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- History does not paint a flattering portrait of Brig. Gen. George Hume-Steuart, Jr. He was a slave plantation owner and a soldier who served firstly in the United States Army, but resigned his commission at the outbreak of the Civil War in order to join the Confederate cause in support of slavery. He attained the rank of Brigadier-General (one star) and was described as an eccentric commander and a firm disciplinarian who may have bordered on cruel. His support of the Confederacy and his affection for his housekeeper caused an estrangement between George and his wife and daughters that was never healed. He was given the nickname "Maryland Steuart" in the army in order to differentiate him from a fellow Stuart officer.
George Hume Steuart, Jr. was born in 1828 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, as the eldest of nine children raised on his father's estate of Maryland Square in Baltimore. His family were slave owners who, for three generations, had opposed the abolition of slavery. George Hume-Steuart, Jr, joined with his father in campaigning unsuccessfully for the state of Maryland to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy.
In 1858, just prior to the outbreak of the Civil War, George married Maria Hunter Kinzie. She was the granddaughter of John Kinzie, a former fur-trader and founder of the city of Chicago. Maria's family were from the North and her sympathies were with the Union. George's service in the Confederate army meant they were separated from each other for much of their early marriage. Their divided political loyalties created a rift in the marriage.
Even though Maryland did not join the South, George was welcomed into the Confederate army in the hope that he would inspire other Marylanders to follow suit. As a commander, he was a rigid disciplinarian with an obsession for keeping a clean campsite. Historians are divided as to whether his rigid discipline crossed the line to cruelty.
He served in several battles during the Civil War, including the Battle of Gettysburg. At the First Battle of Winchester, he was chastized for prevaricating to delay following an order for his cavalry to pursue the fleeing northern army. At the Battle of Cross Keys, he received a grapeshot wound to the shoulder and had to be carried off the field. He was out of action for almost a year recovering. He was said to be somewhat eccentric and upon leading a campaign into Maryland, he dismounted from his horse and did seventeen somersaults and kissed the ground to celebrate being a conqueror in his home state. His celebrations were short-lived as the Confederates were defeated at the subsequent Battle of Gettysburg. He fought in the Battle of the Wilderness with his brother, Lieutenant William James Steuart, who was fatally wounded. George was defeated at the Battle of Spotsylvania and taken prisoner. He was later released in a prisoner exchange. He was among the company of officers with General Robert E. Lee who surrendered on 9 April 1865 to General Ulysses S. Grant to end the war.
After the war, Steuart returned to his estate of Mount Stewart in South River, Anne Arundel County in Maryland to live with his wife and daughters. However he and Maria became further estranged in the 1890s by the presence of a certain housekeeper that George took in. Even his daughters became estranged from him.
George died in 1903 leaving his estate intestate. His former housekeeper challenged the settlement of the estate on the grounds that she had not been paid for her housework for ten years.
See wiki for extensive notes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H._Steuart_(brigadier_general)
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1828 - 1903 (75 years)
