Editing J. E. B. Stuart (section)

===Yellow Tavern and death===
The commander of the Army of the Potomac, Major General [[George Meade]], and his cavalry commander, Major General [[Philip Sheridan]], quarreled about the Union cavalry's performance in the first two engagements of the Overland Campaign. Sheridan heatedly asserted that he wanted to "concentrate all of cavalry, move out in force against Stuart's command, and whip it." Meade reported the comments to Grant, who replied, "Did Sheridan say that? Well, he generally knows what he is talking about. Let him start right out and do it." Sheridan immediately organized a raid against Confederate supply and railroad lines close to Richmond, which he knew would bring Stuart to battle.<ref>Wert, p. 346; Davis, p. 384.</ref>

Sheridan moved aggressively to the southeast, crossing the [[North Anna River]] and seizing Beaver Dam Station on the [[Virginia Central Railroad]], where his men captured a train, liberating 3,000 Union prisoners and destroying more than one million rations and medical supplies destined for Lee's army. Stuart dispatched a force of about 3,000 cavalrymen to intercept Sheridan's cavalry, which was more than three times their numbers. As he rode in pursuit, accompanied by his aide, Major Andrew R. Venable, they were able to stop briefly along the way to be greeted by Stuart's wife, Flora, and his children, Jimmie and Virginia. Venable wrote of Stuart, "He told me he never expected to live through the war, and that if we were conquered, that he did not want to live."<ref>Wert, pp. 346–49.</ref>

The [[Battle of Yellow Tavern]] took place on May 11 at an abandoned inn located {{convert|6|mi|km|spell=in}} north of Richmond. The Confederate troops resisted from the low ridgeline bordering the road to Richmond, fighting for over three hours. After receiving a scouting report from [[Texas Jack Omohundro]], Stuart led a countercharge and pushed the advancing Union troopers back from the hilltop. Stuart, on horseback, shouted encouragement from in front of Company K of the [[1st Virginia Cavalry]] while firing his revolver at the Union troopers.
[[File:Gus W. Dorsey.jpg|thumb|left|165px|Lieutenant Colonel [[Gus W. Dorsey]]]]
As the [[5th Michigan Cavalry]] streamed in retreat past Stuart, a dismounted Union private, 44-year-old John A. Huff, turned and shot Stuart with his .44-caliber revolver from a distance of 10–30 yards.<ref>Smith, p. 242; Salmon, p. 283; Starr, p. 107; Rhea, pp. 209, 390; Thomas, p. 292; Edward G. Longacre, writing in a June 2004 [http://www.historynet.com/wars_conflicts/american_civil_war/3027331.html?page=3&c=y ''Civil War Times'' article], claims that Huff's shot was from {{convert|400|yd}} away, an arguably impressive feat with a pistol; in his book, ''Lincoln's Cavalrymen'' (p. 268), Longacre states that Huff was able to advance "close enough" to Stuart to shoot him in the abdomen, although he was not aware at the time that his victim was Stuart. Wert, pp. 347–58, disputes the possibility that Huff fired the mortal shot, stating that the evidence points to an unnamed trooper in either the 1st or 7th Michigan.</ref> The large caliber round cut through Stuart's abdomen and exited an inch to the right of his spine.<ref>Smith, p. 357.</ref> Stuart fell into the arms of Company K's commander, [[Gus W. Dorsey]].  Dorsey caught him and took him from his horse. Stuart told him: "Dorsey...save your men." Dorsey refused to leave him and brought Stuart to the rear.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wYk_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA236|title=Southern Historical Society Papers|first=Robert Alonzo|last=Brock|date=June 16, 2019|publisher=Virginia Historical Society|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0RdRAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA256|title=Glorious War: The Civil War Adventures of George Armstrong Custer|first=Thom|last=Hatch|date=December 10, 2013|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=9781250028501|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D5U3AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA76|title=Confederate Veteran|date=August 8, 1909|publisher=S.A. Cunningham|via=Google Books}}</ref> 
[[File:J E B Stuart grave Hollywood Cemetery Richmond.jpg|thumb|200px|Stuart's gravesite after the war, with temporary marker|alt=|right]]
Stuart suffered great pain as an ambulance took him to Richmond to await his wife's arrival at the home of Dr. Charles Brewer, his brother-in-law. As he was being driven from the field in an ambulance wagon, Stuart noticed disorganized ranks of retreating men and called out to them his last words on the battlefield: "Go back, go back, and do your duty, as I have done mine, and our country will be safe.  Go back, go back!  I had rather die than be whipped."<ref name="McClellan, Henry B 1994">McClellan, Henry B. I Rode with Jeb Stuart: The Life and Campaigns of Maj. Gen. Jeb Stuart. Edited by Burke Davis. New York: Da Capo Press, 1994. {{ISBN|978-0-306-80605-6}}. First published 1958 by Indiana University Press.</ref>

Stuart ordered his sword and spurs be given to his son. As his aide Major McClellan left his side, Confederate President Jefferson Davis came in, took Stuart's hand, and asked, "General, how do you feel?"  Stuart answered "Easy, but willing to die, if God and my country think I have fulfilled my destiny and done my duty."<ref name="McClellan, Henry B 1994" />  His last whispered words were: "I am resigned; God's will be done."

He died at 7:38&nbsp;p.m. on May 12, the following day, before Flora Stuart reached his side. He was 31 years old. Stuart was buried in Richmond's [[Hollywood Cemetery (Richmond, Virginia)|Hollywood Cemetery]]. Upon learning of Stuart's death, General Lee is reported to have said that he could hardly keep from weeping at the mere mention of Stuart's name and that Stuart had never given him a bad piece of information.<ref>Smith, p. 244; Wert, pp. 357–62.</ref>  John Huff, the private who had fatally wounded Stuart, was killed in action just a few weeks later at the [[Battle of Haw's Shop]].

Flora wore the black of mourning for the remainder of her life, and never remarried. She lived in [[Saltville, Virginia]], for 15 years after the war, where she opened and taught at a school in a log cabin. She worked from 1880 to 1898 as principal of the Virginia Female Institute in [[Staunton, Virginia]], a position for which Robert E. Lee had recommended her before his death ten years earlier.<ref>Lee had been a member of the board of visitors of the school in 1865–70 when he was president of Washington College in nearby Lexington, Virginia. He also had sent two daughters to the school for their educations. Wert, p. 368 for recommendation.</ref> In 1907, the institute was renamed [[Stuart Hall School]] in her honor. Upon the death of her daughter Virginia, from complications in childbirth in 1898, Flora resigned from the institute and moved to [[Norfolk, Virginia]], where she helped Virginia's widower, Robert Page Waller, in raising her grandchildren.

She died in Norfolk on May 10, 1923, after striking her head in a fall on a city sidewalk. She is buried alongside her husband and their daughter, Little Flora, in [[Hollywood Cemetery (Richmond, Virginia)|Hollywood Cemetery]] in Richmond.<ref>Wert, pp. 368–69.</ref>