Mount Airy was once the stomping ground of famous Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart who fought alongside General Robert E. Lee. Stuart’s birthplace is located six miles away from Mount Airy in Ararat, Va. A Civil War encampment and reenactment is held there each year during the first full weekend of October. This year the event will be held October 8-9, 2005.

The J.E.B. Stuart Birthplace Preservation Trust, Inc. was formed in 1990 to purchase 71 acres of the original 1,500-acre farm known as Laurel Hill belonging to Archibald and Elizabeth Letcher Pannill Stuart. The property was the site of the house where Confederate Major General James Ewell Brown Stuart was born on February 6, 1833.

J.E.B. Stuart spent his early years at Laurel Hill until 1848 when the house burned. The Laurel Hill farm was passed down from Stuart’s maternal great-grandfather, William Letcher, who was killed during the American Revolution in 1780. He is buried at Laurel Hill in the oldest marked grave in Patrick County, VA.

When Virginia seceded from the Union in 1861, J.E.B. Stuart offered his services to the Old Dominion. He rose to the rank of major general while commanding the cavalry of Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia fighting in the major battles of the Civil War from First Manassas in 1861 to Yellow Tavern in May 1864. He was known for his reconnaissance, which prompted Lee to say upon Stuart’s death: "He never brought me a piece of false information." Stuart was flamboyant in his dress and mannerism. His raids behind Union lines brought him fame.

In the summer of 1863, Stuart was at the height of his prominence. In May, he replaced "Stonewall" Jackson when the later was wounded during the Battle of Chancellorsville and led Jackson’s infantry assisting Lee to his greatest victory. In June, Stuart commanded nearly 10,000 men in the largest cavalry battle of the Civil War at Brandy Station. In July, Stuart’s most controversial activity occurred with his raid behind Union lines during the March to Gettysburg.

J.E.B. Stuart died on May 12, 1864, after receiving wounds at the Battle of Yellow Tavern trying to block a raid by Yankee General Phillip Sheridan on Richmond. Stuart is buried in Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery. The site is open for guided tours by calling the J.E.B. Stuart Birthplace, Inc.

Directions to J.E.B. Stuart’s birthplace: From Mount Airy, take Highway 104 North for six miles. Laurel Hill is on the left.