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Introduction It is the fate of some men to be remembered for the triumphs in their lives; it is the fate of others to be remembered for their failures. Richard Stoddert Ewell falls into the latter class of men. Despite many notable successes in his career, first as a United States dragoon and later as a Confederate general, he is largely remembered for the role he played in a rare defeat: Gettysburg. By then, Ewell had been an army officer for nearly a quarter century. His military career had started in 1836 when he accepted an appointment to the United States Military Academy. Although not as well prepared as classmates such as George Thomas and William Tecumseh Sherman, Ewell performed capably , and at the end of four years he stood thirteenth in his class. Even at that young age, he had the makings of a soldier, a fact recognized by the academy staff, who appointed him an officer in the cadet corps. Upon graduation Ewell became a lieutenant in the 1st United States Dragoons and was sent to Arkansas and Missouri, where he learned the nuts and bolts of running a military post. He also learned how to command men. At first, he demanded obedience and enforced it with iron discipline and sharp rebukes, but in time he came to learn “that kindness gives a far more perfect control over the human, as well as brute races, than harshness and cruelty.”1 Many officers never learn that lesson. As an officer at a small frontier post, Ewell shouldered a multitude of responsibilities , not the least of which was dealing with contractors looking for work. Patience was not one of Ewell’s virtues, and the contractors’ impertinence pushed him to the limit of his endurance. “They will sit in my room for hours at a time very often before they will tell their business and quit although I have an office for their express benefit,” he complained to his sister Rebecca. “As for hints you might as well try them upon a runaway horse. Take up a book or leave the room they will wait as cool as a cucumber untill you are through with the book, or for that matter inter[r]upt you with some such question as Introduction xxvi ‘Well do you know any news about more forces coming out here’ repeated for perhaps the twentieth time. The brutes actually put me in a furor sometimes.”2 The letters that Ewell wrote in the 1840s devote far more ink to social outings than to military matters, however. While on duty at Jefferson Barracks, he accompanied his superior, Colonel Stephen Kearny, to a party in St. Louis. “[I]t was one of those assemblages that very properly are called . . . Tea fights,” he explained to his sister, “that is to say there was no dancing but the company was expected to amuse itself by flirtations &c &c. Very much contrary to my expectations the evening instead of being dull & tiresome was to me directly the reverse and I regretted very much when a few drops of rain dispersed the company at 12 o’clock at night.”3 As a cadet at West Point Ewell had vowed never to marry, but life on the frontier undermined that conviction. After just a few months at an isolated post, he was writing to Rebecca: “I really think if you can find any person about Stony Lonesome who would like a military life and who is fair to look upon that I would quit the lonesome life of a bachelor. Should you find one that you think will answer and that you can recommend you can give a letter of introduction and send her out. Maybe as there is a large lot to pick from you had better send half a dozen so I can take my choice.”4 Although he was being facetious, thoughts of marriage had obviously entered his mind. Unfortunately, there were few women in the territories from which to choose. Even at St. Louis, Ewell found the pickings slim. “This is the worst Country for single ladies I ever saw in my life,” he complained to his brother Ben. “They are hardly allowed to come of age before they are engaged to be married however ugly they may be. . . . I have not seen a pretty Girl or interesting one since I have been here.”5 Recruiting duty in Louisville, Kentucky, afforded Ewell the opportunity to meet a wider circle of women. The...

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