John S. Mosby - Wikipedia

John S. Mosby - Wikipedia
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Confederate Army officer, US Diplomat (1833–1916)
For the history of Mosby's Rangers, see
43rd Battalion, Virginia Cavalry
John S. Mosby
Mosby during the 1860s
Nickname
"The Gray Ghost"
Born
John Singleton Mosby
1833-12-06
December 6, 1833
Powhatan County, Virginia
, U.S.
Died
May 30, 1916
(1916-05-30)
(aged 82)
Washington, D.C.
, U.S.
Buried
Warrenton Cemetery
Warrenton, Virginia
, U.S.
Allegiance
Confederate States
Branch
Confederate States Army
Service years
1861–1865
Rank
Colonel
Unit
43rd Battalion, Virginia Cavalry
Commands
Mosby's Rangers
Conflicts
American Civil War
Battle of Bull Run
Peninsular Campaign
Signature
John Singleton Mosby
(December 6, 1833 – May 30, 1916), also known by his nickname "
Gray Ghost
", was an American military officer who was a
Confederate cavalry
commander in the
American Civil War
. His command, the
43rd Battalion
, Virginia Cavalry (known as Mosby's Rangers or Mosby's Raiders) was a
partisan ranger
unit noted for its lightning-quick raids and its ability to elude
Union Army
pursuers and blend in with local farmers and townsmen. The area of northern central Virginia in which Mosby operated with impunity became known as
Mosby's Confederacy
After the Civil War, Mosby became a
Republican
and worked as an attorney, supporting his former enemy's commander, U.S. President
Ulysses S. Grant
. He also served as the American
consul
to
Hong Kong
and in the
U.S. Department of Justice
In 1992, Mosby was among the first group of men inducted into the United States Army Ranger Hall of fame. In June 2023, the Fort Benning garrison commander ordered his name to be removed from the hall of fame as well as the National Ranger Memorial along with three other rangers that included William Quantrill, George Bowman and Jackson Bowman. The National Ranger Memorial foundation, headquartered in Columbus, Ga filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court Middle District to restore Mosby's name to the memorial as well as the hall of fame. At a December 16th, 2024 court hearing, U.S. District Judge
Clay D. Land
dismissed the foundation's request to restore Mosby's name to the memorial and hall of fame.
Early life and education
edit
Mosby was born in
Powhatan County, Virginia
, on December 6, 1833, to Virginia McLaurine Mosby and Alfred Daniel Mosby, a graduate of
Hampden–Sydney College
. His father was a member of an old Virginia family of
origin whose ancestor, Richard Mosby, was born in
England
in 1600
and settled in
Charles City, Virginia
in the early 17th century.
Mosby began his education at a school called Murrell's Shop (Elma, Nelson County). When his family moved to
Albemarle County, Virginia
, near
Charlottesville
, in about 1840, John attended school in Fry's Woods before transferring to a Charlottesville school at the age of ten years. Because of his small stature and frail health, Mosby was the victim of bullies throughout his school career. Instead of becoming withdrawn and lacking in self-confidence, the boy responded by fighting back. The editor of his memoirs recounted a statement Mosby made that he never won any fight in which he was engaged. The only time he did not lose a fight was when an adult stepped in and broke it up.
In 1847, Mosby enrolled at Hampden–Sydney College, where his father was an alumnus. Unable to keep up with his mathematics class,
Mosby left the college after two years. On October 3, 1850,
he entered the
University of Virginia
, taking Classical Studies and joining the
Washington Literary Society and Debating Union
. He was far above average in Latin, Greek, and literature (all of which he enjoyed), but mathematics was still a problem for him. In his third year, a quarrel erupted between Mosby and a notorious bully, George R. Turpin, a tavern keeper's son who was robust and physically impressive. When Mosby heard from a friend that Turpin had insulted him, Mosby sent Turpin a letter asking for an explanation—one of the rituals in the code of honor to which Southern gentlemen adhered. Turpin became enraged and declared that on their next meeting, he would "eat him up raw!" Mosby decided he had to meet Turpin despite the risk; to run away would be dishonorable.
10
On March 29 the two met, Mosby having brought with him a small
pepper-box pistol
in the hope of dissuading Turpin from an attack. When the two met and Mosby said, "I hear you have been making assertions ..." Turpin put his head down and charged. At that point, Mosby pulled out the pistol and shot his adversary in the neck. The distraught 19-year-old Mosby went home to await his fate. He was arrested and arraigned on two charges: unlawful shooting (a misdemeanor with a maximum sentence of one year in jail and a $500 fine) and malicious shooting (a felony with a maximum sentence of 10 years in the penitentiary). After a trial that almost resulted in a
hung jury
, Mosby was convicted of the lesser offense, but received the maximum sentence. Mosby later discovered that he had been expelled from the university before he was brought to trial.
11
While serving time, Mosby won the friendship of his prosecutor, attorney
William J. Robertson
. When Mosby expressed his desire to study law, Robertson offered the use of his law library. Mosby studied law for the rest of his incarceration. Friends and family used political influence in an attempt to obtain a pardon. Gov.
Joseph Johnson
reviewed the evidence and pardoned Mosby on December 23, 1853, as a Christmas present, and the state legislature rescinded the $500 (~$19,350 in 2025) fine at its next session.
12
13
The incident, trial, and imprisonment so traumatized Mosby that he never wrote about it in his memoirs.
14
After studying for months in Robertson's law office, Mosby was admitted to the
bar
and established his own practice in nearby
Howardsville
Family life
edit
About this time, Mosby met Pauline Clarke (March 30, 1837 – May 10, 1876), who was visiting from
Kentucky
. Although he was Protestant (nominally
Methodist
or
agnostic
) and she was
Catholic
, courtship ensued. Her father was
Beverly L. Clarke
15
They were married in a
Nashville
hotel on December 30, 1857. After living for a year with Mosby's parents, the couple settled in
Bristol, Virginia
, which was near a road connecting into Tennessee and Kentucky over the
Cumberland Gap
citation needed
The Mosbys had two children before the Civil War (May and Beverley).
16
John Singleton Mosby Jr., who like his father became a lawyer, and later worked for mining companies in the west, was born in 1863 during the war. By 1870, the family included five children (adding Lincoln Mosby, 1865–1923, and Victoria Stuart Mosby Coleman, 1866–1946), and lived in
Warrenton, Virginia
. The Catholic Church established a mission in Warrenton by 1874, which is now known as St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church.
17
Mosby was dedicated to his family and paid to have them educated at the best Catholic schools in
Washington, D.C.
, when he moved there after his wife's death in 1876. Their sons served as altar boys and Mosby's youngest sister, Florie, not only converted to Catholicism, but became a
Catholic nun
18
Two more daughters also survived their parents, Pauline V. Mosby (1869–1951) and Ada B. Mosby (1871–1937), but the Mosbys also lost two sons in the turbulent aftermath of the
Panic of 1873
, George Prentiss Mosby (1873–1874) and Alfred McLaurine Mosby (1876–1876).
Civil War career
edit
Mosby during the
American Civil War
Mosby in the early 1860s
1861
edit
Mosby spoke out against secession, but joined the Confederate army as a
private
at the outbreak of the war. He first served in
William "Grumble" Jones
's Washington Mounted Rifles. Jones became a Major and was instructed to form a more collective "Virginia Volunteers", which he created with two mounted companies and eight companies of infantry and riflemen, including the Washington Mounted Rifles. Mosby thought the Virginia Volunteers lacked congeniality, and he wrote to the governor requesting to be transferred. However, his request was not granted. The Virginia Volunteers participated in the
First Battle of Bull Run
(First Manassas) in July 1861.
1862
edit
In April 1862, the Confederate Congress passed the
Partisan Ranger Act
which "provides that such partisan rangers, after being regularly received into service, shall be entitled to the same pay, rations, and quarters, during their term of service, and be subject to the same regulations, as other soldiers."
By June 1862, Mosby was scouting for
J.E.B. Stuart
during the
Peninsular Campaign
, including supporting Stuart's "Ride around McClellan".
19
He was captured on July 20 by
Union
cavalry while waiting for a train at the
Beaverdam Depot
in
Hanover County, Virginia
. Mosby was imprisoned in the
Old Capitol Prison
in Washington, D.C., for ten days before being exchanged as part of the war's first
prisoner exchange
. Even as a prisoner Mosby spied on his enemy. During a brief stopover at
Fort Monroe
he detected an unusual buildup of shipping in
Hampton Roads
and learned they were carrying thousands of troops under
Ambrose Burnside
from North Carolina on their way to reinforce
John Pope
in the
Northern Virginia Campaign
. When he was released, Mosby walked to the army headquarters outside Richmond and personally related his findings to
Robert E. Lee
20
After the
Battle of Fredericksburg
, in December 1862, Mosby and his senior officer J.E.B. Stuart led raids behind Union lines in
Prince William
Fairfax
and
Loudoun
counties, seeking to disrupt federal communications and supplies between
Washington, D.C.
, and
Fredericksburg, Virginia
, and provision their own forces. As the year ended, at
Oakham Farm
in Loudoun County, Virginia, Mosby gathered with various horsemen from
Middleburg, Virginia
who decided to form what became known as
Mosby's Rangers
21
1863
edit
Mosby's Rangers. Top row (left to right): Lee Herverson, Ben Palmer, John Puryear, Tom Booker, Norman Randolph, Frank Raham.# Second row: Robert Blanks Parrott, John Troop, John W. Munson, John S. Mosby, Newell, Neely, Quarles.# Third row: Walter Gosden, Harry T. Sinnott, Butler, Gentry.
Edwin H. Stoughton
In January 1863, Stuart, with Lee's concurrence, authorized Mosby to form and take command of the
43rd Battalion Virginia Cavalry
. This was later expanded into Mosby's Command, a regimental-sized unit of partisan rangers operating in
Northern Virginia
. The 43rd Battalion operated officially as a unit of the
Army of Northern Virginia
, subject to the commands of Lee and Stuart, but its men (1,900 of whom served from January 1863 through April 1865) lived outside the norms of regular army cavalrymen. The Confederate government certified special rules to govern the conduct of partisan rangers. These included sharing in the disposition of spoils of war. They had no camp duties and lived scattered among the civilian population. Mosby required proof from any volunteer that he had not deserted from the regular service, and only about 10% of his men had served previously in the Confederate Army.
22
In March 1863, Mosby conducted a daring raid far inside Union lines near the
Fairfax County, Virginia
, courthouse. He was helped, according to his own account, by a deserter from the 5th New York Cavalry regiment named James Ames, who served under Mosby until he was killed in 1864.
23
24
He and his men captured three Union officers, including
Brig. Gen.
Edwin H. Stoughton
. Mosby wrote in his memoirs that he found Stoughton in bed and roused him with a "spank on his bare back."
25
26
Upon being so rudely awakened the general indignantly asked what this meant. Mosby quickly asked if he had ever heard of "Mosby". The general replied, "Yes, have you caught him?" "I
am
Mosby," the Confederate ranger said. "Stuart's cavalry has possession of the Court House; be quick and dress." Mosby and his 29 men had captured a Union general, two captains, 30 enlisted men, and 58 horses without firing a shot.
27
28
Mosby was formally promoted to the rank of captain two days later, on March 15, 1863, and major on March 26, 1863.
29
On May 3, 1863, Mosby attacked and captured a supply depot at
Warrenton Junction, Virginia
, guarded by about 80 men of the
1st West Virginia Volunteer Cavalry Regiment
; Mosby's losses were 1 killed and 20 wounded and/or captured; Union losses were 6 officers and 14 privates killed and wounded.
30
On May 29, 1863, Mosby with 40 men
31
led a raid on
Greenwich, Virginia
, derailing a supply train. A battle broke out between Mosby's forces and the Union Cavalry under Colonel Mann, who commanded the 1st Vermont Cavalry; 5th New York Cavalry; 7th Michigan Cavalry. Mosby was obliged to retreat, losing 6 killed, 20 wounded, and 10 men and 1 howitzer captured; Union losses were 4 killed and 15 wounded.
32
On June 10, 1863, Mosby led 100 men on a raid across the Potomac River to attack the Union camp at
Seneca, Maryland
. After routing a company of the Sixth Michigan Cavalry and burning their camp, Mosby reported the success to J.E.B. Stuart. This drew Stuart's attention to Rowser's Ford. Mosby had crossed the Potomac there, and during the night of June 27 Stuart's forces would use the same crossing while separated from Lee's army, and thus didn't arrive at Gettysburg until the afternoon of the second day of the battle. Thus, some analysts claim Lee stumbled into the battle without his cavalry, partly because of Mosby's successful skirmish at Seneca three weeks earlier.
33
Mosby endured his first serious wound of the war on August 24, 1863, during a skirmish near
Annandale, Virginia
, when a bullet hit him through his thigh and side. He retired from the field with his troops and returned to action a month later.
34
1864
edit
Captain Montjoy
, wood engraving 1867
35
The partisan rangers proved controversial among Confederate army regulars, who thought they encouraged desertion as well as morale problems in the countryside as potential soldiers would favor sleeping in their own (or friendly) beds and capturing booty to the hardships and privations of traditional military campaigns. Mosby was thus enrolled in the Provisional Army of the Confederate States and soon promoted to lieutenant colonel on January 21, 1864, and to colonel, December 7, 1864.
29
Mosby carefully screened potential recruits, and required each to bring his own horse.
The
Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant
tell of an incident near
Warrenton, Virginia
on about May 1, 1864, when Mosby unknowingly missed by only a few minutes a chance to kill or capture Grant, who was traveling unguarded on a special train from Washington back to his headquarters to launch the
Overland Campaign
Mosby endured a second serious wound on September 14, 1864, while taunting a Union regiment by riding back and forth in front of it. A Union bullet shattered the handle of his revolver before entering his groin. Barely staying on his horse to make his escape, he resorted to crutches during a quick recovery and returned to command three weeks later.
36
Mosby's successful disruption of supply lines, attrition of Union couriers, and disappearance in the disguise of civilians caused
Lt. Gen.
Ulysses S. Grant
to tell Maj. Gen.
Philip Sheridan
The families of most of Mosby's men are know[n] and can be collected. I think they should be taken and kept at Fort McHenry or some secure place as hostages for good conduct of Mosby and his men. When any of them are caught with nothing to designate what they are hang them without trial.
37
On September 22, 1864, Union forces executed six of Mosby's men who had been captured out of uniform (i.e. as spies) in
Front Royal, Virginia
; a seventh (captured, according to Mosby's subsequent letter to Sheridan, "by a Colonel
Powell
on a plundering expedition into Rappahannock") was reported by Mosby to have suffered a similar fate.
38
William Thomas Overby was one of the men selected for execution on the hill in Front Royal. His captors offered to spare him if he would reveal Mosby's location, but he refused. According to reports at the time, his last words were, "My last moments are sweetened by the reflection that for every man you murder this day Mosby will take a tenfold vengeance."
39
After the executions a Union soldier pinned a piece of paper to one of the bodies that read: "This shall be the fate of all Mosby's men."
40
After informing General
Robert E. Lee
and Confederate Secretary of War
James A. Seddon
of his intention to respond in kind, Mosby ordered seven Union prisoners, chosen by lot, to be executed in retaliation on November 6, 1864, at
Rectortown, Virginia
. Although seven men were duly chosen in the original "death lottery," in the end just three men were actually executed. One numbered lot fell to a drummer boy who was excused because of his age, and Mosby's men held a second drawing for a man to take his place. Then, on the way to the place of execution a prisoner recognized Masonic regalia on the uniform of Confederate Captain Montjoy, a recently inducted
Freemason
then returning from a raid. The condemned captive gave him a secret Masonic distress signal. Captain Montjoy substituted one of his own prisoners for his fellow Mason
41
(though one source speaks of
two
Masons being substituted).
42
Mosby upbraided Montjoy, stating that his command was "not a Masonic lodge". The soldiers charged with carrying out the executions of the revised group of seven successfully hanged three men. They shot two more in the head and left them for dead (remarkably, both survived). The other two condemned men managed to escape separately.
43
On November 11, 1864, Mosby wrote to
Philip Sheridan
, the commander of Union forces in the Shenandoah Valley, requesting that both sides resume treating prisoners with humanity. He pointed out that he and his men had captured and returned far more of Sheridan's men than they had lost.
44
The Union side complied. With both camps treating prisoners as "prisoners of war" for the duration, there were no more executions.
On November 18, 1864, Mosby's command defeated
Blazer's Scouts
at the
Battle of Kabletown
45
Mosby had his closest brush with death on December 21, 1864, near Rector's Crossroads in Virginia. While dining with a local family, Mosby was fired on through a window, and the ball entered his abdomen two inches below the navel.
34
He managed to stagger into the bedroom and hide his coat, which had his only insignia of rank. The commander of the Union detachment, Maj. Douglas Frazar of the 13th New York Cavalry, entered the house and—not knowing Mosby's identity—inspected the wound and pronounced it mortal. Although left for dead, Mosby recovered and returned to the war effort once again two months later.
46
1865
edit
Several weeks after General Robert E. Lee's surrender, Mosby's status was uncertain, as some posters above the signature of Gen.
Winfield S. Hancock
stated that marauding bands would be destroyed, and specifically named Mosby as a guerrilla chief who was not included in the parole. However, Mosby received a copy of the poster on April 12 at a letter drop in the Valley along with a letter from Hancock's chief of staff, Gen. C.H. Morgan, calling on Mosby to surrender and promising the same terms as were extended to General Lee. Further negotiations followed at
Winchester
and
Millwood
. Finally, on April 21, 1865, in
Salem, Virginia
, Mosby disbanded the rangers, and on the following day many former rangers rode their worst horses to Winchester to surrender, receive paroles and return to their homes.
47
Rather than following his men to Winchester, Mosby instead rode south with several officers, planning to fight on with General
Joseph E. Johnston
's army in North Carolina. However, before he reached his fellow Confederates, he read a newspaper article about Johnston's surrender. Some proposed that they return to Richmond and capture the Union officers who were occupying the
White House of the Confederacy
, but Mosby rejected the plan, telling them, "Too late! It would be murder and highway robbery now. We are soldiers, not highwaymen."
48
By early May, Mosby confirmed the $5,000 bounty on his head, but still managed to evade capture, including at a raid near
Lynchburg, Virginia
which terrified his mother. When Mosby finally confirmed the arrest order had been rescinded, he surrendered on June 17, one of the last Confederate officers to do so.
49
50
Later legal career
edit
Mosby's former residence on
Logan Circle
in
Washington, D.C.
, in August 2008
When the Civil War ended, Mosby was just 31, and would live another five decades. He resumed his law practice in
Warrenton
, and by December 1865 was prosecuting the internal revenue collector in
Prince William County
for mule-stealing. Nonetheless, during the year after receiving his parole, Mosby often found himself harassed by occupying Union forces, arrested on petty or trumped-up charges, until his wife and young son Revardy, after being rebuffed by President
Andrew Johnson
despite their mutual kinship ties, met General Grant in January 1866 and secured a handwritten exemption from arrest and guarantee of safe conduct.
51
52
Virginia politics
edit
On May 8, 1872, as covered by the
Washington Star
, Mosby personally thanked then-
U.S. President
Ulysses S. Grant for that document. Mosby also told Grant he believed vehemently that election of
Horace Greeley
(a long-time editor of the
New York Tribune
detested in the South) would be worse for the South because the men surrounding him were worse than those surrounding his old benefactor Grant. A few days later, Massachusetts Congressman
Benjamin Butler
presented an amnesty bill for former Confederates, as Mosby had suggested in that meeting, and soon President Grant signed it into law. After Greeley became the Democratic party's nominee in July, Mosby became Grant's campaign manager in Virginia, and an active
Republican
, although he also made sure the Republicans would not run a candidate against his friend and fellow Warrenton attorney
Eppa Hunton
, who campaigned and won as a Democrat.
53
In his autobiography Grant stated, "Since the close of the war, I have come to know Colonel Mosby personally and somewhat intimately. He is a different man entirely from what I supposed. ... He is able and thoroughly honest and truthful."
54
Soon, Mosby had become one of Grant's favorites and was bringing federal patronage jobs to local Virginians, although initially he did not hold any federal job. He tried to make a rapprochement between President Grant and Virginia Governor
James L. Kemper
, a Confederate Major General and Conservative elected the following year and whom Mosby also supported. However, that failed. His Republican political activity diminished Mosby's popularity in Warrenton; many considered him a turncoat. Many Southerners still considered Grant "the enemy". Mosby received death threats, his boyhood home was burned down, and at least one attempt was made to assassinate him. Later reflecting on the animosity shown to him by his fellow Virginians, Mosby stated in a May 1907 letter that "There was more vindictiveness shown to me by the Virginia people for my voting for Grant than the North showed to me for fighting four years against him."
55
After the deaths of his wife Pauline and infant son Alfred in mid-1876, Mosby decided to move his family to Washington, D.C., but had difficulty finding enough legal business to support them. He thus spent much time campaigning for the Republican candidate,
Rutherford B. Hayes
. Scandals had rocked the Grant Administration as it ended, but Hayes became the next President, and Mosby hoped for a patronage appointment. He also courted powerful Ohio Congressman
James Garfield
, telling him his desire for a government position, preferably in the Justice Department. He was instead offered a position as trade representative to Canton, but ultimately was confirmed by the Senate as United States
consul
to
Hong Kong
(a position he held from 1878 to 1885).
56
Mosby had to leave his children in the care of relatives, but this proved to be the first in a series of other federal government jobs and postings, many fighting rampant fraud in politically volatile situations. President McKinley appointed Mosby's daughter May the postmistress in Warrenton, which became very important after her husband Robert Campbell died in August 1889, leaving her to raise her young children alone (although her sons John Mosby Campbell and Alexander Spottswood Campbell received many letters and some money from their overseas grandfather, as to a lesser extent did Jack Russell, son of his late sister Lucie).
57
Consul in Hong Kong
edit
Upon arriving in Hong Kong, Mosby found discrepancies in his predecessor's recordkeeping, and believed
David H. Bailey
had colluded with his vice-consul Loring (whom Mosby fired), to bilk the government of thousands of dollars in fees. Bailey had pocketed fees charged Chinese emigrants sailing to the U.S. on foreign-flag ships (certifying that they emigrated voluntarily and were not part of notorious "coolie traffic"), and claimed "expenses" for shipboard examinations (by the illiterate proprietor of a local boardinghouse frequented by sailors) of those emigrating on U.S.-flag ships equal to the fees charged. Mosby thought Bailey had almost doubled his salary over the previous eight years by embezzlement and kickbacks, and stopped charging for shipboard examinations (which he personally conducted).
58
However, Bailey had recently been nominated to become consul at Shanghai because
George Seward
, previous consul since 1863, had been nominated to become the ambassador to China. Seward's replacement in Shanghai, John C. Myers of Reading, Pennsylvania, had reported to State Department superiors that George Seward and his vice-consul Oliver Bradford had been engaging in land and capital speculation in China that seemed to violate the Burlingame Treaty of 1868, but had been suspended, as had his successor
Wiley Wells
, ex-Congressman from Mississippi. Wells and Myers then sought redress from Congress, which was considering impeaching George Seward, but Bailey traveled to Washington to defend his crony.
59
Mosby's initial letter to his superior (
Frederick W. Seward
, son of the former secretary of state and who had been wounded by Mosby's ex-subordinate while defending his father from an assassination attempt on the night of President Lincoln's assassination) languished. However, Special Treasury Department Inspector DeB. Randolph Keim made a whirlwind inspection of Far East consulates and found many similar bookkeeping irregularities. Eventually, in March 1879, Mosby wrote to General
Thomas C. H. Smith
, a friend of President Hayes, about a similar embezzlement scheme operated by David B. Sickels (U.S. Consul at Bangkok) and his vice-consul Torrey (a Hong Kong native whose correspondence to the fired Loring Mosby accepted and read). Mosby also learned that Bailey had charged (and pocketed) $10,000 per year for shipments of opium to the United States from Macao, although Mosby proposed to issue the required certificate for the legal export for just $2.50.
60
Meanwhile, consul Mosby was occupied entertaining his old friend President Grant, who spent the two years after his retirement touring the world as a semi-private citizen. Mosby received Grant on April 30. During the nearly week-long visit, Grant told Mosby he had heard more reports about the problems in Bangkok and advised Mosby to go directly to President Hayes (as Mosby had just done) and promised to talk to Hayes personally. However, Bailey was confirmed as consul in Shanghai before Grant's return home, and newspapers had begun publishing stories about Mosby's inappropriate attire, the start of a campaign to minimize him as a "crackpot." Moreover, the new State Department investigator was General
Julius Stahel
, who had fought Mosby in Virginia and had been consul at
Hyogo, Japan
Nonetheless, Stahel verified Mosby's complaints, and former Union Cavalry Major
William H. Forbes
(who had once stabbed Col. Mosby's coat during an engagement) who now headed Russell and Co. (major traders in the Far East, including of opium) also supported Mosby against Bailey, Seward and their newspaper friends.
Alexander McClure
of the
Philadelphia Times
agitated to clean up the consular service. Fred Seward, amidst charges that he was shielding the rascals, resigned by October 1879, and was replaced by
John Hay
. By January 1880, Grant and journalist
John R. Young
(who would become consul at Shanghai two years later) briefed Secretary of State
William M. Evarts
about Sickels and Torrey.
61
George Seward resigned well before the 1880 election, followed by Bailey and Sickels as the President "at last swept the China coast".
62
Nonetheless, Mosby was unhappy, despite the electoral victory of his friend Garfield in November and his son Beverley joining him as vice-consul. His repeated requests for leave to return home and visit the rest of his family kept being denied, as were most requests for supplies or funds, and one relative was removed from the Lighthouse Board. In addition to the press and bureaucratic sniping, Mosby found his salary insufficient to support socialization among the local merchant class. Still, as 1880 began, Mosby won a slander lawsuit brought against him in Hong Kong by Peter Smith, the sailors' boardinghouse keeper associated with ex-consul Bailey, reporting that he defended himself to the applause of jury and spectators, as well as laughter of the distinguished judge.
63
By the time Mosby received notice that his U.S. leave had been approved, President Garfield had been shot and was hanging on to life.
Garfield died
on September 20, and President
Chester Arthur
considered promoting Mosby to the similar post at Shanghai (with higher living expenses), but Mosby wanted to either return home or remain in Hong Kong. Thus he remained in exile and dealt with the implications of the
Chinese Exclusion Act
, the growing opium trade and the brewing war between France and China.
64
Mosby left China after the election of Democrat
Grover Cleveland
led to a change in administrations. He was replaced by fellow Virginian
Robert E. Withers
, whom Mosby had long despised.
65
Railroad lawyer
edit
Before leaving China, Mosby had written Grant seeking help in finding another position. Grant responded (as he was dying) with a letter recommending Mosby to Senator
Leland Stanford
, a former California railroad magnate. Mosby then spent about 16 years in California, working as a lawyer for the
Southern Pacific Railroad
until the death of his mentor
Collis Huntington
. Much of what he did remains unknown, due to a fire which destroyed the company's records of that era. Although Mosby hated the desk work, he twice returned to Washington, D.C., to argue before the United States Supreme Court—once based on the consul fees he had remitted to the Treasury (and which the claims court found him entitled to) and once for the railroad. Mosby also wrote articles for Eastern newspapers about his escapades during the Civil War, and traveled to New England on a speaking tour where he met
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. & Sr.
(father and son).
66
He also befriended the Patton family and spent time at their ranch with their young son,
George S. Patton
, recreating Civil War battles, with Mosby playing himself and George playing Robert E. Lee.
67
In 1898, Mosby tried to secure an officer's commission, for the
Spanish–American War
, but was blocked by
Secretary of War
Russell A. Alger
(see:
Russell A. Alger § Vendetta against John S. Mosby
). Mosby trained an
Oakland, California
cavalry troop, dubbed
Mosby’s Hussars
, but the War ended, and they never left for Cuba or the Philippines.
68
Government attorney
edit
When Mosby returned to Washington in 1901, during the second term of the McKinley administration (wary during the first term because of McKinley's service in the
Shenandoah Valley
during the Civil War, as well as being perceived as just another office-seeker), he again sought a job in the Justice Department. After McKinley's assassination, President Theodore Roosevelt instead sent Mosby west as a special agent of the
Department of the Interior
. There, Mosby dealt with illegal fencing of range land by cattle barons in Colorado and Nebraska, who often used fake homestead claims by military widows as well as violated the Van Wyck Fence Law of 1885. When witnesses refused to come forward to testify about illegal fencing for fear of retaliation, Mosby upheld the law by first sending notices to the affected landowner. The Pawnee Cattle Company capitulated in Colorado, so Mosby moved on to western Nebraska, where he learned the land agent actually lived in Iowa and failed to supervise the range.
69
Mosby's Colorado methods failed, however, since the Omaha grand jury refused to authorize an indictment against
Bartlett Richards
or anyone but nonresident agent W.R. Lesser. Mosby was recalled to Washington to appease Nebraska's Senators, and then sent to halt timber trespassers in Alabama forests. However, other attorneys were sent out, who secured indictments. Richards and his English brother in law William G. Comstock were convicted in 1905 despite their argument that the government land hadn't been surveyed. The local judge sentenced them to $300 fine apiece and six hours in custody, which they spent celebrating at the
Omaha
Cattlemen's Club, and which led President Roosevelt to fire both the U.S. attorney and U.S. Marshal. The next year Richards and Comstock were indicted on a new charge of conspiracy to deprive the government of public land, convicted and fined $1,500 fines as well as sentenced to a year in jail. After three years of appeals, the convictions and sentences were upheld, so they were sent to prison in
Hastings, Nebraska
for a year beginning in 1901, and Richards died in a hospital a month before the sentence would end.
70
71
Mosby finally got the
Department of Justice
post he wanted as
Philander Knox
ended his term as attorney general. It was not with the trust-busting unit, however, but with the Bureau of Insular and Territorial affairs, where Mosby worked (at a low salary of $2,400/year) under his brother-in-law
Charles W. Russell Jr.
from 1904 to 1910.
72
In 1905 President Roosevelt again sent him to Alabama to troubleshoot allegations of irregularities at the Port of Mobile. Next, he was sent to Oklahoma to investigate charges against U.S. Marshal (and former Rough Rider) Benjamin Colbert. He also secured an indictment of
McAlester
attorneys George Mansfield, John F. McMurray and Melvin Cornish for misappropriation of Indian Trust funds, but his superior Russell thought the evidence insufficient and ultimately dropped the charges two years later. Meanwhile, Mosby went back to investigate charges of land frauds against Indian minors, and on his return found little to do.
73
Memoirist of the Civil War
edit
Mosby and John S. Russell, his former lieutenant
Mosby was forced to retire from his
U.S. Department of Justice
post at age 76, under the
William Howard Taft
administration. Blind in one eye and cantankerous, he spent his final years in Washington, D.C., living in a boardinghouse and watched over by his remaining daughters to the extent he would let them or others.
Mosby also continued writing about his wartime exploits, as he had been in 1887
Mosby's War Reminiscences and Stuart's Cavalry Campaigns
, which had defended the reputation of J.E.B. Stuart, who some partisans of the "
Lost Cause
" blamed for the Confederacy's defeat at the Battle of Gettysburg. Mosby had served under Stuart and was fiercely loyal to the late general, writing, "He made me all that I was in the war. ... But for his friendship I would never have been heard of." He lectured in New England in connection with that first book and wrote numerous articles for popular publications. He published a book length treatise in 1908, a work that relied on his skills as a lawyer to refute categorically all of the claims laid against Stuart. A recent comprehensive study of the Stuart controversy, written by Eric J. Wittenberg and J. David Petruzzi, called Mosby's work a "
tour de force
".
74
He attended only one reunion of his Rangers, in
Alexandria, Virginia
, in January 1895, noticing with bemusement how many had become clergymen but preferring to look forward not back.
75
During the war, he had kept a slave, Aaron Burton, to whom he occasionally sent money in Brooklyn, New York after the war and with whom he kept in contact into the 1890s.
76
In 1894, Mosby wrote to a former comrade regarding the cause of the war, stating: "I've always understood that we went to war on account of the thing we quarreled with the North about. I've never heard of any other cause than slavery."
77
78
79
In June 1907, Mosby wrote a letter to Samuel "Sam" Chapman, in which he expressed his displeasure over people, namely
George Christian
, downplaying and denying the importance of slavery in its causing the American Civil War. In the letter, Mosby explained his reasons as to why he fought for the Confederacy, despite personally disapproving of slavery. Although he admitted that the Confederate states had seceded to protect and defend their institution of slavery, he had felt it was his patriotic duty as a Virginian to fight on behalf of the Confederacy, stating that, "I am not ashamed of having fought on the side of slavery—a soldier fights for his country—right or wrong—he is not responsible for the political merits of the course he fights in" and that, "The South was my country."
80
81
Mosby's grave in
Warrenton, Virginia
"War Loses Its Romance", inscription of a military quotation by Mosby at Veterans Memorial at the
Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania
Courthouse in
Scranton
Death and legacy
edit
In January 1915, the
University of Virginia
awarded Mosby a medal and written tribute, which touched him deeply. Throughout his life, Mosby remained loyal to those he believed fair-minded, such as Stuart and Grant, but refused to cater to Southern sympathies. He proclaimed that there was "no man in the Confederate Army who had less of the spirit of knight-errantry in him, or took a more practical view of war than I did."
79
He died of complications after throat surgery in a Washington, D.C., hospital on May 30, 1916, noting at the end that it was Memorial Day. He is buried at Warrenton Cemetery in
Warrenton, Virginia
29
The area around
Middleburg
, from where Mosby launched most of his behind-the-lines activities, was called "Mosby's Confederacy", even in the Northern press. The
Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area Association
, formerly called the Mosby Heritage Area Association and headquartered in Middleburg, is actively involved in preserving the history, culture, and scenery of this historic area.
82
The John Singleton Mosby Museum was located in
Warrenton, Virginia
, at the historic
Brentmoor
estate where Mosby lived from 1875 to 1877. After it closed many of the artifacts moved to the
Old Fauquier County Jail
museum.
There are 35 monuments and markers in Northern Virginia dedicated to actions and events related to Mosby's Rangers.
83
John Mosby Highway
, a section of
US Route 50
between
Dulles Airport
and
Winchester, Virginia
, is named for Colonel Mosby.
84
Mosby Woods Elementary School in the
Fairfax County Public Schools
system was originally named in his honor.
85
The name of the school was changed to Mosaic Elementary School by the Fairfax County School Board in February 2021; effective at the start the 2021–2022 academic year.
86
The
segregation academy
John S. Mosby Academy
operated in
Front Royal, Virginia
from 1959 to 1969.
Mosby Woods subdivision in Fairfax City is also named in his honor.
The Mosby Woods Pool, located in the Mosby Woods subdivision, is named in his honor as is its swim team, the Mosby Woods Mustangs (formerly Mosby Woods Raiders), who compete in the Northern Virginia Swim League.
The US Postal Service refers to the branch office for zip code 22042 (in Northern Virginia's Falls Church area) as the Mosby Finance Unit.
Mosby Court, located in the Hillwood Estates subdivision of
Round Hill, Virginia
, remains named in his honor after residents there, in 2022, rejected Loudoun County's proposal to rename the cul-de-sac along with several other streets in the neighborhood (Early Avenue, Hampton Road, Jackson Avenue, Lee Drive, Longstreet Avenue, and Pickett Road) that were named or renamed after Confederate generals in the early 1960s.
87
The
World War II
Liberty Ship
SS
John S. Mosby
was named in his honor.
The U.S. Army Reserve Center located on Fort Belvoir, VA was previously named in his honor. The center was rededicated in honor of U.S. Army Reserve Staff Sergeant Richard S. Eaton Jr. in 2024.
In popular culture
edit
Herman Melville
's poem "The Scout Toward Aldie" was about the terror a Union brigade felt upon facing Mosby and his men. In part, the poem was based on Melville's experiences in the field with the 13th New York Cavalry and several of its officers who were alumni of Rutgers College.
88
A 1913 film entitled
The Pride of the South
, starred actor Joseph King as John Mosby.
In 1924
Carrie Stevens
of Maine created one of the most famous streamers for fly fishing which she called the
Gray Ghost
Virgil Carrington Jones published
Ranger Mosby
(1944), and
Gray Ghosts
and
Rebel Raiders
(1956). He also wrote the late-1950s television program,
The Gray Ghost
Science fiction author
H. Beam Piper
wrote a popular account of Mosby's life which was published in 1950 under the title "Rebel Raider".
89
CBS
Television produced
The Gray Ghost
during the 1957–58 television season. The show aired in syndication and starred
Tod Andrews
as Mosby during his Civil War exploits.
90
The 1967
Disney
television movie
Mosby's Marauders
starred
Kurt Russell
as a young Confederate serving under Mosby, portrayed by
Jack Ging
90
In the 1988
alternate history
novel
Gray Victory
author
Robert Skimin
depicts Mosby as the head of military intelligence after the Confederacy wins the Civil War. He defends his friend,
J.E.B. Stuart
, from a court of inquiry investigating Stuart's actions in the
battle of Gettysburg
. In the novel, Skimin portrays Mosby as more pro-slavery than was the case historically.
Mosby was the namesake of "The Gray Ghost (aka Simon Trent)", a character introduced in the 1992
Batman: The Animated Series
, episode "
Beware the Gray Ghost
," and voiced by
Adam West
. The character also took inspiration from the 1950s show about his war career, as well The Spirit, The Shadow, and other pulp adventurers.
There is a computer game based on Mosby's Civil War activities, by
Tilted Mill
, called "
Mosby's Confederacy
". (2008)
John S. Mosby got mentioned when
Ted Mosby
talked about famous people with his last name in
HIMYM
Colonel Mosby appears as a character in
Robert A. Heinlein
's
The Number of the Beast (novel)
in personae
a British military officer on Mars, cashiered upon questionable charges by a viceroy-general who, it will turn out, does not exist either.
There is a
Solitaire board wargame
based on Mosby's Civil War activities, by
Avalon Hill
, called "
Mosby's Raiders
".
See also
edit
American Civil War portal
Biography portal
Virginia portal
43rd Battalion of the Virginia Cavalry
, also known as "Mosby's Rangers"
Loudoun Rangers
, opponents of Mosby
Shenandoah River
, Mosby's cave, above Harper's Ferry
References
edit
Civil War Trust biography of Mosby
Dickstein, Corey (December 17, 2024).
"Judge dismisses lawsuit seeking return of Confederate 'Gray Ghost' to Ranger memorial at Fort Moore"
. Stars & Stripes
. Retrieved
January 6,
2025
Land, Clay.
"Opinion, THE NATIONAL RANGER MEMORIAL FOUNDATION, INC., Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, et al., Defendants"
casetext.com
. Archived from
the original
on January 6, 2025
. Retrieved
January 6,
2025
familysearch.org
Archived
December 12, 2008, at the
Wayback Machine
Mosby and Russell, pp. 6–7. Mosby made the statement to John S. Patton, who wrote in the
Baltimore Sun
about Mosby's difficulties at the University of Virginia.
Brinkley, John Luster.
On This Hill: A Narrative History of Hampden–Sydney College, 1774–1994.
Hampden–Sydney: 1994.
ISBN
1-886356-06-8
Jones, p. 20.
Bell, 2008, p. 101.
Siepel, 2008, pp. 22–24.
Mosby and Russell, pp. 7–8.
Ramage, pp. 20–24.
Bell, Griffin B., Cole, John P.
Footnotes to History: A Primer on the American Political Character.
Mercer University Press, 2008.
ISBN
0-865549-04-4
Tate, J.R..
Walkin' with the Ghost Whisperers.
Stackpole Books, 2006.
ISBN
0-811745-44-9
Wert, pp. 26–27.
Talbott, Tim.
"Beverly L. Clarke"
ExploreKYHistory
Kentucky Historical Society
. Retrieved
May 18,
2017
Ramage, pp. 28–30.
"St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church -- 271 Winchester St. Warrenton, VA 20186"
www.stjohntheevangelist.org
. Archived from
the original
on November 30, 2010.
Siepel, pp. 176-178
"Pauline Mosby - Civil War Women"
civilwarwomenblog.com
. October 13, 2009
. Retrieved
March 19,
2018
Longacre, p. 107.
Oakham NRIS p. 19
Wert, pp. 73–75.
Mosby account "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War" 1888 (Vol.III. pp.148–151)
Prison Life in the Old Capital.p.156
Mosby Story .p.175. When Mosby furnished an account of Stoughton's capture in "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War" 1888 (Vol.III. pp.148–151) He did not write of the spanking incident
John Scott in "Partisan Life with Col. John S. Mosby" (p.46) wrote "...With a rude
shake
Mosby roused him from his slumbers..."
Wert, pp. 20–22.
Wheeler, Linda (September 9, 2012),
"The rough and tough exploits of Confederate raider John Mosby"
The Washington Post
Allardice, p. 284.
John Scott "Partisan Life with Col. John S Mosby pp.84–86
Mosby War reminiscences p.142
The Rebellion Record 1863 pp.75–76
Peck, Garrett (2013).
The Smithsonian Castle and the Seneca Quarry
. Charleston, SC: The History Press. pp.
62–
65.
ISBN
978-1609499297
Smith, p. 17.
Engraving reproduced from Scott, p. 210. Scott refers to "Captain Mountjoy", but most references spell it "Montjoy".
Smith, p. 17; Wert, p. 209.
Neely, p. 79.
Boyle, p. 161.
Scott, p. 320 (quoting Overby).
Boyle, p. 155.
Boyle.
Scott, pp. 355–60.
Wert, pp. 244–48.
Wert, pp. 249–50.
Wert, pp. 252–54.
Smith, p. 17; Wert, p. 267;
"CivilWarAlbum.com"
Mosby Heritage Area Tour
. Mosby Heritage Area Association
. Retrieved
May 22,
2011
Kevin H. Siepel, Rebel: the life and times of John Singleton Mosby (New York, St. Martin's Press, 1983) pp. 147-154
Wert, pp. 287–90.
Siepel, pp. 154-155
See also Wert, p. 290; Allardyce p. 284, claims that he remained a fugitive until being arrested in January 1866, when his wife obtained a special pardon from General Grant.
Siepel, pp. 162, 165-66
Allardice, p. 284
Siepel, pp. 163-164, 182
Grant, vol. 2, p. 142.
John Mosby (May 9, 1907).
"Letter to Samuel Chapman"
. Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Archived from
the original
on December 12, 2013
. Retrieved
December 12,
2013
See generally Siepel pp. 190-202
Siepel p. 256
Siepel, pp. 207–208.
Siepel, pp. 207–210.
Siepel, pp. 209–212.
Siepel, pp. 217–221.
Siepel, pp. 225–227.
Siepel, p. 230.
Siepel, pp. 230–242.
Siepel, pp. 243–244.
Siepel pp. 245–248
"John Mosby and George Patton"
www.sonofthesouth.net
. Retrieved
March 19,
2018
Gibboney, Douglas Lee (September 20, 2017).
"The South Was My Country"
HistoryNet
. Retrieved
September 7,
2022
Siepel pp. 255–277
Kevin H. Siepel,
Rebel: The Life and Times of John Singleton Mosby
(New York, St. Martin's Press, 1983) pp. 263–270
"Nebraska State Historical Society"
Nebraska State Historical Society
. Archived from the original on December 7, 2006
. Retrieved
March 19,
2018
McKnight, p. 1369.
Siepel pp. 274–277
Wittenberg and Petruzzi, pp. 219–28.
Siepel p. 248
Siepel p. 284
Coski, John M. (2006).
The Confederate Battle Flag: America's Most Embattled Emblem
. Retrieved
July 1,
2015
Lozada, Carlos (June 19, 2015).
"How people convince themselves that the Confederate flag represents freedom, not slavery: Historian John M. Coski examines the fights over the symbol's meaning in 'The Confederate Battle Flag: America's Most Embattled Emblem.'
The Washington Post
. Retrieved
July 1,
2015
Mosby continued to admire and appreciate Grant, and was unrepentant about turning Republican, writing the year before his death that "my animosity toward the North has long passed away."
"Mosby, John Singleton (1833–1916)"
www.encyclopediavirginia.org
. Retrieved
March 19,
2018
"Letter, Assistant Attorney General John S. Mosby to Captain Sam Chapman"
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
. June 4, 1907. Archived from
the original
on November 12, 2013.
Hall, Clark B. "Bud" (2011).
"Letter to the Fauquier Times Democrat"
. Middleburg, Virginia. Archived from
the original
on May 18, 2011
. Retrieved
May 18,
2011
"Home"
Mosby Heritage Area
. Retrieved
March 19,
2018
"Pages Containing "mosby's rangers"
Historical Marker Database
. Retrieved
October 10,
2020
"Related Historical Markers"
Historical Marker Database
. Retrieved
October 10,
2020
"FCPS - School Profiles - Mosby Woods ES - School Profile Overview Page"
Fairfax County Public Schools
. Retrieved
October 10,
2020
"School Board Votes to Rename Mosby Woods Elementary School as Mosaic Elementary School | Fairfax County Public Schools"
www.fcps.edu
. Archived from
the original
on February 19, 2021.
LoudounNow (September 8, 2022).
"Round Hill Residents Win Petition to Keep Mosby Court Name"
Loudoun Now
. Retrieved
September 9,
2022
"Rutgers in the Civil War,"
Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries
Vol. 66 (2014), pages 99-100
Piper, H. Beam (December 1950).
"Rebel Raider"
. True: The Man's Magazine
. Retrieved
November 19,
2014
Mosby's Rangers on DVD
Archived
October 8, 2007, at the
Wayback Machine
Sources
edit
Allardice, Bruce S.
Confederate Colonels: A Biographical Register
. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2008.
ISBN
978-0-8262-1809-4
Barefoot, Daniel W.
Let Us Die Like Brave Men: Behind the Dying Words of Confederate Warriors
. Winston-Salem, NC: John F. Blair Publisher, 2005.
ISBN
978-0-89587-311-8
Bell, Griffin B.; John P. Cole.
Footnotes to History: A Primer on the American Political Character
. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2008.
ISBN
978-0-86554-904-3
Boyle, William E. "Under the Black Flag: Execution and Retaliation in Mosby's Confederacy",
Military Law Review
144 (Spring 1994): p. 148
ff
Crawford, J. Marshall.
Mosby and His Men
. New York: G. W. Carleton, 1867.
OCLC
25241469
Grant, Ulysses S.
Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant
. 2 vols. Charles L. Webster & Company, 1885–86.
ISBN
0-914427-67-9
Jones, Virgil Carrington.
Ranger Mosby
. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1944.
ISBN
0-8078-0432-0
Longacre, Edward G.
Lee's Cavalrymen: A History of the Mounted Forces of the Army of Northern Virginia
. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2002.
ISBN
0-8117-0898-5
McGiffin, Lee.
Iron Scouts of the Confederacy
. Arlington Heights, IL: Christian Liberty Press, 1993.
ISBN
1-930092-19-9
McKnight, Brian D. "John Singleton Mosby." In
Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History
, edited by David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000.
ISBN
0-393-04758-X
Mosby, John Singleton, and Charles Wells Russell.
The Memoirs of Colonel John S. Mosby
. New York: Little, Brown, and Company, 1917.
OCLC
1750463
Neely, Mark E.
The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties
. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.
ISBN
978-0-19-506496-4
Ramage, James A.
Gray Ghost: The Life of Col. John Singleton Mosby
. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2010.
ISBN
0-8131-2945-1
Ramage, James A.
Rebel Raider: The Life of General John Hunt Morgan
. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1986.
ISBN
0-8131-0839-X
Siepel, Kevin H.
Rebel: The Life and Times of John Singleton Mosby
, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2008.
ISBN
978-0-8032-1609-9
. First published 1983 by St. Martin's Press.
Smith, Eric.
Mosby's Raiders, Guerrilla Warfare in the Civil War
. New York: Victoria Games, Inc., 1985.
ISBN
978-0-912515-22-9
Wert, Jeffry D.
Mosby's Rangers: The True Adventure of the Most Famous Command of the Civil War
. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990.
ISBN
0-671-74745-2
Winik, Jay.
April 1865: The Month That Saved America.
New York: HarperCollins, 2006.
ISBN
978-0-06-089968-4
. First published 2001.
Wittenberg, Eric J., and J. David Petruzzi.
Plenty of Blame to Go Around: Jeb Stuart's Controversial Ride to Gettysburg
. New York: Savas Beatie, 2006.
ISBN
1-932714-20-0
The Home of The American Civil War: John Mosby
John Singleton Mosby "A Long And Stormy Career"
Further reading
edit
Alexander, John H.
Mosby's Men
. New York: Neale Publishing Company, 1907.
OCLC
297987971
Evans, Clement A.
, ed.
Confederate Military History: A Library of Confederate States History
. 12 vols. Atlanta: Confederate Publishing Company, 1899.
OCLC
833588
Goetz, David
(2012).
Hell is being a Republican in Virginia : the post-war relationship between John Singleton Mosby and Ulysses S. Grant
. Bloomington, Indiana: Xlibris.
ISBN
9781462890811
Mosby, John Singleton.
Mosby's Reminiscences and Stuart's Cavalry Campaigns
. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1887.
OCLC
26692400
Mosby, John Singleton.
Stuart's Cavalry in the Gettysburg Campaign
. New York: Moffat, Yard & Co., 1908.
OCLC
2219061
Munson, John W.
Reminiscences of a Mosby Guerrilla
. New York: Moffat, Yard, and Co., 1906.
OCLC
166633099
Scott, John.
Partisan Life with Col. John S. Mosby
. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1867.
OCLC
1305753
Williamson, James Joseph.
Mosby's Rangers: A Record of the Operations of the Forty-third Battalion Virginia Cavalry
. New York: Ralph B. Kenyon, 1896.
OCLC
17692024
External links
edit
Pauline Mosby
, Wife Of John Singleton Mosby
John S. Mosby
at Wikipedia's
sister projects
Media
from Commons
News
from Wikinews
Quotations
from Wikiquote
Texts
from Wikisource
Col. John Mosby and the Southern code of honor
University of Virginia
Typed carbon copy letter, signed. John Mosby to Eppa Hunton. November 18, 1909.
Mosby Heritage Area Association
Works by or about John S. Mosby
at the
Internet Archive
Works by John S. Mosby
at
LibriVox
(public domain audiobooks)
"Mosby, John Singleton"
Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography
. 1900.
"Mosby, John Singleton"
Encyclopædia Britannica
(11th ed.). 1911.
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