|
.
|
U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues
Where Duty, Honor and Country
are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
|
.
.
| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. We hope to provide an ongoing source of information about issues and problems that are specific to Veterans and resources that are available to Veterans and their families. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support.
To read previous Foxhole threads or
to add the Foxhole to your sidebar,
click on the books below.
|
|
|
|
|
.
.
|
Resource Links For Veterans 
Click on the pix
|
.
.
|
 
.
.
Colonel John Singleton Mosby
(1833-1916)
.
The Gray Ghost - Colonel John Singleton Mosby
On December 6, 1833, Virginia McLaurine Mosby, wife of Alfred Daniel Mosby, gave birth to a son and named him John Singleton, after his paternal grandfather. Mosby lived in Nelson County, Va. until the age of six when his father moved to adjoining Albemarle County, four miles from Charlottesville and within viewing distance of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. After showing proficiency in Greek during grade school, he enrolled at the University of Virginia on October 3, 1850. But after shooting a fellow student after a dispute, Mosby was expelled from the University, and took up several months of study in a local law office. He soon passed the bar and set up his own practice in nearby Howardsville, also in Albemarle County.
A town visitor, Pauline Clarke, captured Mosby's affection. After courting her, he moved to her hometown of Bristol, on the Tennessee border. On December 30, 1857 they were married. Their first child, a daughter named May, was born on May 10, 1859. When Virginia followed other Southern states and voted to secede from the Union following Abraham Lincoln's election to the presidency in 1860, Mosby decided to enlist in the Confederate army.
At first Mosby followed a local company of infantry, but quickly transfered to the cavalry corps of Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, and became acquainted with the duties of a scout. Before too long, however, Mosby became anxious to form his own command, that would not be bound by traditional army conventions. In January 1863, Stuart approved Mosby's plan and gave him a few men to begin his operation. Mosby and his partisan rangers were later incorporated into the regular Confederate army. Their primary objective consisted of destroying railroad supply lines between Washington and Northern Virginia, as well as intercepting dispatches and horses and capturing Union soldiers. Mosby's numbers rose from one dozen to a few hundred by the end of the war. Mosby's rank likewise rose steadily; his final promotion to colonel came in January 1865. Gen. Robert E. Lee cited Mosby for meritorious service more often than any other Confederate officer during the course of the war.
It has been claimed by some that the activities of partisan ranger bands in northern and western Virginia, especially those of John S. Mosby, may have prevented a Union victory in the summer or fall of 1864. A Virginian with a penchant for violence, Mosby had been practicing law at the outbreak of the war. His assignments included:
- Private, lst Virginia Cavalry (1861);
- First Lieutenant, 1st Virginia Cavalry (February 1862);
- Captain, PACS (March 15, 1863);
- Major, PACS (March 26, 1863);
- Major, 43rd Virginia Cavalry Battalion (June 10, 1863);
- Lieutenant Colonel, 43rd Virginia Cavalry Battalion (January 21, 1864);
- and Colonel, Mosby's (Va.) Cavalry Regiment (December 7, 1864).
Originally an enlisted man and officer in the 1st Virginia Cavalry, he came into conflict with that unit's colonel, "Grumble Jones," and joined JEB Stuart's staff as a scout. During the Peninsula Campaign he paved the way for Stuart's famous ride around McClellan. After a brief period of captivity in July 1862 he rejoined Stuart and was rewarded with the authority to raise a band of partisans for service in the Loudoun Valley in northern Virginia. Originally a battalion, his command was raised to a regiment in the last months of the war.
In the meantime he managed to wreak havoc among the Union supply lines, forcing field commanders to detach large numbers of troops to guard their communications. His forays took him within the lines guarding Washington, with Mosby himself often doing the advance scouting in disguise.
Early in 1863, with 29 men, he rode into Fairfax Court House and roused Union General Edwin H. Stoughton from bed with a slap on the rear end. Following the capture of Generals Crook and Kelley by McNeil's partisans, Mosby complimented them, stating that he would have to ride into Washington and bring out Abraham Lincoln to top their success. On another occasion he came near capturing the train on which Grant was traveling.
The disruption of supply lines and the constant disappearance of couriers frustrated army, and lesser-group, commanders to such a degree that some took to the summary execution of guerrillas, i.e. partisan rangers. George Custer executed six of Mosby's men in 1864, and the partisan chief retaliated with seven of Custer's. A note attached to one of the bodies stated that Mosby would treat all further captives as prisoners of war unless Custer committed some new act of cruelty. The killings stopped.
With the surrender of Lee, Mosby simply disbanded his command on April 20, 1865, rather than formally surrender. While the partisans were certainly a nuisance to federal commanders, it is an open question as to how effective they were in prolonging the conflict. Many Southerners were very critical of the partisans, only some Southerners excepting Mosby's command.
Col. Mosby at age 77 with grandchildren, wearing his uniform in 1910 movie "All's Fair in Love and War"
Mosby retreated into a self-imposed exile after the war until he acquired his parole from General U.S. Grant in 1866. He settled down in Warrenton, Va. in Fauquier County to re-establish his law practice. Mosby practiced law and befriended Grant. Politics, however, called to him. When Grant became president in 1869, Mosby visited him in the White House and offered his support. Mosby publicly backed the Republican in his 1872 re-election bid, and Grant carried Virginia. For supporting Grant, a Republican, in the 1868 and 1872 elections, he earned the emnity of many Southerners. Under Hayes, Grant's successor, Mosby became a consul to Hong Kong (1878-1885).
After returning to the United States, he became active on the lecture circuit and penned his war reminiscences and several other works for magazines and newspapers, spreading his account of his exploits during the war. After a series of physical debilitations, Mosby died on May 30, 1916 at the age of 82.
Who gave John Mosby the moniker,"Gray Ghost"?
The answer is at the end of the first post.
|
|
|
|
|
