General JEB Stuart: A Large Lock of His Sandy Brown Hair
The hair was removed from his head on the night of his death by his wife Flora and saved for their son JEB Stuart, Jr. Flora had rushed to be beside her husband, but arrived only to see him in death at the house of Dr. Charles Brewer. Word of her husband being wounded in battle reached her at Beaver Dam Station via messenger due to the telegraph wires being cut by Union General Sheridan’s troops. Flora and their two children raced by private train and reached Ashland, finding that the tracks had been torn up by the Union troops. A group of sympathetic and loyal wounded Confederate cavalrymen gave them their ambulance which the group drove through a growing rainstorm. Throughout the journey Flora would receive erroneous word that her husband was doing well, only slightly wounded, giving her hope she would reach him in time. Finding the bridge at the Chickahominy River destroyed, blocking them from easy access to Richmond, they forded the river a mile downstream delaying their arrival at the Brewer home until 11:30 P.M. Her husband had died almost four hours earlier, receiving Confederate President Jefferson Davis as one of his last guests. The lock is accompanied by her original hand written note, “Hair of your dear father cut off. May 1864.” A priceless memory of the greatest cavalry officer in American history.
