One of the American Civil Wars most fascinating characters, John Singleton Mosby, was born on December 6th, 1833. As an attorney in Virginia, Mosby was succeeding well when the Civil War approached. He spoke out against Virginia’s secession from the Union, but when it happened, he joined the Confederate Army, fighting in the first real battle at Manassas, Virginia. Afterward, Robert E. Lee’s renowned cavalry commander, J.E.B. Stuart, recognized Mosby’s skills and ordered him to form a guerrilla unit to harass Union troops. “Mosby’s Rangers” so succeeded in burning Union armories, attacking supply trains and more that the Union focused troops needed elsewhere just to pursue him. His strike-and-disappear attacks earned him his title “The Gray Ghost,” and Mosby himself went undercover to gather information in Washington, D.C., a number of times. His most famous exploit came in March, 1863, when, in disguise, he spent the evening in the community of Fairfax County Courthouse, drinking with Union Brigadier General Edwin Stoughton, one of whose jobs was to watch for Mosby! In the wee hours of morning, Mosby came back with his men and entered the home in which Stoughton was staying. Mosby found the general asleep, and woke him with a loud smack on his behind. He then asked the startled general, “Do you know Mosby?” Stoughton replied, “Why, do you have him?” “No,” said Mosby, “HE has YOU!” Mosby took Stoughton back through Union lines to custody in Confederate territory from which he was later traded back north. In 1865, after Lee’s surrender, Mosby never formally surrendered; he simply disbanded his troop. General U.S. Grant issued him a pardon, however, and the two ended up as friends, as a result of which Mosby became persona non grata to many Southerners. But he wanted the nation to reunite, and even helped get Grant elected president. Later, Mosby served President Rutherford Hayes as U.S. Consul to Hong Kong. He died in 1916 at age 82. Although Mosby was a romantic figure to many, he himself said, “It is a classical maxim that it is sweet and becoming to die for one’s country; but whoever has seen the horrors of a battlefield feels that is far sweeter to live for it.” (Images: Colonel Mosby; his wife, Pauline Mosby.)
Posted on: Sat, 06 Dec 2014 14:22:55 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015