George H. Steuart (brigadier general)
George Hume Steuart (August 24, 1828 – November 22, 1903) was a
In 1862 he became brigadier general. After a brief cavalry command he was reassigned to infantry. Wounded at Cross Keys, Steuart was out of the war for almost a year while recovering from a shoulder injury. He was reassigned to Lee's army shortly before the Battle of Gettysburg. Steuart was captured at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, and exchanged in the summer of 1864. He held a command in the Army of Northern Virginia for the remainder of the war. Steuart was among the officers with Robert E. Lee when he surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House.
Steuart spent the rest of a long life operating a plantation in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. In the late nineteenth century, he joined the United Confederate Veterans and became commander of the Maryland division.
Early life
George Hume Steuart was born on August 24, 1828, into a family of Scottish ancestry in Baltimore. The eldest of nine children,[1] he was raised at his family's estate in West Baltimore, known as Maryland Square, located near the present-day intersection of Baltimore and Monroe Streets. The Steuart family were wealthy plantation owners and were opposed to the abolition of slavery.
The Steuarts shared a long tradition of military service. He was the son of Major General
Steuart was the grandson of Dr. James Steuart, a physician who served in the
Early military career
Steuart attended the
Marriage and family
He married Maria H. Kinzie, granddaughter of John Kinzie, founder of the city of Chicago, on January 14, 1858. The couple had met in Kansas and, once married, lived at Fort Leavenworth, although they were separated for long periods while Steuart was on campaign duty and stationed at distant frontier posts.[6] They had two daughters: Marie Hunter, who was born in 1860 and went on to marry one Edmund Davis, and Ann Mary, born in 1864, who married one Rudolph Aloysius Leibig (1863-1895).[7][8] The coming of war would place considerable strain on the Steuarts' marriage, leading to "unfortunate differences", as Maria's sympathies lay firmly with the Union cause.[9]
Civil War
Even though Maryland did not
Steuart resigned his captain's commission on April 16, 1861[10] and soon entered the service of the Confederate army as a cavalry captain. He and his father were determined to do their utmost to prevent Union soldiers from occupying Maryland. On April 22 Steuart wrote to Charles Howard, President of the Board of Baltimore Police:
- "If the Massachusetts troops are on the march [to Annapolis] I shall be in motion very early tomorrow morning to pay my respects to them".[11]
However, events did not move in their favor and, in a letter to his father, Steuart wrote:
- "I found nothing but disgust in my observations along the route and in the place I came to – a large majority of the population are insane on the one idea of loyalty to the Union and the legislature is so diminished and unreliable that I rejoiced to hear that they intended to adjourn...it seems that we are doomed to be trodden on by these troops who have taken military possession of our State, and seem determined to commit all the outrages of an invading army."[12]
Steuart's efforts to persuade Maryland to secede from the Union were in vain. On April 29, the Maryland Legislature voted 53–13 against secession. and the state was swiftly occupied by Union soldiers to prevent any reconsideration. Steuart's decision to resign his commission and join the rebels would soon cost his family dear. The Steuart mansion at Maryland Square was confiscated by the Union Army and Jarvis Hospital was erected on the estate, to care for Federal wounded.[8] However, Steuart was welcomed by the Confederacy as "one of Maryland's most gifted sons", and it was hoped by Southerners that other Marylanders would follow his example.[13]
First Bull Run
Steuart soon became
Shenandoah Campaign and the First Battle of Winchester
Steuart was promoted to
Pendleton eventually found Steuart and gave him the order to pursue Banks' retreating army but the general delayed, wasting valuable time on a point of military etiquette. He declined to obey the order until it came through General Ewell, his immediate divisional commander.[13][23] The proper channels had not been followed. A frustrated Pendleton then rode two miles to find Ewell, who duly gave the order, but "seemed surprised that General Steuart had not gone on immediately".[22]
Steuart eventually gave chase and overtook the advance of the Confederate infantry, picking up many prisoners, but, as a result of the delay, the Confederate cavalry did not overtake the Federal army until it was, in the words of Jackson's report, "beyond the reach of successful pursuit". Jackson continued: "There is good reason for believing that had the cavalry played its part in this pursuit, but a small portion of Banks' army would have made its escape to the Potomac".[24]
It remains unclear precisely why Steuart was reluctant to pursue Banks' defeated army more vigorously, and contemporary records shed little light on the matter.[25] It may be that his thirteen years' training as a cavalry officer led him to obey orders to the letter, with little or no room for personal initiative or variation from strict due process.[25] No charges were brought against him however, despite Jackson's reputation as a stern disciplinarian.[26] It is possible that Jackson's leniency had to do with the strong desire of the Confederacy to recruit Marylanders to the Southern cause, and the need to avoid offending Marylanders who might be tempted to join Lee's army.[26]
Soon after Winchester, on June 2, Steuart was involved in an unfortunate incident in which the
Battle of Cross Keys
At the Battle of Cross Keys (June 8, 1862), Steuart commanded the 1st Maryland Infantry, which was attacked by, and successfully fought off, a much larger Federal force. However, Steuart was severely injured in the shoulder by grape shot, and had to be carried from the battlefield.[28] A ball from a canister shot had struck him in the shoulder and broken his collarbone, causing a "ghastly wound".[28] The injury did not heal well, and did not begin to improve at all until the ball was removed under surgery in August. It would prevent him from returning to the field for almost an entire year, until May 1863.[13]
Gettysburg Campaign and the advance into Maryland
Upon his recuperation and return to the army, Steuart was assigned by Gen.
In June 1863 Lee's army advanced north into Maryland, taking the war into Union territory for the second time. Steuart is said to have jumped down from his horse, kissed his native soil and stood on his head in jubilation. According to one of his aides: "We loved Maryland, we felt that she was in bondage against her will, and we burned with desire to have a part in liberating her".[13] Quartermaster John Howard recalled that Steuart performed "seventeen double somersaults" all the while whistling Maryland, My Maryland.[32] Such celebrations would prove short lived, as Steuart's brigade was soon to be severely damaged at the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863). At first however, Lee's advance north went well. At the Second Battle of Winchester (June 13–15, 1863) Steuart fought with Johnson's division, helping to bring about a Confederate victory, during which his brigade took around 1,000 prisoners and suffered comparatively small losses of 9 killed, 34 wounded.[33]
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863) was to prove a turning point in the war, and the end of Lee's advance. Steuart's men arrived at Gettysburg "exhausted and footsore...a little before dusk" on the evening of July 1, following a 130-mile (210 km) march from Sharpsburg, "many of them barefooted".[30] Steuart's men attacked the Union line on the night of July 2, gaining ground between the lower Culp's Hill and the stone wall near Spangler's Spring. But fresh Federal reinforcements blocked his further advance, and no further ground was gained. During the night a large number of Union artillery was wheeled into place, the sound of which caused the optimistic Steuart to hope that the enemy was retreating in its wagons.[13]
The morning of July 3 revealed the full scale of the Union defenses, as enemy artillery opened fire at a distance of 500 yards with a "terrific and galling fire", followed by a ferocious assault on Steuart's position.[30] The result was a "terrible slaughter" of the Third Brigade, which fought for many hours without relief, exhausting their ammunition, but successfully holding their position.[30] Then, late on the morning of July 3, Johnson ordered a bayonet charge against the well-fortified enemy lines, "confident of their ability to sweep him away and take the whole Union line in reverse".[34] Steuart was appalled, and was strongly critical of the attack, but direct orders could not be disobeyed,[35] and Steuart gave the order to "Left face" and "file right", sending his men into heavy enfilading fire.[34] Steuart's Third Brigade advanced against the Union breastworks and attempted several times to wrest control of Culp's Hill, a vital part of the Union Army defensive line. The result was a "slaughterpen",[30] as the Second Maryland and the Third North Carolina regiments courageously charged a well-defended position strongly held by three brigades, a few reaching within twenty paces of the enemy lines.[30] So severe were the casualties among his men that Steuart is said to have broken down and wept, wringing his hands and crying "my poor boys".[29] Overall, the failed attack on Culp's Hill cost Johnson's division almost 2,000 men, of which 700 were accounted for by Steuart's brigade alone—far more than any other brigade in the division. At Hagerstown, on the 8th July, out of a pre-battle strength of 2,200, just 1,200 men reported for duty.[30] The casualty rate among the Second Maryland and Third North Carolina was between one half and two-thirds, in the space of just ten hours.[30]
Even though Steuart had fought bravely under extremely difficult conditions, neither he nor any other officer was cited by Johnson in his report.[36] Gettysburg marked the high-water mark of the Confederacy; thereafter Lee's army would retreat until its final surrender to General Grant at Appomattox Court House.
Battle of Payne's Farm
During the winter of 1863 Steuart's Marylanders again saw action, at the Battle of Mine Run, also known as the battle of Payne's Farm. On November 27 Steuart's brigade was among the first to be attacked by Union soldiers, and Johnson himself rode to Steuart's aid, bringing reinforcements.[37] Steuart, bringing up the Confederate rear, halted his brigade and swiftly formed a line of battle in the road, to repel the Union attack. Confused fighting followed during which the Confederates fell back taking heavy losses, but prevented a Union breakthrough. Steuart himself was wounded for the second time, sustaining an injury to his arm.[37] According to a historical marker which commemorates the engagement, Steuart's "boldness against a vastly superior force...helped to stall the advance of the entire Union army".[38]
Battle of the Wilderness
In the summer of 1864, Steuart saw severe action during the Battle of the Wilderness (May 5–7, 1864). Steuart led his North Carolina infantry against two New York regiments, causing Union losses of almost 600 men.[5] During the battle his brother, Lieutenant William James Steuart, was severely wounded in the hip, and was sent to Guinea station, a hospital for officers in Richmond, Virginia. There, on 21 May 1864, he died of his injuries.[39] A friend of the family at the University of Virginia wrote to their bereaved father:
- "You will not charge me, I trust, with intruding on the sacredness of your grief, if I cannot help giving expression to my deep, heartfelt sympathy with your great sorrow. You have sacrificed so much for the righteous cause already, that I know you will present this last and most precious offering also with the fortitude of your character and the submission of a Christian. Still, I know how valuable this son of yours had been to your interests, how dear to your heart, and I cannot tell you, with what deep and sincere grief I heard of your terrible loss."[40]
Disaster at Spotsylvania
Soon afterward, at the
Unfortunately, shortly before dawn on May 12, Union forces comprising three full divisions (Major General
After the battle, Steuart was sent as a
Petersburg, Appomattox and the end of the war
Steuart was exchanged later in the summer of 1864, returning to command a brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia, in the division of Major General
He continued to lead his brigade in Pickett's division during the
Steuart continued fighting until the end, finally surrendering with Lee to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865, one of 22 brigadiers out of Lee's original 146.[53] According to one Maryland veteran, "no-one in the war gave more completely and conscientiously every faculty, every energy that was in him to the Southern cause".[54]
After the war
After the war's end, Steuart returned to Maryland, and swore an oath of loyalty to the Union.[55] He farmed at Mount Steuart, a two-storey farmhouse on a hillside near the South River, south of Edgewater. The house no longer exists, having since been destroyed by fire.[56] He also served as commander of the Maryland division of the United Confederate Veterans.
Maryland Square, the house owned by Steuart and his father before the war, was returned to the family in 1866 but Steuart chose not to live there, taking rooms instead at the Carrollton Hotel in Baltimore.[56]
The end of war saw Steuart reunited with his family, but domestic happiness did not follow. In the early 1890s he took in a housekeeper by the name of Fanny Grenor, causing a "still further estrangement between husband and wife... [which also] resulted in much bitter feeling on the part of the two children, Mrs Leibeg and Mrs Davis, these ladies holding with the mother that General Steuart should have selected some other housekeeper".[9]
Steuart died on 22 November 1903 at the age of 75 at South River, Maryland, of an ulcer.[36] He died intestate, leaving an estate valued at around $100,000, which was soon contested by Miss Grenor, who sought "pay for the 10 years she had acted as housekeeper, and also performed other duties of a more or less menial character".[9]
Steuart is buried in Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore with his wife Maria, who died three years later, in 1906. They were survived by their two daughters, Marie and Ann.[8] Perhaps not surprisingly, as Maryland had remained in the Union throughout the war, there is no monument to Steuart in his home state. However, the Steuart Hill area of Baltimore recalls his family's long association with the city.[57]
See also
Notes
- ^ Nelker, p.150
- ^ White, Roger B,"Steuart, Only Anne Arundel Rebel General", The Maryland Gazette, 13 November 1969
- ^ a b Nelker, p.131, Memoirs of Richard Sprigg Steuart.
- ^ a b Cullum, p.225
- ^ a b c Article on Steuart at www.stonewall.hut.ru Archived 2009-10-31 at the Wayback Machine Accessed January 8, 2010
- ^ Miller, p.49
- ^ Nelker, p67
- ^ a b c Nelker, p.120.
- ^ a b c Baltimore Sun, General Steuart's Estate, December 19, 1903
- ^ Cullum, George Washington, p.226, Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the U.S. Military Retrieved Jan 16 2010
- ^ Lockwood & Lockwood, p.210, The Siege of Washington: The Untold Story of the Twelve Days That Shook the Nation Retrieved June 2012
- ^ Mitchell, Charles W., p.102, Maryland Voices of the Civil War. Retrieved February 26, 2010
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Tagg, p.273.
- ^ a b c Warner p.290
- ^ Goldsborough, p.30.
- ^ Green, p.125.
- ^ Goldsborough, p.119
- ^ Booth, George Wilson, p.12, A Maryland Boy in Lee's Army: Personal Reminiscences of a Maryland Soldier in the War Between the States, Bison Books (2000). Retrieved Jan 16 2010
- ^ a b Patterson, p.17
- ^ Koonce, Donald B., p.125
- ^ Freeman, p.192
- ^ a b c Freeman, p.193
- ^ Allan, p.143.
- ^ Goldsborough, p.46.
- ^ a b Freeman, p.215
- ^ a b Freeman, p.216
- ^ a b Freeman, p.199
- ^ a b Goldsborough, p.56.
- ^ a b Goldsborough, p.109.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Steuart's brigade at Gettysburg, by his aide-de-camp, Reverend Randolph H. McKim Accessed January 8, 2010
- ^ Freeman, p.529
- ^ Goldsborough, p.98.
- ^ Steuart's reports from the Gettysburg Campaign, June 19, 1863 Accessed January 8, 2010
- ^ a b Blair, p.48
- ^ Goldsborough, p.106.
- ^ a b Tagg, p.275.
- ^ a b Freeman, p.636
- ^ www.hmdb.org Retrieved May 2012
- ^ Nelker, p.67
- ^ Mitchell, p.339
- ^ a b Robertson, p.223.
- ^ Freeman, p.680
- ^ Dowdey, p.204.
- ^ Robertson, p.225.
- ^ Jordan, p.130
- ^ Hoptak, John David (August 12, 2009), Happy 181st Birthday. . ., The 48th Pennsylvania Infantry/Civil War Musings, Accessed January 7, 2009
- ^ Porter, p.105
- ^ a b c Davis, p.3
- ^ Robertson, p.226.
- ^ Hess, p.220 Accessed January 8, 2010
- ^ a b Freeman, p.780
- ^ Freeman, vol. 3., p. 711.
- ^ Freeman, p,811
- ^ Pfantz, p.313
- ^ Sjoberg, Leif, p.72, American Swedish (1973) Retrieved March 1, 2010
- ^ a b White, Roger B, Article in The Maryland Gazette, "Steuart, Only Anne Arundel Rebel General", November 13, 1969
- ^ Steuart, William Calvert, Article in Sunday Sun Magazine, "The Steuart Hill Area's Colorful Past", Baltimore, February 10, 1963
References
- Allan, Col. William. Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and the Army of Northern Virginia, 1862. New York: Da Capo Press, 1995. ISBN 978-0-306-80656-8. First Work, History of the Campaign of Gen. T. J. (Stonewall) Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, First Published Boston: Houghton Mifflin & Co., 1880. Second Work, The Army of Northern Virginia in 1862, First Published Boston, Houghton Mifflin & Co., 1882.
- Baltimore Sun, General Steuart's Estate, December 19, 1903
- Blair, Jayne E., Tragedy at Montpelier - the Untold Story of Ten Confederate Deserters from North Carolina, Heritage Books (2006) ISBN 0-7884-2370-3
- Cullum, George Washington, Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the U. S. Military, J. Miller (1879), ASIN: B00085668C
- Davis, William C, Editor, The Confederate General, Volume 6, National Historical Society, ISBN 0-918678-68-4.
- ISBN 0-8032-6595-6.
- Eicher, John H., and ISBN 978-0-8047-3641-1.
- ISBN 978-0-684-85979-8.
- Goldsborough, W. W., The Maryland Line in the Confederate Army, Guggenheimer Weil & Co (1900), ISBN 0-913419-00-1.
- Green, Ralph, Sidelights and Lighter Sides of the War Between the States, Burd St Press (2007), ISBN 1-57249-394-1.
- Hess, Earl J. In the Trenches at Petersburg: Field Fortifications & Confederate Defeat. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-8078-3282-0.
- Jordan, David M. Winfield Scott Hancock: A Soldier's Life. Bloomfield: Indiana University Press, 1988. ISBN 978-0-253-36580-4.
- Koonce, Donald B. (edited by), Doctor to The Front - The Recollections of Confederate Surgeon Thomas Fanning Wood University of Tennessee Press 2000
- Maryland Gazette, Steuart: Only Anne Arundel Rebel General, Thursday November 13, 1969, by Roger A. White
- Miller, Edward A, Lincoln's Abolitionist General: The Biography of David Hunter, University of South Carolina Press (1997). ISBN 978-1-57003-110-6
- Nelker, Gladys P., The Clan Steuart, Genealogical Publishing (1970).
- Patterson, Gerard A., Rebels from West Point - the 306 US Military Academy Graduates who Fought for the Confederacy, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA (2002). ISBN 0-8117-2063-2
- Pfanz, Harry W. Gettysburg: Culp's Hill and Cemetery Hill. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993. ISBN 978-0-8078-2118-3.
- ISBN 978-0-8094-4202-7.
- ISBN 978-0-8071-0396-8.
- Sifakis, Stewart. Who Was Who in the Civil War. New York: Facts On File, 1988. ISBN 978-0-8160-1055-4.
- Steuart, James, Papers, Maryland Historical Society, unpublished.
- Steuart, William Calvert, Article in Sunday Sun Magazine, "The Steuart Hill Area's Colorful Past", Baltimore, February 10, 1963.
- Tagg, Larry, The Generals of Gettysburg, Savas Publishing (1998), ISBN 1-882810-30-9.
- ISBN 978-0-8071-0823-9.
- White, Roger B, Article in The Maryland Gazette, "Steuart, Only Anne Arundel Rebel General", November 13, 1969.
External links
- Excerpt from Cullum, George Washington, Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the U. S. Military, J. Miller (1879) Retrieved on Jan 10 2010
- George H Steuart biography at stonewall.hut.ru Retrieved on Jan 8 2010
- Steuart's reports from the Gettysburg Campaign, June 19 1863 Retrieved on Jan 8 2010
- George H. Steuart at www.researchonline.net Retrieved on Jan 8 2010
- Steuart's capture at Spotsylvania, at 48thpennsylvania.blogspot.com Retrieved on Jan 8 2010
- Capture at spotsylvania described in Campaigning with Grant, by Horace Porter Retrieved on Jan 8 2010
- Capture at spotsylvania described in William Scott Hancock, by David M. Jordan Retrieved on Jan 8 2010
- Detailed account of Steuart's brigade in action at Gettysburg, by his aide-de-camp, Rev. Randolph H. McKim Retrieved on Jan 8 2010
- Gettysburg, Culp's Hill and Cemetery Hill by Harry W. Pfanz, p.311 Retrieved on Jan 11 2010
- Lincoln's Abolitionist General: The Biography of David Hunter, by Edward A. Miller, University of South Carolina Press (1997) Retrieved on Jan 12 2010
- Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders, by Ezra Warner Retrieved Jan 12 2010
- A Maryland Boy in Lee's Army: Personal Reminiscences of a Maryland Soldier in the War Between the States, by George Wilson Booth, Bison Books (2000). Retrieved Jan16 2010
- George H. Steuart at www.2ndmdinfantryus.org/csinf1.html Retrieved February 20, 2010