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Lt. GENERAL JUBAL A. EARLY

He voted against succession in the Virginia convention in April 1861, but promptly entered the Confederate Army as colonel of the 24th Virginia Infantry, which he led at the battle of First Manassas.  He was prompted brigadier general rank from July 21, 1861.   He took part in all the engagements of the Army of Northern Virginia from 1862 till 1864.  Promoted major general from January 17, 1863, he was prominent at Salem Church and in the Gettysburg campaign.  At the Wilderness he commanded A.P. Hill's corps for a time, and was promoted lieutenant general from May 31, 1864. 

After the temporary retirement of General Ewell from field duty, Early was given command of the 2nd Corps, and following Cold Harbor, Lee ordered him to the Shenandoah Valley against the Federal General Hunter.  He drove Hunter westward into the mountains, defeated Wallace at Monocay (Maryland), and was before Washington on July 11, 1864.  The arrival of the 6th Corps of the Army of the Potomac from Petersburg forced Early to retreat into Virginia;  but he struck back across the Potomac later the same month.  His cavalry conducted wide-ranging and destructive raids and burned the town of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

But in September, Early we defeated by Sheridan at Winchester and Fisher's Hill.  A last surprise attack on Sheridan at Cedar Creek was repelled and the remnant of Early's command was dispersed by General Custer at Waynesboro, Virginia, in March 1865.  After the surrender he made his way to Mexico in disguise, and later returned to Lynchburg to resume his law practice.  He became the first president of the Southern Historical Society, and wrote his memoirs.  The later years of his life were mainly occupied in supervising the drawings of the Louisiana Lottery and in an acrimonious effort to destroy the military reputation of General Longstreet.

Early died March 2, 1894 and was buried at Lynchburg, Virginia..."unreconstructed" to the end.

Reprinted from "Generals in Gray"

THE  CHARGE

"To you, Sons of Confederate Veterans, we will commit the vindication of the cause for which we fought. To your strength will be given the defense of the Confederate soldier's good name, the guardianship of his history, the emulation of his virtues, the perpetuation of those principles which he loved and which you love also, and those ideals which made him glorious and which you also cherish."

-Lt. General Stephen Dill Lee, Commander General, United Confederate Veterans, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 25, 1906.