In the aftermath of Appomattox in April 1865,
Confederate Lieutenant General Jubal Anderson Early rejected the sting of
surrender. Disguised as a ragged farmer, he slipped through Union lines, hiding
in Franklin County, Virginia, before fleeing to Mexico. This
"unreconstructed rebel" refused to accept defeat, embarking on a
nomadic exile across the Caribbean and finally to Canada.
Early channeled his fury into ink. His Memoir of the Last Year of the War for
Independence published in 1867 recast the Confederacy's fall not as
military folly, but as betrayal by weak leaders and Northern treachery. The
book ignited the "Lost Cause" flame, a narrative that romanticized
the Old South.
Pardoned by President Andrew Johnson in 1869, Early
returned to Lynchburg, resuming the practice of law. There, he weaponized words
and oratory, through speeches that vilified federal overreach. As president of
the Southern Historical Society, he helped erect monuments and curated
histories, re-enforcing Southern identity.
Early became an outspoken and vehement
critic of Confederate Lieutenant General James Longstreet who after
the war worked for the Grant Administration.Early found particular fault with Longstreet’s actions at the Battle of
Gettysburg.Early also often criticized
Ulysses S. Grant as a "butcher."
Jubal Early died unbowed in 1894, and was buried in
Lynchburg.
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