Jubal Anderson Early

author

Jubal Anderson Early

1816–1894

A sharp-tongued Virginia lawyer turned soldier, he became one of Robert E. Lee’s most trusted commanders and one of the Civil War’s most controversial figures. His military career and his later defense of the Confederate cause made him a lasting presence in American memory.

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The Heritage of The South A History of the Introduction of Slavery; Its Establishment From Colonial Times and Final Effect Upon the Politics of the United States

The Heritage of The South A History of the Introduction of Slavery; Its Establishment From Colonial Times and Final Effect Upon the Politics of the United States

by Jubal Anderson Early

About the author

Born in Franklin County, Virginia, in 1816, he studied at West Point and served in the Second Seminole War and the Mexican-American War before returning to civilian life as a lawyer and politician. Although he initially opposed secession, he sided with Virginia after it left the Union and entered Confederate service during the Civil War.

He rose to prominence as an aggressive field commander in the Army of Northern Virginia, fighting in many major campaigns and eventually leading a corps under Robert E. Lee. He is especially remembered for his 1864 advance into the Shenandoah Valley and toward Washington, D.C., as well as for later defeats in the Valley campaigns that damaged Confederate hopes in the war’s final phase.

After the war, he lived for a time in exile in Canada and Europe before returning to Virginia. In his later years he wrote and spoke forcefully in defense of the Confederacy, becoming a leading early voice of the "Lost Cause" interpretation of the war. He died in Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1894.