Lot 1633
Stuart, James Ewell Brown (JEB). A true prize, Flora Stuart's own portrait of her beloved husband.
Carte de visite-size uniformed portrait, held in a 3½ x 3" green leather case with a tooled flower basket design. The image is only slightly toned; the case is somewhat age-worn, but the color is true, the small hook clasp still works and the lovely frame around Stuart's image shows only minor aging.
Flora and James Ewell Brown Stuart met on the Kansas frontier: her father was a career Army officer commanding troops at Fort Leavenworth and the newly graduated West Pointer Stuart was assigned to the Kansas outpost. Flora, a gifted horsewoman, began going on rides with Stuart, a deep attachment was formed and Stuart soon proposed. Married in 1855 and dedicated to each other, Flora and JEB worked together as the best military couples do and, when Stuart decided to honor his ties to the Confederacy, his wife supported him wholeheartedly in spite of her father's decision to fight for the Union.
Over the course of the War, as Stuart's reputation for bravery and leadership grew, he knew his wife and children waited and feared for him. At some point during the conflict, Stuart sat for this portrait, surely knowing he would give one to his devoted wife. Shot on May 11, 1864, during the Battle of Yellow Tavern, Stuart died the next day, before his wife could reach his side. Devastated by his death, Flora kept this portrait with her until the time of her own death almost 60 years later. Honoring Stuart's memory, Flora never remarried and stayed in her widow's weeds until her own death.
Descending down the Stuart line until it was given to the family biographer in 1970, this image, in its delicate green leather case, is a memento not only of one of the great generals of the Civil War, but also of one of the great love stories of the era.
Accompanied by a letter of provenance from Ralph Mitchell, son of Adele Mitchell, the noted Stuart historian, indicating the image was handed down in the Stuart family until Adele Mitchell received it as a gift and that Ralph Mitchell received it on the death of Adele.
Estimated Value $7,000 - 8,000.
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