awoke [and] saw my horse standing at my feet with his head bending over me. Mosby was seriously wounded in December, but there were still small skirmishes during the winter and spring. Compton, Z.T. Died May 30, 1916. The furious Federals wanted to take revenge against the six captured rangers; permission was granted, probably by Federal cavalry corps commander, Maj. Gen. Alfred Torbert. He kept the faith received at his mothers knee and walked with God every day. Perfect for this fighting style were Mosbys Rangers, most of whom were young, between 17-25, who sought the glory of war on horseback. In this vivid account of the famous command of John Singleton Mosby, Jeffry D. Wert explores the personality of this iron-willed commander and brilliant tactician and . Mosby experimented with some small artillery pieces but quickly stopped their use as they were of little practicality for the type of lightning fast hit and run raids his forces were conducting. Resigned hiscommission on April 23, 1862, andbecame a scout for Maj. Gen. J.E.B. He was fond of alcoholic spirits and knew that stockpiles of corn and grains probably indicated a still was nearby. The Army of the Shenandoah returned to the Harpers Ferry area, with Mosbys Rangers harassing it along the way. He was wounded twice in battle but was able to return to duty quickly each time. I am no longer your commander. He did not invent the concept or techniques of guerrilla warfare, but during the Civil War, he certainly refined and executed them with impressive efficiency and effectiveness. He died September 9, 1917. In his memoirs, John Munson stated that if the objective was simply "to annoy the enemy," they succeeded. Hoskins was one of the men in the group. While there, he wrote a 24-page pamphlet titled A Few Thoughts on Volunteering that espoused the virtues of a volunteer army. Or they would simply "skedaddle", that is scatter to the four winds, and individually make their way back to the farms in Loudoun and Fauquier counties where they were welcomed, hidden, and succoured. CLAIBORNE ROBINSON,Private, Company D. Lived in Baltimore after the war. Mosby was a small town lawyer who joined the Confederate Army when his home state of Virginia seceded from the Union, and who became GeneralJeb Stuart'sbest scout, earning himself both a command and the nickname "Gray Ghost." Cab had earned Hibbs ire, but his playful exuberance created an even bigger quandary for himself on October 14, 1864, during the famed Greenback Raid, when Mosbys men derailed a train on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in Jefferson County, W.Va., seizing $172,000 in paper currency from two Union army paymasters. Postwar, he was treasurer ofthe Washington Monument Society anda member of the Columbia HistoricalSociety. Many farms in Northern Virginia had their own private, primitive distilleries. For his bravery under fire, Ferris was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Mosby often played up his exploits to gain attention in the press for his unit and to emphasize the fact that the 43rd Battalion was a legitimate military command within the command structure of the Confederate States of America's army. His well-varnished account of it was that I ordered him to be shot at sunrise, that he said he hoped it would be a foggy morning, and that I was so much amused by his reply that I relented and pardoned him. Paroledin Winchester, Va., on April 22, 1865. It took a personal letter to now President Grant to stop the practice. After less than a month, Mosbys combat tactics in the Valley were established. During the negotiations, a ranger named Hern burst into the room and yelled to Mosby that Federal cavalry had set a trap and were hidden in the woods. The method of operation involved executing small raids with up to 150 men (but usually 20 to 80) behind Union lines by entering the objective area undetected, quickly executing their mission, and then rapidly withdrawing, dispersing the troops among local Southern sympathizers, and melting into the countryside. General Grant at one point reported that seventeen thousand of his men were engaged in keeping Mosby from attacking his weak points, and thus away from active service on the firing line. One of the first to join Mosby after he began operations in Northern Virginia was William Hibbs. We both did this a good many times but, I believe, without bragging at the expense of truth, that we saw the back seams of the enemy's jackets oftener than they saw ours. One of Mosby's men, Munson stated in memoirs published after the war that "the term [guerrilla] was not applied to us in the South in any general way until after the war, when we had made the name glorious, and in time we became as indifferent to it as the whole South to the word Rebel. Enlisted as a private in the Washington(Va.) Mounted Rifles on May 14, 1861. HIBBS. Stuarts cavalry during the Peninsula Campaign. This was not a custom, however; someone generally ran to cover after the revolvers were emptied. [Photographed between 1861 and 1865, printed between 1880 and 1889] Photograph. Captured on January 4, 1865, and sentto Fort Warren in Boston Harbor, fromwhich he was released on June 13,1865. According to Chapmans obituary in the Greensboro (N.C.) Daily, published September 7, 1929: General [Winfield Scott] Hancock, to whom Colonel Chapman surrendered his command, was so impressed by the spirit of the young Confederate that he wrote in his report that in healing the wounds of war and reuniting the country This young man will be valuable to the government. The prophecy was fulfilled in a life of devotion to the interests of the south without bitterness toward his former foes. As John Henry Alexander noted in Mosbys Men: Pray dont make the mistake of assigning William Hibbs among the non-combatants. Though his title was merely in courtesy of his quasi office of quartermaster, no braver man followed Mosby. The 43rd Virginia Cavalry Battalion, also known as Mosby's Rangers, Mosby's Raiders, or Mosby's Men, was a battalion of partisan cavalry in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War.Noted for their lightning strike raids on Union targets and their ability to consistently elude pursuit, the Rangers disrupted Union communications and supply lines. He disagreed with the practice of slavery and tried to explain his reasons for still fighting for the South. It is difficult to evaluate the contribution of Mosby's raids to the overall Confederate war effort. The Virginia Yankees later fought Colonel White's men again, as well as cavalrymen under the command of Colonel John S. Mosby. 10. Take no prisoners! Chapman yelled. Fish, Charles Mosby placed a mountain howitzer he had taken with him on the raid at the top of a small rise on a road up which the Union cavalry would have to attack. Mosby's Raiders puts you in command of the Partisan Rangers. John Atkins was mortally wounded during the Rangers fight against the 8th Illinois Cavalry on October 29, 1864, near Upperville, Va. His last words were: I have come three thousand miles to fight for the Confederacy, but it is all over now. Gen. Edwin H. Stoughton who was captured in bed. Munson "never actually saw blood drawn with a sabre but twice in our war, though I saw them flash by the thousand at Brandy Station. With robust designs and vintage classic style, discover the heritage of military timepieces today! There were two purposes of the Partisan Ranger Act. The remaining Rangers fled, leaving Hoskins lying on the field in a pool of his own blood. Many of our attacks were made at night, when all colors looked alike, and in daytime we did not have to deceive the Yankees in order to get at them. It's been 150 years since Mosby formed the 43rd Battalion Virginia Cavalry, more popularly known as "Mosby's Rangers," but there are still many ways to explore Mosby's story. In a 1907 letter he wrote: I am not ashamed of having fought on the side of slaverya soldier fights for his countryright or wronghe is not responsible for the political merits of the course he fights in and he added,The South was my country.. . While interrogating Sneden, Mosby "opened his blue cavalry overcoat, showing a Rebel uniform underneath."[12]. Mosby himself had six horses that hed change out frequently. With a special aptitude for finding forage for the horses in Mosbys command, Hibbs became the Rangers informal quartermaster. He was also known as chief of the corn detail. It was not an exciting duty nor a particularly prestigious title, but he ensured that the mounts in the command, so essential to its mobility and success, were well fed and healthy. Revolvers in the hands of Mosby's men were as effective in surprise engagements as a whole line of light ordnance in the hands of the enemy. The two soldiers who were shot survived to tell the gory tale. He was captured in April 1864 andspent the remainder of the war at Fort Warren. Although I was surrounded by Revolutionary War history as a kid growing up in New Jersey, I much preferred the Civil War. Served in the 1st Maryland Cavalrybefore joining Mosby. [15], For instance, describing the fight at Miskel's barn, Munson says of William H. Chapman (later lieutenant colonel of Mosby's command) wheeling his horse in a thicket of Yankees "[t]he pistols were not a foot apart. It took a personal letter to now President Grant to stop the practice. This proved useful to Confederate military raiding. Even though she has lived in the state of Virginia longer than she lived in New Jersey, she still gets called a Yankeeaffectionately, she thinks. Hibbs had another moniker of which he was exceedingly proud. Hoskins threatened him with his saber and said, Surrender, you damn Yankee. The Union soldier replied, The hell I will, and shot Hoskins in the neck and back. Lawyer. Much of it was paid for by Uncle Sam out of the money we got from him directly and indirectly. Mosby had agreed to a truce two days before, but not surrender. DANIEL MURRAY MASON,4th Corporal, Company E. Born on December 13, 1843. That was important because Mosby, essentially a teetotaler, despised the use of needed forage for the distilling of alcoholhe believed it served a better purpose by feeding horses or soldiers. Post War: Mosby was only 31 when the war ended, but was constantly harassed by occupying Union troops. Munson said in his memoirs: "Something gray" was the one requisite of our dress and the cost of it mattered little. Hibbs feats link him with another Ranger, Henry Cabell Maddux, born on July 17, 1848, and nicknamed Cab. On February 20, 1864, still just 15 years old, Maddux was leaving a boys academy in Upperville, Va., his school books in his hand, when a group of Union cavalrymen came galloping through town. [25] In discussing as Mosby's "greatest piece of annoyance", the Greenback Raid in which Mosby's men derailed a train and captured a $170,000 payroll from the paymasters of Philip Sheridan's army (each of the 80 raiders received a $2100 share, though Mosby himself took nothing), Munson says that due to Mosby's comparatively tiny force, [i]t was necessary for the Federal troops to guard every wagon train, railroad bridge and camp with enough active and efficient men to prevent Mosby from using his three hundred raiders in one of his destructive rushes at any hour of the day or night. . [citation needed]. Even at that supreme moment in my life, when I had just stood on the brink of ruin and had barely escaped, I could not restrain a propensity to laugh. But if you want to see some really cool objects used by Colonel Mosby, come to the National Museum of American History! General Rosser erred here indicating ignorance of Mosby's tactics, as it has been tirelessly repeated that Mosby's men rejected the saber for the much more efficient six shot pistol. Never wounded during the war, Chapman ironically received his first-ever gunshot at the hands of a tax-evading moonshiner. Mosby assembled his men at Salem on April 21, and the command disbanded. Bottom: Mosby Heritage Area sign on Route 211 in Fauquier County, Virginia. [21], Speed, surprise and shock were the true secret of the success of Mosby's command. He was just in front of mehe was generally in front of everybody in a fightat the gate. Worked for several years as theclerk of the Court of Common Pleas inBaltimore, and as a U.S. Army paymasterin 1888. As the Gray Ghost related in The Memoirs of Colonel John S. Mosby: While we were helping the passengers to climb the steep bank, one of my men, Cab Maddux, who had been sent off as a vidette to watch the road, came dashing up and cried out that the Yankees were coming. With orders from Gen. Ulysses S. Grant to conduct total war to wipe out Confederate resistance in the Valley and burn crops and farms, Sheridan launched an offensive on August 9th. The Partisan Ranger Act resulted in many Southerners believing that any of form of guerrilla warfare was now being approved. How did this actually affect armies? In retaliation for the wagon train raid, Sheridans cavalry burned barns, crops, and mills. Riding with Stuart and about 1,200 Confederate horsemen, Mosby scouted ahead and along the columns flanks in the infamous four-day circuit around the entire United States Army of the Potomac. On November 26, 1863, the Army of the Potomac departed Culpeper County to initiate the Mine Run Campaign. A New Jersey Yankee now living in the area of Virginia known as "Mosby's Confederacy" during the Civil War, curator Kathleen Golden shares what she finds so interesting about John S. Mosbythe ranger, fugitive, friend of President Ulysses S. Grant, diplomat, and inspiration for a 1950s television showon his 180th birthday. Mosby proved his worth as a scout and intelligence collector during the Peninsula campaign in June 1862. 11. But Mosby fought on. Only three men in the Confederate army knew what I was doing or intended to do; they were Lee and Stuart and myself. The first purpose was to take control over guerrilla warfare and decide who would and would not be able to use it. Joined Apr 20, 2012. Younger brotherof Ranger George Meacham Slater. mosby's rangers roster. Ten days later, April 9th, Confederate commanding General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox, Virginia. I immediately gave orders to mount quickly and form, and one was sent to find out if the report was true. Mosby would then send word telling chosen men when and where to assemble for the next raid.[22]. Uncle offuture Princeton football hero JohnPrentiss Poe Jr. Died October 11, 1891, in New York. After the war, Sam was the chaplain of the African-American 4th Immune Regiment in Cuba during the Spanish-American War, became the superintendent of public schools in Virginias Allegheny County, and served as the deputy U.S. marshal for the Western District of Virginia in 1909. (Jeb) Stuart, then the cavalry commander of the Confederate army that soon became the Army of Northern Virginia. Reportedly a prosperous and well-knownarchitect in New York City afterthe war. The wound, though serious and painful, had a positive aspect. . HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. If attacked themselves, the guerrillas would sometimes ride away a brief distance and then round on their attackers and charge back into them, panicking and scattering them in the melee. Soldiers: I have summoned you together for the last time. permission to raise a company in January 1863 under the Partisan Ranger Act of P.O. Classification. . Charging with a yell, then firing their Colt revolvers, Russell and the Rangers scattered most of the Federals. The only difference is in the danger Mosby felt that "a small force moving with celerity and threatening many points on a line can neutralize a hundred times its own number. A constant irritant for Mosby over the past three months had been Blazers Scouts, the 100-man counterguerrilla force acquired by Sheridan in August. His troops were such a thorn in the Unions rear areas and supply trains that his area of operations became known as Mosbys Confederacy. They were masters at the art of guerrilla warfare, gather intelligence of the enemy, able to strike quickly in the rear of Union forces, and then able to melt away undetected from pursuing forces. Later, an Englishman named Charles Green who lived nearby in the small town of Greenwich, Va., found Hoskins and took him to his home. The youngsters size made him a good target for the enemy, which is how the tales of Cab Maddux and Major Hibbs intersected along the banks of the Potomac River on July 30, 1864. While riding as part of Mosby's Rangers near the end of the war these men had contact with Thomas F. Harney of the Confederate Torpedo Bureau. Mosby's Regiment, Virginia Cavalry (Partisan Rangers) Overview: Mosby's Cavalry Regiment, formerly the 43rd Battalion, was organized in December, 1864. A lieutenant in the Prussian army, he had come in search of adventure with Confederate forces. [13] Mosby and his men had a "poor opinion" of cavalry sabres, and did not use them. 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