CALICO AND CAKE

Things weren’t shaping up for a joyful Fourth of July in 1864, at least for the Union war effort. The presidential election loomed four months in the future and Lincoln’s reelection appeared to be very much in doubt, and Lt. Gen. Jubal Early’s Confederate force was nearing the Potomac River, poised for a third Confederate incursion into Maryland. Dark times seemed to be on the North’s horizon.

Lieutenant Colonel John Singleton Mosby’s Rangers had already provided many dark times for the Union soldiers guarding Northern Virginia and the approaches to Washington, D.C., since they dashed onto the scene in early 1863. Throughout his 27 months of operating in the area, Mosby clung to the belief that his success should not be measured “by the number of prisoners and material of war from the enemy, but by the heavy detail it has already compelled him to make.” In other words, by diverting thousands of troops to guard against his escapades. In order to continue increasing the “heavy detail” of the enemy’s forces, and force the Union to move around troops, Mosby often picked soft targets—lightly defended camps and outposts—to aid the Confederate cause.

In this regard, Mosby hoped to aid Early’s northern thrust. On July 2, 1864, as Early neared Harpers Ferry, Mosby and Sergeant Fount Beattie, one of Mosby’s oldest comrades, learned from a member of Early’s staff about the general’s progress and his intentions to threaten Washington, D.C. Immediately, Mosby