A few columns ago, I discussed how Confederate cavalry performed exceptionally well during the early stages of the Civil War. I attributed that to the Southern lifestyle, in which outdoor living and horses were considered the norm, while weather had made the North more interested in indoor pursuits.

David Bridges of Roanoke e-mailed me that he had written a book titled "Fighting with Jeb Stuart," about a cavalry officer in Stuart's command. James Breathed, a distant relative, was a 21-year-old physician practicing medicine in Missouri. When the war broke out, he returned home to his native Virginia. While on the train home, a chance meeting with James Ewell Brown Stuart, an 1854 graduate of West Point, convinced him that the cavalry was the branch of service he should join.

It might have been more logical for Breathed to enlist as an army surgeon, but as an accomplished horseman, he decided on the cavalry. His reasons were much the same as those for men during World War II when they joined the air war: Certain forces have an elan, and during WWII, young men simply had to wear the silver or gold wings of the Army Air Force or the U.S. Navy air units. In the Civil War, it was the cavalry, and on April 19, 1861, Breathed became a private in the Berkely Troopers of Cavalry, which eventually became Company B of the First Virginia Cavalry Regiment. They got a good man.

Professor James McPherson explains those who fought in the Civil War: "Many soldiers enlisted for patriotism and ideology, some for adventure." Bridges maintains that "for Breathed and Stuart, all three reasons applied."

The concept of men fighting either on or with horses -- cavalry -- goes back at least to the 1600s. Mounted field artillery is different from horse artillery in this respect: Mounted field artillery served with infantry units. Horses pulled the guns, but the men rode carriages or simply walked from one firing position to the next.

With horse field artillery, horses still pulled the guns, but the men who manned the guns were also mounted and thus could get to a firing position at a gallop. They could change location as "frequently as practicable to save the men and the horses when the enemy got their range too accurately." They fired all types of shells -- fuzed shells, canister, grapeshot -- from a typical battery that consisted of four 12-pounder guns.

Breathed was not experienced but was a quick learner. His first battle was First Manassas, July 21, 1861, a stunning Confederate victory, during which a Confederate cavalry charge caused chaos in the Union lines.

By March 1862, he was a first lieutenant in Stuart's horse artillery. He had shown himself to be brave, leading by example and fighting from the front. Bridges notes that his "behavior bred loyalty and instilled in his men a willingness to follow him anywhere."

It was the Peninsula Campaign of 1862 and Stuart's ride around Union Gen. George McClellan's army that established Stuart's fame. The book has several excellent maps, and the one of "Stuart's Ride" is one of the best. The route is clearly marked, and almost every point mentioned in the text is also shown on the map. Gen. Robert E. Lee called the ride a "brilliant exploit" and a "signal success" that helped the Army of Northern Virginia understand how McClellan had deployed his army. Breathed's horse artillery unit was part of the ride.

Breathed was with horse artillery for the entire war. His battles included 2nd Manassas, August 1862; Sharpsburg, September 1862, during which Breathed's artillery covered Gen. Lee's retreat and was the last unit to cross back into the safety of Virginia; an October 1862 raid into Maryland, in which they captured 1,200 horses; the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 1862; Brandy Station, June 9, 1863, the largest cavalry battle of the war, with "23,000 Confederate and Union troopers and 3,000 Union infantry locked in mortal combat for nearly fourteen long and bloody hours." Brandy Station was the opening battle in the Gettysburg campaign; in three weeks, the two armies would be locked into the pivotal action at Gettysburg.

By this stage of the war, the Union Army had reorganized its cavalry units and had developed them into a professional and fearsome fighting force. For the first time, Confederate cavalry had been forced to fight the enemy on essentially even terms. Never again would they dominate the battlefield.

It was just before Gettysburg that Stuart got permission from Lee to "pass around the Union Army if he found that the Army of the Potomac was moving north." However, according to the author, "Lee's orders were a bit too vague and probably gave Stuart too much discretion." Breathed's horse cavalry was part of Stuart's force, and was one of the units that shelled Harrisburg, Pa.

When Lee retreated from Gettysburg, it was Breathed's assignment to cover the route back into Virginia.

Breathed was promoted to major in February 1864, in command of a horse artillery battalion. During Gen. Ulysses Grant's spring '64 campaign, Breathed was wounded at Yellow Tavern on May 11, 1864. He suffered a saber slash to the head and a glancing blow from a pistol but was back with his unit by May 21. He was wounded again, this time in the gut, on June 29, 1864. He was in recovery until August 5, 1864, and since he was still suffering pain, he got a prescription for laudanum.

Laudanum is a derivative of opium. It is extracted from poppy heads and mixed with sugar or alcohol into a liquid that is easier to take. Although addictive, in the 1800s it was prescribed for everything from headaches and tuberculosis to pain, sleeplessness and diarrhea and was "considered a drug for the working class because it was cheaper than wine or gin."

In the final campaign of the war, Breathed was not with Lee's army, and so did not participate in the surrender at Appomattox. He simply said goodbye to his battalion and went home.

He tried to restart his medical practice, but all indications are that four years of intense combat had left him with post-traumatic stress disorder. (In World War I, it was called "shell shock." In World War II, it became "combat fatigue.") He had had a terrible war, including up-close contact with the enemy in whom he could see the effects of his artillery shells. The pain from his wounds was constant, and he was probably addicted to laudanum. Breathed died Feb. 14, 1870. He was 32 years old.

"Fighting with Jeb Stuart" is a fine account of Civil War artillery combat.

WANT TO WRITE? NED HARRISON is a Greensboro, N.C., writer who specializes in military history and writes a monthly Civil War column for The Roanoke Times. He wants to hear about your ancestors who were part of our Civil War. Write him at News & Record / RT, P.O. Box 20848, Greensboro, NC 27420 or e-mail him at: n-b-h@mindspring.com