As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
I am going to explain something here in the intrigue of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, as the name of John Mosby or Mosby's Raiders are linked to the spies who carried out this intrigue, known to the Confederate government intelligence as much as foreign intrigue.
John Wilkes Booth actually was associated with the Raiders, but John Mosby was not associated with the assassins.
There is a difference.
Mosby in his memoirs explained a great deal with arrogance which justly suited him as all sorts of tales arose about him in being a terrorist, assassin or spy. The real story of John Mosby was that of a private in the Washington Regiment of Cavalry in Virginia. He tried to ship out to the infantry where his friends were, but that was denied and he ended up in Jeb Stuart's Cavalry.
By direction of God in his life, Mosby was selected adjectunct to Col. William Jones, but as the Cavalry was being revoted to leaders, Fitz Lee took command and Mosby was sent packing to the ranks.
He was a man who took initiative though and while losing his rank at Yorktown like Cornwallis, in the Cavalry covering their rear at Centerville in the Confederate repositioning, Mosby made a series of adept operations on the Union lines, and caught the attention of Jeb Stuart, who made him a Confederate Scout.
A Scout is not a spy and while the Union lines were filled with tales of some vagabond among their lines gathering intelligence, who became Kilroy was there in Mosby, the reality is John Mosby always wore his Confederate uniform and his rank.
As an example of his "mystique" a Union transport column reported that John Mosby and his raiders appeared, riding with them dressed in Union uniforms, and then stole the wagon train.
John Mosby explained that the fact was that the Union guards were all asleep and his Raiders simply made off with the wagons.
Soldiers not doing their duty invent some fanciful tales at headquarters or on guard to explain just how it was that the South was gaining intelligence or stealing supplies, when in reality it was in most cases some "trusted informant" or some sleeping on duty guard who were the problems.
After the Lincoln assassination, Secretary of War Stanton telegraphed General Hancock that Mosby had been seen at Ford's Theater. Mosby did have an alibi on the night of the assassination in it was General Hancock as Mosby was negotiating a truce with the General.
I would add that it was Stanton's "trusted informant" who was a Confederate double agent and who tried to get John Wilkes Booth employment as a spy in General Phil Sheridan's Shenandoah Division. Sheridan arrested both, but both men escaped while in transit.
John Mosby was one of the best Scouts in America. He was fortunate and being "lucky" is a great help in not being shot by some 10 year old with pappy's shotgun as you are taking a piss, as much as having a Union enemy which could not keep its eyes open on guard duty and its mouth shut at dinner in bragging about troop movements in front of the ladies.
I have stated that the reason the Confederate Cavalry was so brilliant, was not so much Jeb Stuart, but the Union kept the Cavalry on guard duty and following transports. Of course Gen. Stuart was going to look brilliant when never being contested. The Union Infantry had a low opinion of Cavalry so it did not use it until General Sheridan took command. Sheridan immediately whooped and killed Jeb Stuart.
Again that does not mean that Stuart was inept, but that Stuart in dealing with idiots in the Union for years, was not prepared for a change of tactics which Sheridan engulfed him with.
John Mosby was on edge, as being a Scout and hunted a great deal, he was always on guard.
Legend status helps when one has numbers of idiots who are lazy and braggarts doing your reputation an inflation which is beyond your abilities. The South in Robert E. Lee was not so spectacular, but it for years faced sympathizers and idiots in the Union Army who did not utilize resources or simply were afraid.
That is the legend of John Mosby. He was just a good Scout like Kit Carson, Buffalo Bill Cody and George Custer.
John Mosby to his Commander, General Jeb Stuart:
"The result up to this time has been the capture of twenty-eight Yankee cavalry together with all their horses, arms, etc. The evidence of parole I forward with this. I have also paroled a number of deserters.
Col. Sir Percy Wyndham, with over two hundred cavalry, came up to Middleburg last week to punish me, as he said, for my raids on his picket line. I had a slight skirmish with him, in which my loss was three men, captured by the falling of their horses; the enemy's loss, one man and three horses captured. He set a very nice trap a few days ago to catch me in.
I went into it, but, contrary to the Colonel's expectations, brought the trap off with me, killing one, capturing twelve, the balance running. The extent of the annoyance I have been to the Yankees may be judged of by the fact that, baffled in their attempts to capture me, they threaten to retaliate on citizens for my acts."
- Mosby's war reminiscences and Stuart's cavalry campaigns
It was the legend of John Mosby which hid his brilliance in thinking out of the box. His greatest successes came with Jeb Stuart and his greatest foe was not the Union but Fitz Lee of the South who was complaining Mosby had a few men of Lee's making raids.
"Fitz Lee complained of his men being with me, and so I had to send them back to him. But while I had them I kept things lively and humming. I made many raids on the cavalry outposts, capturing men, arms, and horses. Old men and boys had joined my band. Some had run the gauntlet of Yankee pickets, and others swam the Potomac to get to me. Most men love the excitement of lighting, but abhor the drudgery of camps. I mounted, armed and equipped my command at the expense of the United States government.
There was a Confederate hospital in Middleburg, where a good many wounded Confederate soldiers had been left during our Maryland campaign a few months before. These were now convalescent. I utilized them. They would go down to Fairfax on a raid with me, and then return to the hospital. When the Federal cavalry came in pursuit, they never suspected that the cripples they saw lying on their couches or hobbling about on crutches were the men who created the panic at night in their camps. At last I got one of the cripples killed, and that somewhat abated their ardor."
Yes talk about a real Hogan's Heroes not of Hollywood, but of John Mosby in when the South refused him men and arms, he simply used captured Confederates in hospital and Father Abraham was equipping his raids from Union stores.
Fact is actually better than the legend of John Mosby.
"One day I rode down on a scout in sight of the dome of the Capitol, when a wagon came along, going to Washington, which was driven by the wife of a Union man who had left his home in Virginia and taken refuge there.
I stopped it, and, after some conversation with the driver, told her who I was.
With a pair of scissors she had I cut off a lock of my hair and sent it to Mr. Lincoln, with a message that I was coming to get one of his soon. A few days after this, I saw in the Star that it had been delivered to him, and that the President enjoyed the joke."
John Singleton Mosby, John Singleton
agtG
