Description: June 1863. The Gettysburg Campaign is in its opening hours. Harness jingles and hoofs pound as Confederate cavalryman James Ewell Brown (JEB) Stuart leads his three brigades of veteran troopers on a ride that triggers one of the Civil Wars most bitter and enduring controversies. Instead of finding glory and victorytwo objectives with which he was intimately familiarStuart reaped stinging criticism and substantial blame for one of the Confederacys most stunning and unexpected battlefield defeats. Now in paperback, Plenty of Blame to Go Around: Jeb Stuarts Controversial Ride to Gettysburg by Eric J. Wittenberg and J. David Petruzzi objectively investigates the role Stuarts horsemen played in the disastrous campaign. It is the first book ever written on this important and endlessly fascinating subject.
Brief description: Eric J. Wittenberg was an accomplished historian and author. The Ohio attorney had written nearly two dozen books on various Civil War subjects, with a particular focus on cavalry operations. He was the recipient of multiple awards, including the prestigious 1998 Bachelder-Coddington Literary Award. Sadly, Eric passed on August 2, 2025.
Review Quotes: "Plenty of Blame to Go Around is a welcome new account of Stuart's fateful ride during the 1863 Pennsylvania campaign. The authors have done heroic labor among the wealth of primary sources bearing on Stuart's activities. Here, then, is Stuart's ride as the troopers on both sides would recognize it--well researched, vividly written, and shrewdly argued. It is, in short, as good an account of the ride as we are likely to get."--Mark Grimsley, author of The Hard Hand of War: Union Military Policy Toward Southern Civilians, 1861-1865