Mosby's Rangers: A Record of the Operations of the Forty-Third Battalion Virginia Cavalry, from its Organization to the Surrender

By James Joseph Williamson

James J. Williamson was one of Mosby’s Rangers, so this is a memoir as well as the story of Mosby’s command.
While this is in no way an objective account, it’s still a necessary read for anyone who wants to study John S. Mosby and his men. Williamson also provides correspondence and extracts from the Official Records for both sides and contains interesting stories about some very colorful individuals.
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Press
• Release date: May 20, 2019
• ISBN: 9788834115961

Book preview

J.

CHAPTER I

Why I Joined Mosby — Imprisoned in the Old Capitol at Washington— Sent to the Parole Camp near Petersburg and Exchanged — I set out to find Mosby— My First Sight of Him — Brief Sketch of his Life — Mosby a Prisoner — Promoted to a Captaincy in the C. S. A. — Mosby’s First Detail— Who Mosby’s Men Were— How they Lived and How they Fought — Regulars vs. Partisans — Guerrillas and Bushwhackers — Jessie Scouts — Tributes to Mosby and his Men— General Grant’s Opinion of Mosby— Mosby’s Tactics

Early in the spring of 1863, after an imprisonment of some months in the Old Capitol, at Washington, which had been converted into a political prison, the writer was sent, together with a number of others, via Fortress Monroe and City Point, to the Parole Camp at Model Farm Barracks, near Petersburg, where we were detained about two weeks until exchanged.

Among the acquaintances I had made in prison were six young men who, like myself, being denied the privilege of returning to their homes, had determined to unite their fortunes with Captain Mosby, who was then making a reputation by his dashing and successful exploits. The injustice of my imprisonment and the arbitrary and partisan oath offered me as a condition of release, alienated or rather hardened my feelings, so that I readily joined this party, and together we started in search of the daring ranger.

Journeying from Petersburg to Gordonsville by railroad, we proceeded thence on foot through the country to that portion of Virginia occupied by Mosby.

When we reached the little town of Upperville, in Fauquier County, we learned there was to be a meeting of Mosby’s Men at that place on the following day. So after a night’s rest and breakfast in the morning, we walked out through the town and saw them coming in from various directions.

Soon I beheld Mosby himself. From the accounts which I had heard and read of him, I expected to see a man such as novelists picture when describing some terrible brigand chief. I was therefore somewhat surprised when one of my companions pointed to a rather slender, but wiry looking young man of medium height, with light hair, keen eyes and pleasant expression, who was restlessly walking up and down the street, and said: There is Mosby.

I could scarcely believe that the slight frame before me could be that of the man who had won such military fame by his daring.

John Singleton Mosby was born at Edgemont, Powhatan County, Virginia, December 6, 1833. His father was Alfred D. Mosby, of Amherst County, and his mother, Virginia I., daughter of Rev. Mr. McLaurin, an Episcopal minister. He graduated at the University of Virginia, and began the study of law. After completing his studies he settled in Bristol, a small town on the boundary line of Virginia and Tennessee, where he successfully practiced his profession. He married Miss Pauline Clarke, daughter of Hon. Beverly J. Clarke, of Kentucky, formerly United States Minister to Central America, and at one time a Member of Congress.

At the commencement of the war Mosby was engaged in the practice of law. He entered the army as a private in a cavalry company, the Washington Mounted Rifles, commanded by Capt. William E. Jones (afterwards General Jones). This company was incorporated in the First Regiment Virginia Cavalry, Captain Jones being promoted to the command, and Mosby was appointed Adjutant of the regiment. By the reorganization of the regiment Colonel Jones was thrown out, and consequently his adjutant relieved of duty. Mosby was then chosen by Gen. J. E. B. Stuart as an independent scout.

He was the first to make the circuit of the Federal Army while in front of Richmond, thereby enabling General Stuart to make his celebrated raid around the entire army of General McClellan, on which occasion Mosby went as guide.

Feeling that there was a wide field for the successful career as a partisan which he had mapped out for himself, Mosby urged General Stuart to give him a small detail of men with which to operate until he could enlist a command. While he met with a refusal of this request, he was given a letter recommending him to General Jackson, then in the vicinity of Gordonsville.

It happened that Gen. Rufus King, who was in command of the Federal forces at Fredericksburg at this time, was ordered by General Pope to send out a raiding party for the purpose of destroying as much as possible the Virginia Central Railroad, and so interrupt communication between Richmond and the Valley. Mosby encountered this party near Beaver Dam, was captured by the Second New York Cavalry, Harris Light, Col. J. Mansfield Davies, and sent as a prisoner to Washington.

After his release from the Old Capitol, and while on the prison transport awaiting exchange, Mosby saw the transports bringing Burnside’s forces from the South, and learned from conversations on board the prison boat that the troops were destined for Fredericksburg to unite with Pope; then on the Rapidan, and not to reinforce McClellan. As soon as the exchange was effected, Mosby hastened to Richmond and imparted this information to General Lee, who immediately dispatched a courier to General Jackson. The result was the battle of Cedar Mountain.

How well Mosby performed his duty as a scout is shown by the following:

"Special Order No. 82.

"His Excellency the President has pleased to show his appreciation of the good services and many daring exploits of the gallant John S. Mosby by promoting the latter to a captaincy in the Provisional Army of the Confederate States.

"The General commanding is confident that this manifestation of the approbation of his superiors will but serve to incite Captain Mosby to still greater efforts to advance the good of the cause in which we are engaged. He will at once proceed to organize his command as indicated in the letter of instructions this day furnished to him from this Headquarters.

"By command of General R. E. Lee:

W. W. TAYLOR, A. A. G.

The winter of 1863, about the time Mosby was budding into notoriety, was a season of remarkable activity for the Confederate cavalry. Their bold and successful raids and daring attacks and surprises had filled the breasts of the young cavaliers with most romantic visions and ardent de sires to enter upon this life of wild adventure. Stuart’s brilliant achievements, General Imboden’s forays in the Shenandoah Valley, Fitzhugh Lee on the Rappahannock, Gen. William E. Jones attack and rout of Milroy’s Cavalry in the Valley, the daring raids of Major E. V. White and his Loudoun Rangers along the Potomac, and the dashes of Captain Randolph, with his famous Black Horse Cavalry, furnished material for stories which read like the deeds of heroes of romance, and charmed the little groups around the firesides of cabin and hall.

At first a few men from the First Regiment Virginia Cavalry were detailed to act with Mosby, but he soon succeeded in obtaining a sufficient number of volunteers, and the detailed men were then, with a few exceptions, sent back to their commands.

Mosby’s Men, when not on duty, were mostly scattered through the counties of Loudoun and Fauquier. There were few indeed, even among the poorest mountaineers, who would refuse shelter and food to Mosby’s Rangers.

Having no camps, they made their homes at the farm houses, especially those along the Blue Ridge and Bull Run Mountains. Certain places would be designated at which to meet, but if no time or place had been named at a former meeting, or if necessary to have the command together before a time appointed, couriers were despatched through the country and the men thus notified.

Scouts were out at all times in Fairfax, or along the Potomac, or in the Shenandoah Valley. Whenever an opening was seen for successful operations, couriers were sent from headquarters and in a few hours a number of well-mounted and equipped men were at a prescribed rendezvous ready to surprise a picket, capture a train or attack a camp or body of cavalry. After a raid the men scattered, and to the Federal cavalry in pursuit it was like chasing a Will-o’-the-Wisp.

The command was composed chiefly of young men from Fairfax and the adjoining counties, with some Marylanders, many of whom had been arrested and imprisoned or had suffered injuries and injustice at the hands of the Federal government or the invading army. It was the custom of many Federal officers to retaliate upon defenseless citizens for injuries inflicted upon them by Confederate soldiers, and can any one feel surprised at Mosby’s Men taking up arms to protect themselves or to avenge their wrongs?

A large number lived in that portion of Virginia and Maryland where Mosby was operating, and naturally preferred serving with him, as they were kept nearer home and could enjoy the privilege of seeing their families.

There was always a little jealousy existing between the cavalry and infantry, many of whom lost no opportunity of having a thrust at their rivals. Illustrative of this ran the old joke of the day which will be remembered by the survivors of the war:

An old straggling infantryman, trudging wearily on the road, was overtaken by a cavalryman riding briskly along, who called out:

Hurry up there, old web-foot; the Yankees are coming.

Did you see ‘em, Mister? queried the infantryman.

Yes; they are coming on right behind us, replied the trooper.

Say, Mister, wus your hoss lame, or wus your spurs broke? retorted the web-foot.

So also the regular cavalry, viewing the comparative freedom of the life of the Partisan Ranger in contrast with the dull routine and more rigid discipline of camp life, sometimes gave vent to their feelings, and half in jest and half in earnest would banter the Rangers, calling them Carpet Knights or Feather-bed Soldiers — but when a sacrifice was required, the Carpet Knights shed their blood and gave up their lives as freely as did the Knights of old in the palmiest days of chivalry.

The sabre was no favorite with Mosby’s men — they looked upon it as an obsolete weapon — and very few carried carbines. In the stillness of the night the clanking of the sabres and the rattle of the carbines striking against the saddles could be heard for a great distance, and would often betray us when moving cautiously in the vicinity of the Federal camps. We sometimes passed between camps but a few hundred yards apart. We would then leave the hard roads where the noise of the horses’ hoofs would attract attention and, marching through the grassy fields, take down bars or fences and pass quietly through. The carbine was for long range shooting. With us the fighting was mostly at close quarters and the revolver was then used with deadly effect.

I well remember on one occasion, when falling back before the Federal advance on the Little River Turnpike, alternately halting and retreating, the monotony varied only by an occasional long range shot, brave, bluff Lieut. Harry Hatcher impatiently exclaimed to a superior officer: If you are going to fight, fight; and if you are going to run, run; but quit this d—n nonsense.

Regarding the custom of our Northern brethren, when speaking of Mosby’s Men, to use the terms guerrillas, bushwhackers, freebooters, and the like, I will only say that Mosby’s command was regularly organized and mustered into the Confederate service on the same footing with other troops, except that being organized under the Partizan Ranger Law, an act passed by the Confederate Congress, they were allowed the benefit of the law applying to Maritime prizes. All cattle and mules were turned over to the Confederate Government, but horses captured were distributed among the men making the capture. When it is borne in mind that the men had to arm, equip and support themselves, this did not leave a very heavy surplus, as we received but little aid from the government. The Greenback Raid was the only one that brought in any great return, and there were only about eighty men who reaped the benefit of it, as the proceeds of a capture went directly to the men making it. The acquisition of arms and accoutrements, or even horses, did not make the men wealthy. Wagons and supplies were destroyed, though of course the men were allowed to appropriate anything they chose before destroying the captured stores.

Mosby was acting under direct orders of General Stuart up to the time of his death, and then under General Lee, and was independent only in the sense that both Lee and Stuart had such confidence in him that they permitted him to act on his own discretion. In fact it would have been folly to hamper him with orders or place him under restrictions when he was so far separated from the main army, and at times so situated that he could with difficulty communicate with his superiors.

It has been charged that Mosby’s Men went in the disguise of Federal soldiers. Such was not the case. They never masqueraded in the uniforms of Federals, except that through force of circumstances men at times wore blue overcoats captured by them from Federal cavalry. This was done because they could get no others. The Confederate government did not, or could not at all times provide proper clothing, and our soldiers were compelled to wear these to protect themselves from the cold. Rubber blankets were common to both armies and when one was worn it completely hid the uniform.

The Jessie Scouts of the Federal army, however, will be well remembered by the soldiers of both armies. They dressed in the regular Confederate uniform, which they wore for the purpose of deceiving our men.

Dr. Monteiro, in his very entertaining volume of reminiscences of Mosby’s command, says:

Every man knew that the slightest suspicion of dishonesty or cowardice would consign him at once to the disgrace of expulsion; and although there must have been the usual modicum of human meanness always found in a given number of human beings, I am enabled to say after three years of active field service in the regular army that I have never witnessed amongst eight hundred men and officers more true courage and chivalry, or a higher sense of honor blended with less vice, selfishness and meanness than I found during my official intercourse with the Partisan Battalion.

To this I will add a tribute, which will certainly be regarded as unprejudiced. In the Life of Gen. Sheridan, on page 314, in speaking of old rosters, the author says:

"But one of the most remarkable of Confederate cavalrymen is never named in these rosters. Yet he held, having won it fairly, the commission of Colonel. John S. Mosby, the partisan leader of Northern Virginia, deserves a place in any reference to the doings and deeds of the Confederate troopers. He deserves it because he is a man of character enough to win the respect of his foe, and since the war closed to have induced General Grant to write of him as follows, after having appointed him Consul to Hong Kong: ‘Since the close of the war I have come to know Mosby personally and somewhat intimately. He is a different man entirely from what I supposed. He is slender, not tall, wiry, and looks as if he could endure any amount of physical exercise. He is able and thoroughly honest and truthful. There were probably but few men in the South who could have commanded successfully a separate detachment in the rear of an opposing army, and so near the borders of hostilities as long as he did without losing his entire command.’ (Grant’s Memoirs, Vol. 11, p. 142.)

"Perhaps nothing will illustrate Mosby’s intelligence as a soldier and the amount he accomplished better than his own statement of the theory upon which he acted as a partisan leader, and the recognition of his services in that capacity which he received from his superiors. Of the first. Colonel Mosby says that he was never a spy, and that his warfare was always such as the laws of war allow. He epitomizes his theory of action as follows: ‘As a line is only as strong as its weakest point, it was necessary for it to be stronger than I was at every point in order to resist my attacks.’

… 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 plans by capturing dispatches, are the objects of partisan warfare… The military value of a partisan’s work is not measured by the amount of property destroyed, or the number of men killed or captured, but’ by the number he keeps watching. Every soldier withdrawn from the front to guard the rear of an army is so much taken from its fighting strength.

After Mosby had attracted attention by his daring achievements, men came from all parts of the country to join him. Officers resigned positions in the regular army and came to Mosby to serve as privates; even the famed armies of the Old World were not without representatives in his ranks. Although a dangerous service, there was a fascination in the life of a Ranger; the changing scenes, the wild adventure, and even the dangers themselves exerted a seductive influence which attracted many to the side of the dashing partisan chief.

An Austrian General speaking of Napoleon I., said indignantly:

This beardless youth ought to have been beaten over and over again; for whoever saw such tactics? The blockhead knows nothing of the rules of war. To-day he is in our rear, to-morrow in our flank and the next day in our front. Such gross violations of the established principles of war are in sufferable.

But Napoleon was generally successful. Mosby, disregarding established rules, fought upon a principle which his enemies could neither discover nor guard against. He was in their front, in their rear, on their flank at one place to day, and to-morrow in their camps at a point far distant. By his enemies he was thought to be almost ubiquitous. What he lacked in numbers he compensated for by the celerity of his movements and the boldness of his attacks. He generally fought against odds often great odds; seldom waited to receive a charge, but nearly always sought to make the attack.

A Federal officer whom we captured when Meade’s army followed Lee into Virginia after the battle of Gettysburg, said: Yesterday I heard our cavalry were chasing you in our front, and who would expect to find you this morning in the very midst of our army?

CHAPTER II

March, 1863 — Raid on Fairfax Court-House — Captain Walter E. Frankland’s Reminiscences of his early days with Mosby and Account of his Trip to the Camp of the Fifth New York Cavalry with Sergeant Ames (Big Yankee) — Colonel Mosby’s Graphic Description of the Raid and Capture of General Stoughton— Report of the Federal Provost Marshal at Fairfax Court-House— General Stuart’s Complimentary Order — Mosby Promoted to the rank of Major

Mosby’s growing fame was greatly increased by the capture of Brigadier-General Stoughton, at Fairfax Court-House, on the night of March 8, 1863. This bold enterprise was effected by Mosby, who penetrated the Federal lines with 29 men and succeeded in bringing off his captures without loss or injury.

The raid on Fairfax Court-House and capture of General Stoughton was accomplished a short time previous to my joining Mosby, but being one of the most important events in the history of our command, I make it a prominent feature.

Capt. Walter E. Frankland has given me the following very interesting narrative, embracing reminiscences of his first days with Mosby, the desertion of Sergeant Ames (Big Yankee) and the particulars of his visit to the camp of the Fifth New York Cavalry in company with Ames, which occurred just one week prior to and suggested the capture of General Stoughton:

Captain Walter E. Frankland’s Narrative.

Having served as private in the Warrenton Rifles, Co. K, Seventeenth Virginia Infantry, from Sunday, April 21st, 1861, until late in 1862, when I was honorably discharged at Richmond, where I had been on detached duty in the Provost Marshal’s Office several months, I started with a friend, George Whitescarver, to join Col. E. V. White’s Cavalry, then in Loudoun. After spending several weeks among his relatives in Upper Fauquier, Whitescarver and I, about February 10, 1863, were joined at Salem (now Marshall) by Joseph H. Nelson, and at sundown that evening we three drew up at the hospitable home of James H. Hathaway. A little later in the evening a lone horseman, Frank Williams, rode up, and was also welcomed to its cordial entertainment. I little dreamed that the life-ties born at that supper table, where most of us first met, were destined to bind us through scenes of blood and years of strife and peace.

We four — Nelson and Williams mounted, Whitescarver and myself afoot — resolved to go together to Loudoun and fulfill my original purpose, when, for the first time, we were told by Mr. Hathaway of a private scout named Mosby, who had made several successful attacks on the Federal pickets with a detail of fifteen men of Stuart’s Cavalry; and they were to meet the next day at Rector’s X Roads to make another raid. At Mr. Hathaway’s earnest suggestion we concluded to see Mosby the next day before joining White’s command.

We set out after an early breakfast and reached the rendezvous in time to see Mosby, who was then but a private in rank with a dozen men (part of his detail having been captured), but who was destined to prove the most remarkable, indomitable and successful warrior in that line developed by the great Civil War, or known in American history. I was made spokesman, and soon we arranged to join him as his own men, being his first four.

Frank Williams and Joseph Nelson, having horses of their own, accompanied Mosby on that raid, and as Mosby was to mount Whitescarver and myself from his captures, we secured quarters at the very retired little cottage of a poor widow named Rutter. There we awaited Mosby’s return, but to be disappointed by his failure to bring us horses, so Whitescarver borrowed one and went on the next — the Ox Road — raid, leaving me on February 25th.

Just before they rode off, a Yankee deserter, Sergeant James F. Ames, of the Fifth New York Cavalry (afterwards known as Big Yankee), came walking up and wanted to join Mosby. No one gave any credence to his story, but I took him with me to the old widow’s house, where we slept and ate together several days and nights. He impressed me as a true man, assuring me he had deserted on account of the Emancipation Proclamation, which, he said, showed that the war had become a war for the Negro instead of a war for the Union.

Mosby’s raid proved futile as to mounting me, for the captures were divided among the participants. Ames had so far gained my confidence that I had arranged with him, and we had prepared our arms to make a trip to his late camp at Germantown to supply ourselves with horses.

The day after Mosby’s return we two started from the old widow’s house, near Rector’s X Roads, February 28th, 1863, for a thirty miles walk to the camp of the Fifth New York Cavalry, at Germanton, about two miles from Fairfax Court House. Before we reached Middleburg a heavy rain was falling and when we turned into the Old Braddock road below Aldie, which we took for privacy, the mud was deep and slippery, like putty. We pushed on, making slow progress, our boots heavy with mud and clothing saturated, and when Saturday night came only half our journey was accomplished, the darkness intense and the rain pouring down. We begged quarters for the night on the roadside several miles from Cub Run, and from there resumed our trip after an early hot breakfast, before day on Sunday morning, March 1st.

Leaving the Old Braddock road we crossed the field and entered the woods in which we soon came to Cub Run on a boom. Every crossing log was gone, so we improvised a raft of fence rails, which the whirling torrent drove to pieces just as it struck the other bank. But it had served our purpose and we were safe and at liberty to pursue our mission. We then took our way leisurely, as we had all day in which to make twelve or fifteen miles, as we wanted twilight to cover our near approach to the camp and caution was necessary lest the Federal scouts or trespassing parties might detect us and defeat our purpose.

We learned from citizens that a raid to capture Mosby was about to be made, and by 7 p. m. when we reached the little pine cliff at the rear of the Fifth New York Camp at Germantown, we found the regiment all astir with preparation. It was Sunday night, March 1st, and we watched their movements from our admirable position. When taps sounded all quieted down. The clouds were gone, the moon shone brightly and we could see the sentinel pacing to and fro, guarding the officers’ horses, our object, but the camp was restless and every now and then others, besides the guard, could be seen moving about, so we waited for the dead hour to come. At midnight the bugle sounded, and the horses were saddled up, including the two we had come after.

About two hundred men from the Fifth New York and Eighteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry formed on the Little River turnpike and marched off, commanded by Major Joseph Gilmer of the latter regiment. We waited until the sounds of the cavalry horses died away and then deliberately walked to the middle of the camp and talked freely to the guard, who never suspected us, even when we walked into two of the stalls he was guarding, bridled two of the horses, mounted them in his presence, and rode away in a walk.

We hoped to reach Mosby before the raiding party, but stiff mud roads were too much for us, and before we succeeded in rejoining him, Mosby with a few men had surprised the First Vermont in Aldie (after they, the Vermonters, had scared Major Gilmer and his two hundred men into a most disgraceful retreat of ten miles) capturing Captain Huntoon, 19 men and 23 horses.

Thus, after vainly waiting about two weeks for Mosby to mount me— the captured horses each time being only sufficient for the men who were on the raids — I had, accompanied and guided by Ames, penetrated the Federal lines to the camp of the Fifth New York Cavalry at Germantown, within two miles of Fairfax Court House, walking thirty miles to accomplish it, in order to mount myself. The success of this enterprise demonstrated the feasibility of passing in between their camps, evading their pickets and far within their lines quietly executing a purpose without causing an alarm.

Mosby’s quick perception turned this to good account by arranging at once to strike deep for some great achievement, and just one week after my success of Sunday, March 1st, Mosby, with twenty-nine of us, on Sunday, March 8th, undertook and successfully executed an enterprise which made him and his command renowned, and brought to his standard hundreds of brave spirits who possessed the very metal he needed to build with, and who were in every way worthy of their illustrious leader. It was the capture of General Stoughton.

The best account of the raid and capture of General Stoughton obtainable is the following article, from the able pen of Mosby himself, as published in the Belford Magazine in 1892:

One of My War Adventures.

About February 1st, 1863, I began operating on the outposts of the troops belonging to the defense of Washington that were stationed in Fairfax and Loudon counties, Virginia. I had with me a detachment of fifteen men from the First Virginia Cavalry, which Stuart had allowed to go with me while his cavalry corps was in winter quarters. As I had camped several months in Fairfax the year before, and done picket duty along the Potomac, I had acquired considerable local knowledge of the country. By questioning the prisoners I took, separately and apart from each other, I had learned the location of the camps and the headquarters of the principal officers. I had been meditating a raid on Fairfax Court House, where I knew there were many rich prizes, when fortunately Ames, a deserter from the Fifth New York Cavalry, came to my command and supplied all the missing links in the chain of evidence. Whenever we made any captures the prisoners were sent under guard to Culpeper. Court House, where Fitz Lee was stationed with a brigade of cavalry. Stuart was then in the vicinity of Fredericksburg. I have heretofore related the affair with Major Gilmer and the First Vermont Cavalry, which occurred on March 2d. As it was necessary to make a detail from the men serving with me to guard the prisoners that were sent to Culpeper, I had to wait several days for them to return before undertaking another enterprise. Gilmer’s expedition into our territory had been so disastrous that the Union cavalry seemed to be content to stay in camp and let us alone. On the afternoon of March 8th, the anniversary of the day that my regiment (First Virginia Cavalry) had the year before crossed Bull Run as the rear guard covering the retirement of Johnson’s army to Richmond, twenty-nine men met me at Aldie, in Loudon county, the appointed rendezvous. My recollection of events is refreshed by my report to Stuart, written three days afterwards, which is printed in the official records by the Government. I did not communicate my purpose of making a raid on the headquarters of the commanding general at Fairfax Court House to any of the men except Ames, and not to him until we started.

The men thought we were simply going down to make an attack on a picket post. It was