Blood, Guts and Haberdashery
How a Confederate hat and a Union coat became prisoners in the Civil War
Jeb Stuart, the dashing Confederate cavalryman, got his nickname from his first three initials (James Ewell Brown).
He got his flamboyant, plumed hat from an old West Point classmate who happened to be an opposing Union general at the Battle of Cedar Mountain, August 9, 1862, near Culpeper, Virginia. It’s interesting how this happened.
A day after that battle, Union and Confederate leaders called a burial truce to allow removal of their dead from the field. During that truce Stuart was joined by three Union generals who had crossed the battlefield to seek him out and share a picnic lunch and a bottle of whiskey. The last time they had been together, all were lieutenants in the United States Army having been student pals at West Point.
Among the Union officers were General George Hartsuff and General Samuel Crawford who along with the others told stories exaggerating their wartime exploits. Of the four men, Stuart had no need to exaggerate. His wildly audacious activities were already becoming the stuff of legend on both sides, including those actions in the recent battle, which was a decisive victory for the Confederates.
Stuart told them the Northern press would find a way to report their Union defeat as a glorious victory. Crawford then replied that even the slanted New York Herald could not find a way to make this defeat a victory. So Stuart offered him a bet: Crawford would have to get him a new hat if he was wrong.
A few days later a package arrived at Stuart’s camp from Crawford. Inside were a copy of the New York Herald and a new plumed hat. Stuart immediately made the hat part of his flashy wardrobe which included a red-lined, gray cape, the gold sash of a cavalry commander and his rakish hat plumed with an ostrich feather.
A week after Cedar Mountain, on August 17, 1862, Confederate Commanding General, Robert E. Lee, instructed Stuart to destroy the bridge across the Rappahannock River to remove Union General John Pope’s escape route. Pope, a humorless, egotistical braggart, whose expertise included insulting his own troops, was advancing southward with his army and threatening Fredricksburg and Richmond, VA.
After receiving his instructions, Stuart rode a few miles with some of his staff to Verdiersville, a crossroads in the middle of nowhere, boasting only a rundown hotel and a single house. At the house he nervously ordered Major Norman Fitzhugh to go down the road and find the brigade of cavalry which was supposedly on the way (and much needed) for the advance against Pope. That done, he tied his horse at the house, carefully laid out his new hat, his cloak and other gear and went soundly to sleep on the front porch.
Meanwhile, his early warning plan was busted when Major Fitzhugh was taken prisoner on his errand by Union cavalry. With Fitzhugh secured in the rear of their column, the scouts advanced to Verdiersville where Stuart and his hat reposed on the porch.
At around 4 a.m., Stuart was alarmed by the sound of approaching hoof beats. Anticipating the arrival of his reinforcements, he sent two staff members out to greet his missing brigade.
“They had not gone 100 yards before they were fired on and pursued rapidly by a squadron” Stuart wrote. “I was in the yard bareheaded, my hat being on the porch. I just had time to mount my horse and clear the back fence, having no time to get my hat or anything else. I lost my haversack, blanket, cloak and hat.”
Few scenes in that war humiliated Stuart to such a degree. The Yankees made off with the very symbol and image of the Confederacy’s “Bold Dragon”. The next day, Stuart rode with his head wrapped in a bandanna, motivating good natured but embarrassing inquires from the soldiers:
“Where’s your hat?” It had to sting.
Stuart wrote to his wife, “I intend to make the Yankees pay for that hat.” Four days later he would get his chance.
At 8:00 p.m. on August 22nd, Stuart and a column of his cavalry surrounded the 500 loosely organized troops at Catlett’s Station, on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. The night was dark and rain seemed to be coming down in buckets. Stuart rode the line of his mounted troops, telling them to give their “wildest Rebel yell.” Then, turning to his bugler; “sound the charge, Fred.”
Fred had hardly placed the bugle to his lips when a deafening yell let loose and the Confederates burst into the camp, kicking over super tables, smashing tents into the mud and scattering the scared Federals into the woods, some only half-dressed. The scene, reported one observer, “caused the Confederates to laugh until they could scarcely keep their saddles.”
The Confederates plundered the station while frightened Yankee teamsters and staff officers watched from surrounding woods. Stuart’s men filled their haversacks with booty, including whiskey and tinned lobster. By 3:00 a.m. Stuart ordered his command to head back toward the Rappahannock, carrying with them 300 prisoners, 500 horses and mules and the Yankee army’s payroll safe, containing a half-million greenback dollars and $20,000 in gold.
Equally important for Stuart was the capture of General Pope’s baggage which contained his fancy hat and a dress uniform longcoat. At last, here was payback for the purloined plumed hat. Stuart would later send the coat to Governor John Letcher at Richmond, who would then have it displayed as a prize of war.
But before sending the coat away, Stuart enjoyed his revenge. He wrote a message to John Pope and sent it through the lines:
General:
You have my hat and plume. I have your best coat. I have the honor to propose a cartel for fair exchange of the prisoners.
Very Respectfully
J.E.B. Stuart, Maj. Genl. CSA
Pope, characteristically, did not respond.
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