Jubal Early

Jubal Early, c. 1860s

Library of Congress

Quick Facts

Significance:

Confederate General

Place of Birth:

Franklin County, Virginia

Date of Birth:

November 3, 1816

Place of Death:

Lynchburg, Virginia

Date of Death:

March 2, 1894

Place of Burial:

Lynchburg, Virginia

Cemetery Name:

Spring Hill Cemetery

Jubal Anderson Early was Confederate General during the Civil War. Although he did not initially support secession, he fought for his native state of Virginia. Early commanded the Confederate Army of the Valley during the 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign. After the Civil War his speeches and writings helped promote the Lost Cause myth and white supremacy. 

Early Life

Jubal Anderson Early was born on November 3, 1816, the third of ten children in a well-connected family. Early's ancestors helped colonize Virginia's eastern shore before moving west to the Blue Ridge Mountains. The family managed a lage tobacco plantation that relied on enslaved labor. Early was 16 years old when his mother died in 1832. The following year he received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. In 1837, he graduated 18th out of a class of 50 cadets. 

Upon graduation, Early received a commission as a Second Lieutenant in Company E of the 3rd United States Artillery. His first assignment was at Fortress Monroe, on the tip of the Virginia Peninsula, to train recruits. Early participated in the Second Seminole War but was disappointed he never engaged in combat. Jubal Early resigned his commission in the summer of 1838. He returned to Virginia to study law. Early was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates from Franklin County in 1841. He served in the legislature during the 1841–1842 sessions and was the youngest member of that governing body. Though he lost reelection the following year, he received an appointment as the county's prosecuting attorney, which he held until 1851.

Mexican American War 

In January 1847, Early mustered back into the army as a Major of the 1st Virginia Volunteers, for service in the Mexican-American War. Though he saw no fighting during the war, Early was still impacted by it. In the fall of 1847, he contracted the chronic rheumatism that plagued him for the rest of his life. He was allowed to return to the United States to recuperate for several months, returning to his regiment by February 1848. The unit was mustered out of service at Fortress Monroe that April. Once more out of the army, Jubal Early returned to his law practice. 

Civil War

Although Early was a Unionist prior to the war, and was opposed to secession, he quickly enlisted in Confederate service in April 1861 after Virginia officially seceded from the United States. He rose quickly through the ranks, starting out as Colonel of the 24th Virginia Infantry before being promoted to Brigadier General, Major General, and eventually Lieutenant General. Serving in Virginia for most of the war, Early was involved in all the major engagements from 1862 to 1864 including the Seven Days' Battles, Second Manassas, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg. During the 1864 Overland Campaign Early was the acting commander of the 3rd Corps at Spotsylvania and was named the permanent commander of the 2nd Corps at the Battle of Cold Harbor.

Shenandoah Valley 

Early was a division commander during Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaign. In 1864 he returned to the region with an independent command, the Confederate Army of the Valley. Early mounted the Confederacy's last invasion of the North, threatening Washington, DC before withdrawing back across the Potomac River. That September and October Early suffered a string of disastrous defeats, including the Third Battle of Winchester, the Battle of Fisher's Hill, and the Battle of Cedar Creek. As a result, important agricultural fields in the valley were destroyed which reduced the Confederacy's ability to feed its soldiers. Early was eventually relieved of command in the wake of another defeat at Waynesboro in March 1865. His subordinate officers were outspoken in their blame of Early for these losses. 

Post War Legacy & The Lost Cause 

With the collapse of the Confederacy Jubal Early, like many Confederate officers, fled the United States. He crossed into Mexico and made his way to Cuba. From there he traveled north to Canada, where, while in Toronto, he began writing. In 1866, he published A Memoir of the Last Year of the War for Independence, in the Confederate States of America. This work was the first reminiscence of the war by a major leader from either side. Although he had proclaimed he would never return to Virginia unless it was under Confederate government, Jubal Early returned to Lynchburg in July 1869. He had been pardoned by President Andrew Johnson. 

Thus began the era of Early’s life he may be best known for, the establishment and propagation of the Lost Cause mythology of the American Civil War. In 1873, Early and like-minded allies, established the Southern Historical Society in Richmond, Virginia. This organization became one of the driving forces behind the Lost Cause narrative of the war. Early argued that the Confederacy was not defeated, rather overwhelmed by the north's industrial power. More consequentially, the Lost Cause denies slavery as being a cause of the war. Formerly enslaved people were depicted as loyal. This positive good was only distrupted by unjust northern aggression. From this viewpoint, the Confederate cause was morally superior and heroic. 

Early wrote in his memoirs, "The Creator of the Universe had stamped them, indelibly, with a different color and an inferior physical and mental organization. He had not done this from mere caprice or whim, but for wise purposes ... The conditions of domestic slavery, as it existed in the South, had not only resulted in a great improvement in the moral and physical condition of the negro race, but had furnished a class of laborers as happy and contented as any in the world."

Jubal Early’s staunch defense of white supremacy and Confederate memory continued into the 1890s. During this period, he, along with other Confederate Heritage organizations, shaped the education and memory of the American Civil War and Reconstruction. He had little time for Southerners who were reconciliatory to the North, especially those who became Republicans after the war, including James Longstreet and John Mosby. 

On March 2, 1894, Jubal Early died. Though not well loved while alive, Early was embraced in death. His obituary was four columns long in newspapers. Memorial associations such as the United Confederate Veterans and the United Daughters of the Confederacy continued in his honor. These groups propagated the Lost Cause myth into the 20th and 21st centuries. Following a military style funeral, Jubal Early was laid to rest in Spring Hill Cemetery in Lynchburg.