At eight o’clock the end came, and it was three hours later before Mrs. Stuart arrived. The destruction of bridges and a fearful storm had caused delay in the trip from Beaver Dam. Owing to the telegraph lines being broken, the tidings that General Stuart was wounded did not reach his wife until noon on May 12. At the time of his death, May 12, Stuart was just thirty-one years old. Yet through his high ideals, his devotion to duty, and his military genius, he had risen to a position of great trust and honor in the service of his country for which he laid down his life. Such a death, crowning such a life, is glorious and inspiring. One feels that Horatius, the noble Roman, indeed spoke truly when he said: “And how can man die better, Than by facing fearful odds, For the ashes of his fathers And the temples of his gods?” CHAPTER XIII SOME TRIBUTES TO STUART While General Stuart’s life was ebbing away, General Sheridan retired from the attack on Richmond. The delay at Ashland and the all-day fight at Yellow Tavern in which two brigades of Stuart’s cavalry had detained the ten thousand men of Sheridan’s command, had given the authorities at Richmond time to collect forces for the defense of the city. General Fitz Lee who now commanded the cavalry, harassed the retreat of Sheridan for a while, but his men and horses were too worn-out to attempt to cut off so large a force. Sheridan, therefore, marched through the swamps of the Chickahominy river to the Pamunkey, and after an absence of more than two weeks, rejoined Grant’s army which was still vainly attempting to get between Lee and Richmond. General Fitz Lee in his _Life of General Robert E. Lee_, says: “Sheridan’s raid would have been the usual record of nothing accomplished and a broken-down command except that at Yellow Tavern the Confederate cavalry chieftain was mortally wounded and died the next day in Richmond. This sad occurrence was of more value to the Federal cause than anything that could have happened, and his loss to Lee was irreparable. He was the army’s eyes and ears—vigilant always, bold to a fault, of great vigor and ceaseless activity. He had a heart ever loyal to his superior, and duty, was to him the ‘sublimest word in the language.’” In a letter to his wife a few days after General Stuart’s death, General Robert E. Lee said: “As I write, I expect to hear the sound of guns every moment. I grieve for the loss of the gallant officers and men, and miss their aid and sympathy. A more zealous, ardent, brave, and devoted soldier than Stuart the Confederacy cannot have.”