They received mixed signals from General Winfield Scott Hancocks staff and rather than risk it, they instead just disbanded the unit. Gen. George A. Custer ordered the burning of five Berryville-area properties including the home of Benjamin Morgan. Mosby was only 31 when the war ended, but was constantly harassed by occupying Union troops. After the disastrous Union defeat at Fredericksburg in December 1862, Stuart and Mosby led several raids behind enemy lines in Prince William, Fairfax and Loudoun counties, to disrupt the Union communications, harass the enemy and gather supplies for their own forces. Stuart, loaned him the services of nine cavalrymen. Mosbys men dismissed the use of sabers, thinking them too limiting in combat. 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. Yesterday a friend paid this tribute: A man of exemplary character and spotless integrity, Colonel Chapman lived a life of simple and natural religion. Mosby rose slowly, put his hand on his revolver and said, if the truce no longer protects us, we are at your mercy, but we shall protect ourselves. A ranger witness later said, had Mosby given the word, not one Yankee there wouldve lived. Instead, Mosby and his men rode away from the Shenandoah Valley without pursuit from the Federals. Known as the Gray Ghost, Confederate Colonel John S. Mosby, along with his partisan rangers, terrorized Federal units in northern Virginia from late 1862 until the end of the Civil War in 1865. Their area of operations in Northern Virginia ranged from the Shenandoah Valley to the west, along the Potomac River all the way to Alexandria in the east, bounded on the south by the Rappahannock River, with most of his operations centered in or near Fauquier and Loudoun counties. The reorganization of the Confederate Artillery in 1862 caused the official disbanding of their unit on October 4 and the reassignment of the brothers to recruiting officer duty in Virginias Fauquier County. When it did, rangers entered the cars, killed a Federal officer, and confiscated personal valuables from the passengers. Mosby was promoted to colonel dating from December 7th. On August 7th, 1864, Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan took command of the United States Army of the Shenandoah. Leading two companies of rangers himself, Mosby sent two more companies under Captain Samuel Chapman into the Valley on September 2nd. After escaping fromJohnsons Island, he joined Mosbyscommand. At the war's end, Mosby was a fugitive with a bounty on his head but received a pardon from President Ulysses S. Grant. Support Veteran Journalism . [24], Virginian newspapers were eager to carry articles about Mosby's Rangers. The 43rd Battalion, Virginia Cavalry, also After Federal victories at Third Winchester and Fishers Hill, rangers again entered the Valley seeking ways to disrupt Sheridans lines of communication. He moved to Washington, D.C., where he continued to practice law and also worked as a diplomat. Mosby, who, it must be noted, was not given his famous sobriquet The Gray Ghost until well after the war, was an intelligent, tough, audacious, and innovative leader. for their lightning strike raids on Union targets and their ability to . Between 12th and 14th Streets Following General Robert E. Lees surrender to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox on April 9, 1865, Mosby tasked William with leading a negotiating team to meet with Union authorities about specific terms for surrender. The second purpose was to promote the use of guerrilla warfare to help protect areas where there was little protection from the army. The field officers were Colonel John S. Mosby, Lieutenant Colonel William H. Chapman, and Major A.E . Sheridans advance into the Valley stalled. Remy Van Lierde: The Belgian WWII Ace Who Encountered a 50 Feet Long Snake? 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. He kept the faith received at his mothers knee and walked with God every day. You can also visit theStuart-Mosby Civil War Cavalry Museumin Centreville, Virginia. The 43rd Battalion, Virginia Cavalry, 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 strikes on Union targets and their ability to consistently elude pursuit, the Rangers disrupted Federal communications and supply lines. for the war and elected 2nd Lt., Co. A by John S. Mosby at Rector's X-Roads, Fauquier Co. Inv. Two Rangers went inside. mosby's rangers roster. The line must be stronger at every point than the attacking force, else it is broken. Southerners, however, viewed this as a betrayal to their cause, and Mosby was shunned by the people who formerly revered him. Enlisted as a private in the Washington(Va.) Mounted Rifles on May 14, 1861. They operated from 1863 to 1865 south of the Potomac, behind the Union lines. Stuarts cavalry during the Peninsula Campaign. The young family moved into a two-story brick house on Harrison . Present on June - Dec. 1863 muster roll. [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. cf. [11], Munson's denial of the use of Union blue is contradicted by another source however. The tried using carbines captured from Union cavalry but found them too unwieldy for their type of operations. Lawrence, Orde Wingate, David Stirling, and Aaron Bank. In a bit of an interesting twist of fate, after the war, Mosby became a political ally and close confidant to President Ulysses S. Grant, his former enemy during the war and served as a consul to Hong Kong. The makeup of Mosbys Rangers was no different. Paid $630 between 7-1-63 and 2-1-64. It was no uncommon thing for one of our men to gallop by a tree at full tilt, and put three bullets in its trunk in succession. Robinson, John This quickly became the norm for Mosbys men when the captured Union soldiers. Since the close of the war, I have come to know Colonel Mosby personally and somewhat intimately. More impressive, roughly 2,000 men would ride in some capacity with Mosby at one time or another during the war. 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. Federal Brig. I must confess that his character as a soldier was more on the model of the Hebrew prophets than the Evangelist or the Baptist in whom he was so devout a believer. I suspect that with the addition of accoutrements,they didnt look much differnt . Served with the 1st MarylandCavalry before joining Mosbys Rangers. He was named the Consul to Hong Kong, a position he held for eight years and served in the Justice Department as well as a lawyer for the railroad. kealbo54 Sergeant Major. During the Mount Zion Church fight on July 6, 1864, guerrilla John Alexander "noticed in one of the charges that his mount was unaccountable dull, and in spite of the most vigorous spurring fell into the wake of the pursuit." After February 1864, the Confederate Congress revoked the authority of all partisan units, except for two, one of which was the 43rd Battalion, the other being McNeill's Rangers. If he goes on as he has commenced since the slight bleeding the Yankees gave him, who can say that in time we will not be able to stop Mr. Trenholm's machine, and pay our army off in greenbacks. He was held as a prisoner in Washington D.C., but he was released in just 10 days as part of a large prisoner exchange program. A guard pulled his revolver, but Charles Dear beat his draw. Served in the 1st Maryland Infantryand 1st Maryland Cavalry before joiningMosby in 1864. Major General Winfield S. Hancock in Millwood, Virginia. Take no prisoners! Chapman yelled. Never wounded during the war, Chapman ironically received his first-ever gunshot at the hands of a tax-evading moonshiner. 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. "[29], The military effectiveness of Mosby's command, Engraving reproduced from frontispiece, Major John Scott, Partisan Life with Col. John S. Mosby, 1867. 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. Mosby decided the mutual executions, being repulsive to humanity, should end and wrote Sheridan on November 11th, Hereafter any prisoners falling into my hands will be treated with the kindness due to their condition Sheridan agreed and the brutality ended. 7. CLAIBORNE ROBINSON,Private, Company D. Lived in Baltimore after the war. Attended Princeton University prior tothe war. Bottom: Mosby Heritage Area sign on Route 211 in Fauquier County, Virginia. From this modest beginning whould grow on of the best know of all ranger commands. The rangers seized over 200 Federal soldiers, 500 horses and mules, 200 cattle, and about 100 wagons. You select the Union targets for your raids and decide which actions Mosby's . Scott refers to "Captain Mountjoy", but most references spell it "Montjoy". His brother, Robert, had preceded him to America and first served in Wheats Battalion (the famed Louisiana Tigers). Jubal Early and his Confederate Army of the Valley had been soundly beaten at Cedar Creek on 19 October; no more reinforcements from General Robert E. Lee were coming. A Union trooper rode up on Hoskins. Conrad, W.G. These groups included Mosby's Rangers and McNeil's Rangers, a partisan ranger group fighting in the area of the South Branch Valley, in what is now West Virginia.11. Many local names were represented on the roster of the Chinquapin Rangers. Wanting to create an impact event, Mosby and his men removed a rail and waited for the next westbound train to derail. His uniform andcrutchesare on display inThe Price of Freedom: Americans at War. A few guerrillas equipped themselves with carbines captured from the Union, but "they were unhandy things to carry" and unsuited for fighting on horseback; indeed in the thick of a February 1865 fight the carbines' long barrels made them too unwieldy to fire, and they were used instead as clubs. "[20] All men had at least two; Mosby himself as many as six, since a few miles at a flat-out run would exhaust even the best horseand Mosby's men were constantly either running toward or away from the federals. In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. Mosby greatly respected Lee but had no desire to surrender. two, one of which was the 43rd Battalion, the other being McNeill's Rangers. The Mosby's Rangers had secured $168,000 from two paymasters of Gen. P.H. Frances was a milliner and opened a shop in town while Miletus ran a general store. 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. Top: A Route 522 sign in Rappahannock County, Virginia, about one of Mosby's Rangers being executed. Committedsuicide on August 31, 1874, by slitting histhroat with a straight-edged razor. Thescholarships continue to be awarded tothis day. Silman, James L. 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. Mosby summed up his operations quite simply: My purpose was to weaken the armies invading Virginia, by harassing their rear to destroy supply trains, to break up the means of conveying intelligence, and thus isolating an army from its base, as well as its different corps from each other, to confuse their plans by capturing their dispatches, are the objects of partisan war. After a brief stay, he returned to England in 1861. But he often related the circumstance after the war. In this photograph, taken circa 1865, a clean-shaven Mosby stands in the center of a group of members of the 43 Battalion Virginia Cavalry. After over a year of successful raids to harass the enemy, gather intelligence, and strike Federal supply lines east of Virginias Blue Ridge Mountains, a new Federal threat appeared west of the Blue Ridge in the breadbasket of the Confederacy, the Shenandoah Valley. permission to raise a company in January 1863 under the Partisan Ranger Act of Mosby's Raiders puts you in command of the Partisan Rangers. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. The leader of this little band was Private John S. Mosby. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. After an association of more than two eventful years I part from you with a just pride in the fame of your achievements and grateful recollections of your generous kindness to myself. On April 20th, in Millwood, Virginia, about seven miles south of Berryville, a Federal delegation under Maj. Gen. 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