Like "Stonewall" Jackson and Dick Ewell, Jubal Anderson Early was a true character in General Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, one aptly described as "an army full of characters."

Early is particularly interesting, since that West Point educated mountain lawyer began the Civil War era as a delegate to Virginia's secession convention who voted to stay in the Union, but who closed out his life as the aggressive chief promoter of the Southern "Lost Cause" argument and the sanctifier of the image of Robert E. Lee.

In between, he offered his services to his state following secession and soon demonstrated outstanding tactical and leadership abilities. By 1864, he was commanding the Second Corps of Lee's army, and in July of that year led his troops across the Potomac and up to the outer defenses of Washington. A few months later, however, his Valley Army was shattered, and by war's end, he had  been effectively relieved of duty. His unabated fury at the North's wartime atrocities then dominated his remaining years.

Read Charles C. Osborne's Jubal (Baton Rouge, LSU Press, 1992), and meet the respected but irreverent soldier that Lee called "my bad old man."