Editing J. E. B. Stuart (section)

===Peninsula===
In 1862, the Union [[Army of the Potomac]] began its [[Peninsula Campaign]] against [[Richmond, Virginia]], and Stuart's cavalry brigade assisted General [[Joseph E. Johnston]]'s army as it withdrew up the [[Virginia Peninsula]] in the face of superior numbers. Stuart fought at the [[Battle of Williamsburg]], but in general the terrain and weather on the Peninsula did not lend themselves to cavalry operations. 
{{quote box
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|quote=Stuart and Jackson were an unlikely pair: one outgoing, the other introverted; one flashily uniformed, the other plainly dressed; one [[Prince Rupert of the Rhine|Prince Rupert]] and the other [[Oliver Cromwell|Cromwell]]. Yet Stuart's self-confidence, penchant for action, deep love of Virginia, and total abstinence from such vices as alcohol, tobacco, and pessimism endeared him to Jackson. ... Stuart was the only man in the Confederacy [who] could make Jackson laugh—and who dared to do so.
|source= —[[James I. Robertson Jr.]], ''Stonewall Jackson''<ref>Robertson, p. 235.</ref>
}}
However, when General Robert E. Lee became commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, he requested that Stuart perform reconnaissance to determine whether the right flank of the Union army was vulnerable. Stuart set out with 1,200 troopers on the morning of June 12 and, having determined that the flank was indeed vulnerable, took his men on a complete circumnavigation of the Union army, returning after 150 miles on June 15 with 165 captured Union soldiers, 260 horses and mules, and various quartermaster and ordnance supplies. His men met no serious opposition from the more decentralized Union cavalry, coincidentally commanded by his father-in-law, Col. Cooke, and their total casualties amounted to one man killed. The maneuver was a public relations sensation, and Stuart was greeted with flower petals thrown in his path at Richmond. He had become as famous as Stonewall Jackson in the eyes of the Confederacy.<ref>Wert, pp. 93–101; Davis, pp. 111–30.</ref>