Jubal Early Homeplace

Jubal Early Homeplace. Unreconstructed Confederate General. , This is the childhood home of Jubal Anderson Early, who was born on November 3, 1816. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1837 and served as a lieutenant in the Seminole War in Florida before resigning in 1838. He practiced law in Rocky Mount, Va., and was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates (1841-1842), served as a major in the Mexican War (1847-1848), and was a commonwealth’s attorney in Franklin and Floyd counties. A delegate to the Virginia Secession Convention in 1861, he initially opposed secession but voted for it after President Abraham Lincoln issued his call for troops following the surrender of Fort Sumter. Early then entered Confederate service, becoming colonel of the 24th Virginia Infantry., Promoted to general after the First Battle of Manassas in July 1861, Early afterward led troops in every significant battle of the Army of Northern Virginia. In 1862, he became one of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s most trusted subordinates. Caustic, aggressive, and famously profane, Early was – in Lee’s words – “my bad old man.” In June 1864, after Lee appointed him to independent command, Early defeated Union Gen. David Hunter’s army at Lynchburg, launched a raid that reached the inner defenses of Washington, D.C., and fought a campaign in the Shenandoah Valley against Union Gen. Philip H. Sheridan’s army. After the war, Early made his way from this house to Mexico, Cuba, and Canada, before returning to Virginia in 1869 after the general amnesty and settling in Lynchburg to practice law. He was the first president of the Southern Historical Society and a relentless promoter of Lee’s leadership. “Old Jube” died in Lynchburg on March 2, 1894, and is buried there in Spring Hill Cemetery.