After the Civil War, Jubal Early practiced law in Lynchburg, Virginia for nearly 30 years.

After the Civil War, Jubal Early practiced law in Lynchburg, Virginia for nearly 30 years. Unlike most former Confederate generals, Early never advocated or worked for reconciliation with the North. Instead, he remained defiantly “unreconstructed” and through his writings and speeches in the post-war years he became a leading spokesman for what came to be known as the “Lost Cause” narrative.


That Early would spend his post-war years so adamantly pro-Confederate is one the most interesting ironies of that era. Well-remembered for his “Lost Cause” stance, few remember that before the War Jubal Early was one of the most ardent Unionists in Virginia and an outspoken opponent of secession.

Early was elected as one of Franklin County’s two delegates to the Virginia Secession Convention in 1861. In the first vote on secession he voted NO, along with 2/3 of the delegates. And on the second vote, when 1/3 of the delegates switched their vote to YES in reaction to President Lincoln’s call for volunteers after the bombardment of Ft. Sumter, Jubal Early still voted NO to secession. In his speech before the second vote, Early said, “I have an abiding confidence in the devotion of the people of Virginia to the Union of the country. It is a matter of regret to me that any Virginian should be found ready to rejoice to see dishonor to our flag.” Even after secession passed, Early was one of only a few delegates who voted against Virginia joining the Confederacy and ratifying the Confederate constitution.

When all his efforts failed and Virginia left the Union, however, Early dutifully stayed with his state, eventually commanding a corps in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. But as the Confederacy began to collapse, General Early didn’t mind reminding secessionists of their role in causing the disaster. The night after the Confederate defeat at the Third Battle of Winchester Early was riding alongside General John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky, a former U.S. vice president and the southern Democrat candidate for president in 1860. As they watched the remnants of the defeated and dispirited army filing by, Early turned to Breckinridge and said, “Well general, what do you think of the ‘rights of the South in the Territories’ now?”

And yet, after the war was over Early came to epitomize the unreconstructed rebel and spent the rest of his life defending the justice of the Confederate cause.

Jubal Anderson Early was born in Franklin County, Virginia on November 3, 1816, two hundred seven years ago today.

The photo is of Early late in his life. He died in Lynchburg in 1894 at age 77.

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