Stained Glass Memorial Window for J. E. B. Stuart

The design for a stained glass window dedicated to Confederate General J. E. B. Stuart shows a crusader riding off to battle while in the heavens above are three angels, one blowing on a trumpet, another bearing a downturned sword, and the third carrying an upraised sword. Below the sketch is the inscription that is to be included in the bottom panel of the stained glass: "To the glory of God and in grateful memory of James Ewell Brown Stuart." The United Daughters of the Confederacy commissioned this memorial window from J & R Lamb Studios, a renowned stained-glass studio in operation since 1857.

During his lifetime Stuart cultivated an image of the chivalric horseman, an image that became even more attractive in the wake of Confederate defeat in the Civil War. Stuart, as portrayed here, serves as an icon of the Lost Cause and a symbol of the mythical Old South that embodied a chivalrous code of conduct untouched by crass modernity. The window design also reveals the importance of religion to the Lost Cause and how it tended to portray former Confederate leaders as saints.