Jubal Early

(Jubal Anderson Early)

Born: November 3, 1816 in Franklin County, Virginia

Died: March 2, 1894 in Lynchburg, Virginia

Military Rank (CSA): Lieutenant General

• He attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, graduating in 1837.
• He fought in the Seminole Wars and the Mexican-American War.
• He worked as a lawyer in the 1840s.
• He was wounded at the Battle of Williamsburg while leading a charge.
• After the war, he fled to Texas. He proceeded on to Mexico, then Cuba, then Canada. While living in Toronto, he wrote a memoir. He returned to Virginia in 1869.
• He pioneered the “Lost Cause” theory, which portrayed the Confederate’s cause as noble and its leaders as chivalrous. It promoted that the Union won due to sheer force and numbers, even though the Confederacy had superior military skill. It also claimed that the Civil War was a deliberate attempt by the North to disrupt the Southern way of life.
• He was a white supremist.
• He died after falling down a flight of stairs.