Jubal Anderson Early (November 3, 1816 – March 2, 1894) was an American lawyer, politician and military officer who served in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War.

Particularly after the death of Gen. Robert E. Lee in 1870, Early delivered speeches establishing the Lost Cause of the Confederacy, cofounding the Southern Historical Society and several Confederate memorial associations.

[7] His eldest son Samuel Henry Early (1813–1874) became a prominent manufacturer of salt using enslaved labor in the Kanawha Valley (of what became West Virginia during the American Civil War), and was a Confederate officer.

The following year, his father and Congressman Nathaniel Claiborne secured a place in the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, for young Early, citing his particular aptitude for science and mathematics.

[14] After redistricting reduced Franklin County's representation, his mentor (but Democrat) Norborne M. Taliaferro was elected to succeed him (and was re-elected many times until 1854, as well as become a local judge).

[15] Meanwhile, voters elected Early to succeed Talliaferro as Commonwealth's attorney (prosecutor) for both Franklin and Floyd Counties; he was re-elected and served until 1852, apart from leading other Virginia volunteers during the Mexican–American War as noted below.

Major Early was assigned to logistics, as inspector general on the brigade's staff under West Pointers Col. John F. Hamtramck[18] and Lt. Col. Thomas B. Randolph, and later helped govern the town of Monterrey, bragging that the good conduct of his men won universal praise and produced better order in Monterrey than ever before, as well as that by the time they were mustered out of service at Fort Monroe, many of his men conceded that they had misjudged him at the beginning.

During the winter in damp northern Mexico, Early experienced the first attacks of the rheumatoid arthritis that plagued him for the rest of his life, and he was even sent home for three months to recover.

General Robert E. Lee, the commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, affectionately called Early his "Bad Old Man" because of his short temper, insubordination, and use of profanity.

The brigade he had commanded at Williamsburg no longer existed, having suffered severe casualties in that assault and an army reorganization assigned the remaining men whose enlistments continued to other units.

During the Chancellorsville campaign, which began on May 1, 1863, Lee gave Early 9,000 men to defend Fredericksburg at Marye's Heights against superior forces (4 divisions) under Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick.

Gen. William Barksdale of Mississippi (a former newspaperman and congressman), who had commanded a division under Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws in the First Corps, until Gen. Lee told the two officers to stop their public feud.

Troops under Early's command were also responsible for capturing escaped slaves to send them back to the south, which resulted in the seizure of free Blacks who were unable to evade the invading army.

On the third day of battle, Early detached one brigade to assist Maj. Gen. Edward "Allegheny" Johnson's division in an unsuccessful assault on Culp's Hill.

John C. Breckinridge, Arnold Elzey and other convalescing Confederates and the remains of VMI's cadet corps assisted Early and his troops, as did many townspeople, including Narcissa Chisholm Owen, wife of the president of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad.

Using a ruse involving trains entering town to exaggerate his strength, Early convinced Hunter to retreat toward West Virginia on June 18, in what became known as the Battle of Lynchburg, although the pursuing Confederate cavalry were soon outrun.

Early delayed his march for several days in a futile attempt to capture a small force under Franz Sigel at Maryland Heights near Harpers Ferry.

Residents of Frederick paid $200,000 ($3.9 million in 2023 dollars[38]) on July 9 and avoided being sacked,[39] supposedly because some women had booed Stonewall Jackson's troops on their trip through town the previous year (the city had divided loyalties and later erected a Confederate Army monument).

[40] Later in the month, Early attempted to extort funds from Cumberland and Hancock, Maryland, and his cavalry commanders burned Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, when that city could not pay sufficient ransom.

Early's invasion caused considerable panic in both Washington and Baltimore, and his forces reached Silver Spring, Maryland, and the outskirts of the District of Columbia.

On both days, President Abraham Lincoln watched the fighting from the parapet at Fort Stevens, his lanky frame a clear target for hostile military fire.

In a surprise attack the following month, on October 19, 1864, Early's Confederates initially routed two thirds of the Union army at the Battle of Cedar Creek.

However, he privately conceded he had hesitated rather than pursue the advantage, and another key subordinate, Dodson Ramseur, was wounded, captured and died the next day despite the best efforts of Union and Confederate surgeons.

Hairston returned to one of his plantations near Danville, Virginia, where Confederate President Jefferson Davis fled to stay with slave trader and financier William Sutherlin.

[16] While living in Toronto with some financial support from his father and elder brother, Early wrote A Memoir of the Last Year of the War for Independence, in the Confederate States of America (1866), which focused on his Valley Campaign.

In one letter to Early, Lee requested information about enemy strengths from May 1864 to April 1865, the war's last year, in which his army fought against Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant (the Overland Campaign and the Siege of Petersburg).

[57] Early also corresponded with and visited former Confederate President Jefferson Davis, who retired to Mississippi's Gulf Coast near New Orleans, Louisiana, to write his own memoirs.

A procession of VMI cadets, 300 Confederate veterans and local militia accompanied the flag-draped casket and riderless horse with reversed stirrups to St. Paul's Church.

[64] The Library of Virginia and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have Hairston family papers, but they barely mention activities during the American Civil War, other than selling provisions to the Confederacy.

[65] His book The Heritage of the South: a history of the introduction of slavery; its establishment from colonial times and final effect upon the politics of the United States, was published posthumously in 1915.