geographically, then detail the events at the locations mentioned. The book can be used as a battlefield guide, as the included maps show modern road names and numbers, and photographs illustrate historical places in both their Civil War-era context and how they look today.

The five appendices provide helpful augmentation to the text. Appendix A gives the order of battle for both sides, while Appendix B provides a vignette of the burial of the sole Confederate casualty of the raid. Appendix C discusses the command decisions Stuart had to make in determining the route for his force and whether to expand the scope of his mission. Appendix D breaks down into further detail Stuart's route as it appeared to him in 1862, a topic of some controversy as local folklore has altered the route over the years. Appendix E describes a modern driving route for those wishing to follow the trace of the raid.

Eminently readable, "Stuart's Finest Hour" can be easily seen as a battlefield guide that is heavy on the history. Although Fox is not a professional historian, his research is thorough and authoritative. The only disappointment, and one that would have increased the value of this book, is an analysis of how this successful ride influenced Stuart on a similar mission with far different results a little more than a year later during the Gettysburg campaign.… (mehr)