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Jubal Early Facts

Jubal Early Facts
Jubal Early was a Confederate general, lawyer, and politician from the state of Virginia who was a notable unrepentant Confederate and leader in the "Lost Cause" movement. He used his legal and political connections after the war to promote the idea that the Confederate cause honorable and that whites should rule completely in the southern states. Early was born Jubal Anderson Early on November 3, 1816 in Franklin County, Virginia to Ruth and Joab Early. Early's family, through his mother, was well-connected in Virginia planter and political society, which helped him land him a spot at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, now known as the Army Academy. He was classmates with many officers from both sides of the American Civil War, although he clashed with some of his northern colleagues. Early served in the Second Seminole War (1835-1845) but saw no combat. He then worked as a lawyer for awhile before reenlisting in the army to fight in the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). Early volunteered to serve in the Confederate Army, distinguishing himself as an officer of the Virginia militia at the First Battle of Bull Run. Early never married, but had four children with the same woman.
Interesting Jubal Early Facts:
Early was angry that he never saw action in the Second Seminole War and in fact never even saw an Indian. The lack of combat discouraged the young man and was a reason why he resigned from the army.
Jubal was a member of the Whig Party, which formed in 1834 but dissolved just before the Civil War.
The name "Jubal" is Hebrew and means "ram's horns."
Early served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1841-1842.
He demonstrated a quick military mind in several battles during the Civil War, which earned him continual promotion, eventually to the of Lieutenant General of the Confederate Army.
After a series of poor choices in the Shenandoah Valley Campaign (1864-1865), Early was relieved of his command by General Lee.
Instead of taking the loyalty oath to the Union after the war, Early fled to Mexico, Cuba, and eventually Canada where he live until President Johnson pardoned him in 1869.
While living in exile, Early wrote A Memoir of the Last Year of the War for Independence, in the Confederate States of America. The book became the standard tract for many in the Lost Cause movement as it justified the reasons for the Confederacy.
As part of his image as an unrepentant Confederate, Early always wore "Confederate" gray suites after the war.
Besides losing the war, Early lost many other things important to him. His father, with whom he was close, died in 1870, not long after he returned from his exile. Also the mother of his children developed a relationship with another man while Jubal was in Canada. She left Jubal and married the other man in 1871.
Early died on March 2, 1894 as the result of a fall two weeks earlier. He was interred in Lynchburg, Virginia.


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