Doctor becomes cavalryman, hero of South

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FIGHTING WITH JEB STUART: MAJOR JAMES BREATHED AND THE CONFEDERATE HORSE ARTILLERY

By David P. Bridges, Breathed Bridges Best, LLC, $32.95, 414 pages, illustrated

"They have our range, move up closer." So remembered Confederate Gen. L.L. Lomax when asked in 1903 about the leadership of his fellow officer, Maj. James Breathed. When under fire from Union artillerists, Breathed would often move forward, putting himself in greater danger, but also inflicting greater casualties on the enemy.

This fine biography, penned by Breathed's great-great nephew, David P. Bridges, is an excellent addition to any Civil War enthusiast's library, especially those with an interest in J.E.B. Stuart and a specialized branch of the cavalry, the horse artillery.

If the name James Breathed does not ring an immediate bell, it may be because he lived in the shadow of the two shining stars of the Confederate cavalry, Gen. J.E.B. Stuart and Maj. John Pelham, "the Gallant Pelham," so named by Robert E. Lee at Fredericksburg.

Breathed was a quiet man, reserved in his life outside of the fire of battle, but under combat conditions he showed a coolness and passion that elicited the devotion of his men and the admiration of friend and foe alike.

James Breathed was born near Berkeley Springs, Va. (now West Virginia) in 1838, the first child of Judge John Breathed and his wife, Ann. By 1848 the family had moved to Maryland, to a plantation near Sharpsburg named Bai-Yuka (fountain rock).

Breathed attended the School of Medicine at the University of Maryland (Baltimore) and by 1860 was practicing medicine in Rushville, Mo. Breathed boarded the train to go back East, to offer his services to the Cause.

Somewhere between Memphis and Pennsylvania, he sat next to James Ewell Brown Stuart. They were both traveling for the same reasons, and the two men became good friends. After a short stay at Bai-Yuka, Breathed saddled his horse and rode to Martinsburg, Va., where on April 19, 1861, he enlisted for one year in the Berkeley Troopers of Cavalry as a private.