Virginia Vignettes

Richard S. Ewell was a Confederate general during the Civil War who apprenticed under Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley before taking charge of the Army of Northern Virginia’s Second Corps after Jackson’s death. Nicknamed Old Bald Head and said to be “blisteringly profane,” Ewell lost a leg at the Second Battle of Manassas and was nursed back to health by his first cousin, whom he later married. In many respects, Jackson and Robert E. Lee were kindred spirits-reticent in person, unrelentingly aggressive in war. Ewell, on the other hand, was different. In person, he was fiery and often funny. And unlike Jackson and Lee’s other top lieutenant, James Longstreet, Ewell developed a reputation for indecisiveness that cost him Lee’s confidence. For instance, he courted controversy with his decision not to attack Cemetery Hill on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg. Some historians have claimed that Ewell’s inaction cost the Confederates the battle, although Lee’s orders on the matter were vague and it is unclear whether Ewell’s men could have carried the day in any case. In fact, Ewell’s best performances during the war came when he was not under Lee’s direct observation.

Further Reading:
Donald C. Pfanz, Richard S. Ewell: A Soldier’s Life (1998)

This Vignette Provided By

Ethan S. Rafuse, associate professor of military history at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College