Transcripts For CSPAN3 The Civil War 20240622

John singleton mosby was born in 1833 new richmond, virginia. He grew to be of medium height and flight of weight. His spare complexion and delicate features revealed nothing unusual about him. He was frail as a child and spend his time reading and studying books, but rode his horse daily to school. His small stature led to him being picked on by the other kids. Mosby never backs down from a fight. At the age of 17, he entered the university of virginia. All studying greek and mathematics, he encountered an incident that would affect him for the rest of his life. In his third year, he encountered a fellow student by the name of george turpin, who had a habit of bullying others and set his sights on young mosby. When mosby heard turpin was looking to eat him up raw mosby pick of a pistol in his defense. When turpin came after mosby, turbine charged, mosby shot him and in and nearly killed him. He asked the prosecutor for his law books, which he leant tom mosby, who spent his time in jail reading them. He received a pardon and later passed the bar becoming a lawyer. And he again learned never to back down from a fight. In 1855 at the age of 22, he opened a law practice in the town of bristol in southwestern virginia near the tennessee border near his girlfriend pauline, whom he married in 1857. The omens of war, however had begun to pervade talk in a small town of bristol as it had many of the small towns in the south. Most of the favorite mosby favored state rights, but he was not in favor of secession. He noticed militia units were mobilizing for protection should it come to that, but he himself was not interested. Focusing on building his practice to support his young family, mosby rode to the nearby town of abingdon on a weekly basis to handle court cases bear. It was there that a friend from his college days asked him if he would consider joining the cavalry unit for the towns defense. Mosby replied, you can put my name on the role, although he thought no further of it and skip the meeting for the organization of the company. He did borrow a horse and attend the first drill, as it coincided with a court date in january of 1861. His friend told him he was not impressed, telling mosby that he made a slouchy rider and did not seem to take any interest in his military duties and made a rather indifferent soldier. Mosby said he was correct as he felt no concern about the imminence of war. The election of president lincoln in 1860, however, had served to inflate long simmering tensions of distrust between north and the south. Mosby also could not help but notice the evergrowing racial divide in those around him as well. While his father was a slaveholder, mosby himself was never in favor of the institution. He did have a servant named aaron, who would service them throughout the war, but after the war, mosby took care of him for the rest of his life. Following the surrender at fort sumter in a call to arms from president lincoln, virginias vote to secession finally confirmed mosbys mind on the issue of states rights especially his own state was the rights. States rights. He wrote a letter to a friend after the war saying, 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 court he fights in. The south is my country. After mosby joined the Confederate Army, he eventually came under the command of jobs toeb stewart as a member of the first confederate calvary. He spent the fall and winter of that year for trolling Northern Virginia on the front lines under stewart, reading all he could about military tactics and strategy. As the Confederate Army was pulling out of Northern Virginia stewaruart rode up to mosby and asked if the union army was following them. Mosby left at the opportunity, finding scouting much more favorable. The union army in this case was not following them as the Confederate Army moved south. Later in june, as the confederate and union armies fought on the outskirts of richmond and what became known as the sevenday campaign, stuart called on mosby once again to scout out the location of the union army. Mosby relished the order, and after mosby successfully conducted his scouts, stuart himself decided to ride out and discover the exact position of the entire union armys of that general robert e lee would find an advantage in attacking them. Stuart and 1200 cavalry men then rode over 100 miles, completely around the union army in three days. Stuart became a hero and famous throughout the south for his ride around the con around mcclellan. It would not be long until mosby became famous as well. In late december of 1862, the Confederate Army was camped along the river south of fredericksburg. Mosbys rating has been reduced to two scouring the countryside for chickens, turkeys, ham sweet potatoes, water, and eggs for Christmas Eve festivities. On christmas morning, however, stuart and outsource for 1800 men to saddle up and write to the city of washington to disrupt the armys communications and i supply lines. Despite the snow and icy wind, mosby was glad to relieve the monotony. He had started to ask his commander to form a small independent guerrilla command, but he was unsuccessful in gaining stuarts approval. The raiders took into dumfries and into brooke station in Northern Virginia where stuart commandeered and sent a telegraph to washington, complaining about the fourth the poor quality of the mules that he had captured. Stating interferes seriously with the movement of captured wagons. Stuart traveled as far north of what is now fairfax, and in traveling farther west to the Little Village of herndon to call in some old friends, where he stop at the house of the reckless family, of whom laura wright clip was one of the daughters who had nurse to some of his wounded men after the nearby battle of drains really previous year. Now, colonel stuart was known to stay in the p and the houses of those that the prettiest daughters as he traveled, and laura fit the bill. As they are getting ready to leave, laura spoke up saying, it is a shame you cannot stay longer, general, it is hard on us living in conquered territory under enemy rule. Stuart thought for a while and replied, you are such good southern people throughout this section, i think you deserve some protection. I shall leave cap in mosby with a few men to take care of you until we can return with victory. I want you to do all you can for him. He is a great favorite of mine and a brave soldier and we shall soon hear something surprising from him. Mosby realized for the first time that he is about to begin the opportunity to do something he really wanted, to lead an independent command and conquer territory in conquered territory in enemy rule. Stuart left mosby behind with nine men. Much of the area in Northern Virginia, to the west of washington in alexandria, would become known as mosbys confederacy. Close to 2000 men would become known as mosbys rangers and mosby himself would become known as the gray ghost. Now to talk about some of mosbys men i would like to introduce mr. Eric buckland. [applause] eric thank you chuck. There is no doubt that mosby was an exceptional leader. Intelligence fearless, imaginative, innovative in all that he did, but i am firmly convinced that there would not be the mosby that we know today had it not been for the men that rode with him, so i would like to talk briefly about two of those men this evening. The first is William Benjamin ben palmer. Ben was 19 years old when he left the military institute in 1863 to join mosby. John alexander in his book mosbys men said that ben palmer was so polite that he was apologized that he apologize for his rudeness when he was shooting one of the enemies. He showed something to mosby because within a year, mosby handpicked him to become one of his subordinate officers. He became a lieutenant under mosby. Palmer is the kind of officer i respect your he would not ask is meant to do something that he himself would not do. In the september 1864 fight gold farm in the valley, palmer had a small detachment of rangers. The rangers as a group are engaged with the calvary, and palmer took a small detachment to get around the flank of the Union Calvary, to try to attack them from the side. They came to the gate as they were making the movement or a fence. That fence had a gate, and palmer pointed to one of the other rangers and said get the gate. He got off his horse, was immediately shot and killed. Palmer turn to another ranger and said get the gate. He dismounted, began to move to the gate, he was shot and killed. Palmer then himself does not do moved to the gate, opened it the rangers were able to go through, hit the union in the flank, and when the day win the day. Norman Vincent Randolph was 15 years old when he joined the 24th battalion of partisan rangers commanded by major john scott, the gentleman who wrote the partisan ranger act for the confederate government. That was in 1862 when randolph joined that unit. He would eventually join mosby. He would be badly wounded and return to mosbys command and be with him until the end of the war. Now on 21, april, 1865, mosby disbanded rather than surrender his men in salem, todays marshall, virginia. The majority of the rangers at that expanding with the next day to winchester seeking their roles, but a small group of rangers remained with mosby. Mosbys intent was to travel to North Carolina and link up with joseph johnston, who at that time was still fighting. In that small group of rangers seeking to continue, were both ben palmer and norman Vincent Randolph. The picture you see at the bottom of the page with the group of men, you see ben palmer on your left, norman Vincent Randolph on your right, that photo was taken probably august of 1865 in richmond after the men had truly ended the war. I spent the majority of my military career in the army in special forces, and as most of you know, the United States army and especially special forces takes great pride in their deep knowledge and understanding of victorian etiquette, and i would like that is a joke. [laughter] there were too many bemused looks on your faces. I would like to use that outstanding expertise that i gained to explain the slide. In 1867, many of the rangers returned to warmington virginia. It was a place they knew well during the war. They returned to conduct a dance. This dance card belongs to a young woman from warrington named janet weaver. Etiquette at the time called for a young lady to have her dance card. A young gentleman what, and request a dance, and the young lady would write their names down. Now, etiquette had it that the special man, the boyfriend, the fiance, at least the man who brought you to that dance, would have the first dance, and then the young woman was expected to circulate with the other gentleman at the dance. You will see on this dance card, the first name is w. B. Palmer, William Benjamin palmer. Weaver Family Tradition has this, that ben palmer and janet weaver were engaged to be married, but they did not marry. In 1880, janet weaver married norman Vincent Randolph, who was a widower at the time. But the two of them made a remarkable match. They were dedicated to helping confederate veterans who had fallen on hard times and their widows or their wives. They played a great role in the robert e lee camp for old confederate soldiers. Janet weaver became very involved in the United Artists united daughters of the confederacy. She was known throughout the south for her efforts with the udc and the robert ely cap. You can see the robert e lee camp. You can see with the streamer, a mrs. Norman Vincent Randolph relief fund, obviously given in her name. You see the horse in that slide and that is little sorrel, stonewall jacksons horse, and it was norman Vincent Randolph who was responsible for reaching out to a taxidermist in new york city to have little sorrel preserved. And he stands in all his grandeur to this day at the Virginia Military institute, so the two of them together have a wonderful legacy. Even after norman Vincent Randolphs death janet weaver randolph continued her work. She became known as mother richmond and fran what you could consider today a united way type of as mother richmond and ran what you would consider today a type of united way, and helped retired veterans and their wives. As lives would progress for both ben palmer and norman Vincent Randolph, they were both very successful. Ben palmer ran a shipping company in richmond and was extremely successful and quite wealthy. Norman Vincent Randolph took over his fathers Paper Box Company and again was very successful. They both would eventually join the robert e lee camp of the united confederate veterans, r e lee camp number one. Mind you, as i did my initial research on palmer, i did find that palmer and randolph belongs to the same camp, but i could not find any evidence whatsoever that been palmer had ever married. I wondered how awkward might some of those meetings have been between old broken hearted been palmer and janet and norman Vincent Randolph . [laughter] happily, i discover that been palmer did in fact mary in 1878 to a woman named ellen nknoll, known as nelly. Almost 10 years his junior way to go, ben from a very wellknown southern family, a welltodo family as well, and they, too, made a very good match. Nelly was very socially minded, and she worried about the care of animals in richmond and pushed ben to get involved in seeking protection of animals in richmond, and it was through her pushing at that time that ben got very involved in a society of the protection of cruelty to animals. After he died and she inherited a good amount of money, she was responsible for donating a large fund to the richmond spca. To this day, they consider the palmers part of their legacy. She also donated a great deal of money to the museum of the confederacy, which at that time of her donation was on its last legs. It was in deep, deep trouble and the financial boon that they gained from the money donated by nelly palmer in her husbands name enable that museum to continue on. You see the photo of those three paintings as well. Those are three paintings of the wagon train rate is done by three different french artist, which have belongs to the palmer family. Those were also donated to the museum of the confederacy and last i was told still hang there on display. Wonderful legacy for two young men, both as mosby rangers, and for what they did after the war. I will be followed by don hakenson. [applause] don the first thing i want to say to everybody as i am extremely honored to be here. I also want everybody to know that today is my wedding anniversary. [laughter] i am here, my wife is home, and i want you to pray for me when i go home tonight. [laughter] and i mean that very sincerely. [laughter] i am going to talk about the most famous raid that John Singleton mosby conducted during his two and a half years as a partisan. It made him a legend, and that was the fairfax courthouse rated that occurred at 2 00 in the morning on 9 march, 1863. But before i talk about that rate, i need to introduce you to some people. This is colonel percy windham. He is in charge of the calvary at fairfax house. He was born in the English Channel in 1833. He is only a few months older than John Singleton mosby. He is 15 years old, he joined the british navy. Then he goes to australia, and he gets a commission, and he becomes an officer of the australian cavalry. Then he goes to italy, and he served with garibaldi. And when the United States went to war, he came to the United States, and he pledged to fight for the union army. And he is the commander of the Union Calvary at fairfax courthouse in february and march of 1863. John singleton mosby just started conducting his operations in january, march of 1863, and he is becoming a thorn in their side. And someone would come and ask sir Percy Wyndham what did he think of mosby, and he said that mosby is nothing but a horse thief. John singleton mosby heard about that comment and said the only horses i ever captured were mounted by Union Cavalry, and they were armed with pistols. And John Singleton mosby wanted to capture this man. Make no mistake about it. But in order to get any fairfax courthouse, things had to happen. This mans names is james f. Ames. He was a sergeant in the fifth new york cavalry, and he would desert, and he would join mosbys command in february of 1863. Mosby immediately would trust this man. The rangers would call him big yankee. This man knew the call signs and he knew where the pickle posts were if mosby wanted to go into the fairfax courthouse. This man was very significant. Another man staying at fairfax courthouse was Brigadier General edwin h. Stout. Mosby knew he was Edwin Stoughton. Mosby knew he was there. This man is the honest general and the union army. He is in charge vapor of a brigade that is actually camped at fairfax station. Stoughton is staying at fairfax courthouse. He should have been with his men, and he would regret that mistake. Mosby would have dinner with a man by the name of norman chancellor, the mayor of middleburg. Mosby would write when he left the house, left the place of norman chancellor, he knows he is going to go to fairfax courthouse that night and he writes in his memoirs, i shall mount the stars tonight or sink lower than plummet ever sounded. Mosby was an educated man. I do not know if he really said it, but i love that quote. [laughter] they made their way to fairfax courthouse. It was cold. There was snow on the ground there was rain. Mosby hoped to get into fairfax courthouse by midnight. It was really dark, and a part of mosbys command got disconnected, and it took them several hours to get back together. And they finally arrived at fairfax courthouse at 2 00 in the morning on 9 march, 1863. This is a diagram of the courthouse. Mosby and his men woudld come in from fairfax station, from the south. He would capture a couple pickets right here. Mosby would go up to the courthouse, and he would actually capture several Union Soldiers right here at the courthouse. Where he wants to go is the Thomas Murray house. He believes that is the headquarters for sir Percy Wyndham. That is where he wants to go. He goes there and he finds out that sir Percy Wyndham has changed his headquarters to judge thomas house a building they had already passed when they entered into the town. But he captured a private, and he tells him that over here to house right by the Thomas Murray house and Brigadier General Edwin Stoughton is staying there. From that moment on, mosby forgets all about sir Percy Wyndham. He wants Brigadier General stoughton. Mosby would send big yankee ames and others back to judge thomas house to capture the good kernel. Luckily for sir Percy Wyndham he has been called into the city , and he is not there. Mosby would then take five men and he would go to the dr. William gunnel house. The five men he would take was william lyle hunter. He would become one of his officers when he formed company a. Joe nelson, who i am related to and i love to tell the story he was riding through the valley in august of 1864, and he sees a Union Soldier butchering a sheep and he would kill that Union Soldier, and he would cut off the hoof of that sheep and he would stuff it down his throat, and he would put a note on his body that said something to the effect how does this taste . That is joseph nelson. George white carver would also become under mosbys command. He was killed in 1863 incident else in seneca mill. He would be an officer in mosbys command for one day. Franklin mills from Fairfax County he knows the area. Mosby needs him. The other ranger he would take with him is thatcher. I have been unable to find a picture or an image of that gallant and brave man. Mosby would take those five men, and he would go over to the house, and he would knock on the door, and he would say dispatches where the dispatches for the general . And a window would open up, and it would be a lieutenant, and he says who goes there, what is going on . And he says fifth new york, i need to see the general. And he would make a mistake, and he would open the door, and mosby would press a revolver to his chest and say take me to the general. And he would take them up those stairs and they were entered into the room, and the general had been entertaining that night, and he had done a lot of drinking and supposedly there were bottles of champagne, wine, and fruit all throughout the room, and mosby now tries to wake in the general. To waken the general, but he wont awaken. [laughter] sso finally mosby takes things into his own hands, and he pulled up his bed shirts, and he gives him a whack. And the general gets up and says what is going on, and mosby bent down and he says have you heard of mosby . And he says yes, have you captured him . And mosby says yes, mosby captured him. A true story, network story. What is wrong with this picture . This was made two years after the war. It has got them wearing sabres. They never would have worn sabres. They make too much noise. But this is stoughton in bed. He would say we have got to go you have got to get dressed. And he would talk about stoughton taking his time, and finally is that we have got to go, and mosby would write in his memoirs and he would call him a fop. [laughter] the fop. You would think he is napoleon. But lets be fair, there are large numbers of confederate officers and Union Officers that also thought they were napoleon, but this man was 24 years old. He should not have been there. What did mosby accomplish in that raid . He captured a Brigadier General two captives, 30 prisoners with their arms and equipment 58 horses good, fine, union horses without a single shot being fired. Surrounded by anywhere from t8 to000 to 20000 and some people even said 30,000 Union Soldiers, one of the greatest achievements of the war. And i would be remiss if i did not bring up abraham lincoln. When lincoln found out about the rate at fairfax or courthouse, he said i can replace a general with the stroke of a pen but each one of those horses cost me 126 a piece i love his quotes. [laughter] mosbys men would accomplish quite a few things during two and a half years, and i would argue with anyone that they were the most successful guerrilla unit during the war. They did amazing things. And at the end of the war, they were the best dressed. The best armed. The best mounted confederate partisan unit all courtesy of the u. S. Government. [laughter] and let me add that they were the best motivated, the best lead cavalry unit in the confederacy, and without a doubt , they were the most dangerous. Thank you very much for having me. At this time, i would like to introduce my friend and colleague david goetz. [applause] david hello, everyone. I will echo the others sentiments. Thank you very much for having us. It is an honor to be here tonight. I will talk about what happened to mosby after the war. But first, i want to talk about something that happened to him later in his life, somewhere around 1914, 1915. And i apologize to those of you who have heard this story before but mosby was living in washington d. C. He was visited by a minister who wanted to talk with him about his spiritual future. If you know anything about mosby, you know that he was not a religious person, did not go to church, probably did not believe in the hereafter. None the less, here was this man wanted to talk about his soul. Another little piece about mosby is that by this time in his life, and certainly out of master before, if he was bored with you, he would just get up and walk out of the room. [laughter] but he sat there and let this man go on and on about his spiritual future. At some point, the minister became concerned. Mosby was not responding to him. Anything to mosby, but colonel dont you even believe in hell . And mosby said yes, hell is being a republican in virginia. [laughter] well, that is a perfect leadin to what i have to say about you because most of mosbys life did become a living hell after the war, certainly in the years from 1872 forward because those are the years that he came after president grants. There was a time in 1870 2 i will go back to probably march of 1872, mosby was on the train with a man who was a senator representing the valley of virginia, and said some nice things about present grant him about his being an honorable man, how he was a true gentleman with generally in the surrender, how he did not punish confederate officers and soldiers after the surrender. That senator asked those words onto president grants. Grants that i want to see this guy, want to talk with him, see what he has to say so in late 1872, john mosby, the senator, and mosbys 12yearold son ride the cars into washington. They go to the white house, and inside the president s office are several men besides the president. These are cabinet officers captains of industry, people trying to create favorable the president , trying to get him to give them something. In walks John Singleton mosby and his 12yearold son, who is about the same size. Grant can sense some tension in the room, take a drag off the stogie and blows the blue smoke in the air, and he says colonel did you know back in 1864, you were within five minutes of capturing me . Mosley said, mr. President no, sir. Do tell the story. He said i have just come from seeing president lincoln, who had made me chief of the army, i was riding on the orange and alexandria line. Mind you, it was just one or two cars i just had my security staff and Staff Officers with me, a small group. One of my officers saw a cloud of dust over the rail door tracks, and i said i want to stop the train and find out what that was. So they pulled up the train down near calverton today. The officer comes back in a few minutes and said it turns out that colonel mosby was chasing some of our boys across the tracks not five minutes ago. Grant turns to mosby and he says well, now, mosby, what do you think aboutof that . Mr. Mosby without batting an eye says mr. President , if i were five minutes later, maybe id be sitting in your chair. [laughter] they did what you all just did and had a good laugh and settled down. The business had to do with the amnesty act. Mr. President , i am sure you know the amnesty act of 1872 allows former confederates who were not involved in the immediate parole, 14 classes of parolees, to vote and hold office. And mr. President , if you do just get that built your desk and find it, i guarantee you there be men in the south who would come to your aid and vote for you. Grant looked at him and he says, i will see what i can do. To make a long story short the bill was gotten out of committee, got to the floor the senate, passed under something called the suppression of rule because it matched the house version, they raced into the president was for the office at the white house, he signs the bill, and the man who kept the bill from getting any further sumner, was aghast, almost had a heart attack over that. But come the election of 1872 grant won by a landslide of over 20,000 votes. Phenomenal. After that, mosby was one of grants best friends. He was allowed to see the president anytime he came to the white house, except once, and that was when president grant was in the hands of death. They went back and forth, and mosby helped him in many ways, until 1877 when someone took a shot at mosby in mornington. He lived in warrington at that time. He tried to kill him. Mosby was getting off the train in war and 10. In war andrington. He had lived there for sometime, but because he had become a republican, his family the people had turned against him. People across the street to keep from having to speak to him. Mosby his life was in mortal danger, and he contacted president grant, who by now was on a world tour. Grant and julia took a world tour starting in 1877 that lasted for two years. And he was somewhere in europe. Mosby got a hold of president grant through a telegram, my life is in danger, can you help me . It was grant to wired president brother rutherford b. Hayes. It was hayes who appointed mosby to hong kong. He arrives in 1878. After a couple of months, there are two sets of books in the consulate, one for the state department and one for everybody else. Yes. Yes. There was corruption. These people were overcharging lots of other people who wanted to come to america. They were charging 10,000 for a load of opium when the official fee was 2. 50. This was the kind of thing they were doing. Mosby tried to break up the corruption by sending a dossier to the state department, and you cannot imagine, but it was lost. [laughter] well, that would not deter the gray ghost. He not only found there was corruption and the hong kong consulate, but there was corruption in the entire u. S. Consulate system in the far east , and there were some in called a consular ring where a diplomat from hong kong would go to bangkok, and they would just keep rotating, the same group of people, and they were raking in money like crazy. He put together a dossier to the state department and said to the state department, a notice to the state department, you clean this up, or i will. And by the time that things arrived, he had already alerted his good friend, who was the publisher for china mail and his good friend who was the publisher of washington star, wait for my command, just like the old days, and he told the state department, fix it or else. And you know, there were all kinds of diplomats who were starting to retire because they wanted to spend more time with the family. [laughter] they just had enough of the far east and wanted to get back to the good old usa and feel that terra firma under their feet. It happened very quietly. Mosby returned back to the United States. Before he left, he was advised in april of 1885 that he would be returning to the United States and prepare to leave by july. He sent a letter to president grant asking him to help mosby find a job. He did not have a job, he did not have any contact back in the united eights he had been away for seven years. He did not realize that president grant was dying of throat cancer. He did not hear from grant. The day that the ship had finally arrived in San Francisco, mosby was walking down the flank, there was a young man on the docks saying council mosby, counsel mosby i am mosby. He was given a note, and inside the note was a request from a man in San Francisco to come and see him, and he was the owner of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Hemosby went to see him, and the guy said i will give you a job if you would like. I would like you to read this letter first. It was a telegram from grant the day before grant dies, the day before grant dies, he sends a telegram, as men name is Leland Stanford the mans name is Leland Stanford. Stanford offered mosby a job and he stayed with the Southern Pacific Railroad for 16 years from 1805 to 1901. After that, mosby was let go after several people who were there to protect him either died or retired. He came back to he was still in the west, he came back east served with the interior department for a few years, then with the justice department, he was out trying to take cattle baron support, people who had been raising cattle on federal lands. He won the first battle, but the second battle, the court was correct, and the judge was probably paid off, and a number of other people were paid off, and it was an absolute failure. Mosby was so embarrassed, as was the interior department, that he was sent to alabama to chase squatters off of federal lands. He retired for good in 1910. Long about 1915 he was doing well. Up until late 1915, he started feeling poorly. He told one of his daughters he did not feel well, if he could just breathe sthat sea air he would feel right again. She arranged for him to stay in a sanatorium around norfolk. He went there, felt great for about five or six weeks, came back, and within a couple of months was feeling poorly again. He went to the doctor, he said mosby, i do not like what icp or i will send you to my friend to georgetown, he went there and found out he had cancer. It has got to come out so they set out a time for mosby to have a surgery. May 30, 1916, at garfield hospital in washington. He was lying on a gurney the day of the surgery. Three welldressed men walk up the stairs. One says to a nurse i am looking for colonel mosby. She says that is him right over there. He leans over, says a few words to the old man on the gurney, looks back and says it is family here, and she says that is them over there. The men walked over to the family, one of the daughters stepped forward, he pulls the card out from his pocket, and into the daughter, and he says if you or your father or anyone in your family needs anything, i want you to contact me. She said thank you very much. He bows, joins the other two men, and he disappears down the steps. She looks of the car, and it is that of ulysses s. Grant iii. So what you get from this is the completion of the circle, these two men who would have been frank when nobody if it was not for that war. Grant would never have solved his problems of a civilian, and mosby would have been nothing more than a Little Country lawyer in a little town in the middle of nowhere. But that suit made them heroes, and they are now the heroes that we admire, and with that, i will conclude. Thank you very much. [applause] ok, we are going to open up for questions. Why dont i let you pick the first one, chuck, and we will go down the line, but make sure you have the microphone. Questions anybody . Yes, sir. What became of stoughton after he was captured . Stoughton would be sent to castle thunder in richmond, he would be released, sent back he would be relieved of command, he would never be in charge of troops again, he would die on Christmas Day 1868, 30 years old. I think it devastated his entire life. Yes maam . Are any of the houses that were shown on the map in fairfax Still Standing . Absolutely. The Thomas Murray house is still there, judge thomas house is still there, and of course the courthouse. Thank you. What was the relationship of mosby and George Patton. . I would like to take that one. Leland stanford owned a second home in a want to say pasadena but that is not correct. San marino . All right. And one of the families living nextdoor near him was the path and family patton family from virginia. These people knew about mosby, new his reputation, of course you knew the pattons were a military family, had men in uniforms for generations, and a new about mosby mosbys reputation, and they had no problem allowing their son little georgie to go out and hang out with the old guerrilla fighter. Georgie was probably about 10 years old at this point, and interestingly, it was patton who was asking all the questions. It was not mosby saying this is what you want to do. Patton was saying what you do when you are almost out of ammunition, how do you set of a surprise, and mosby they are just like two little kids having a great time together. If you can being a 10yearold asking mosby questions, or if you are mosby with this little 10yearold George Patton asking you questions, what a wonderful thing that must have been. So when patton grows up and wears a pair of pistols on his hip, just like the old guerrilla fighter, that is a clue. And patton treated his tanks like they were cavalry. It is just a profound relationship. Yes . Yeah ames was a very interesting character, and i believe he was killed later in another raid. Why did he affect and go from the union to the confederacy . And what was the attachment with mosby . The question was about big yankee ames, who don talked about in the fairfax courthouse rate. Raid. Why did he defect and go over to mosby . Don the explanation that has been given when he was asking questions is he was in disagreement with the emancipation proclamation, that he had joined the army to protect the union, to save the union, but when he thought emphasis one over to the emancipation proclamation, he deserted from the cavalry. Why did he choose mosbys command . Eric well the fifth new york, he had already tangled with them a few times, came out on the very, very, very short end of the stick in those fights. [laughter] i mean, it is a great story that as far as i understand when i read it, when ames shows up to join mosby somewhere out in the middleburg area, he was not mounted. So he hoofed it from the fairfax city area, germantown area, out to join up. The reason i believe that is true is because that night, he and another ranger named Walter Franklin turned right around and walked back into the same area from whence ames had come to steal horses as they could literally ride with mosby after that because franklin had also joined without a horse. That is the explanation given when he was finally pushed about it why he wanted to join. I will just add one thing. I started on my talk by saying there is nothing unusual about John Singleton mosby. But what i left out was the fact that he apparently had piercing blue eyes, and he could size a man of very quickly. Go ahead, we will go with the lady here, and then we will go with the lady there. Mosby was a very brave man. Could you discuss his wouldnds . Mosby was wounded three times by bullets, three times in Fairfax County once on the 24th of august of 1863 in goodings tavern, which is right across the street from the Northern Virginia community college. He was wounded right at the intersection of route 29 and clifton road on the 14th of september, 1864, and then he was shot in loudoun county, fakih or county on the 21st of december 1864. They actually thought the last one was the most severe and he was going to die, but he survived. He also earlier on wall mounted as a private living down the road at night, his horse went over a cow apparently in the middle of the road. He was thrown and a couple of days later he woke up. They thought he was going to die from that. Later on, as the commander had another horse roll on him, it is one of the train raids where he is actually hobbling around with a crutch. He was probably hit with sabers once or twice. As an older gentleman that dave can probably articulate more, went ahead and got kicked in the face by a horse. This was after the war, 1897. Eric yes. All right, . Here please. Was mosby involved in any ok, what would happen between mosby and sheridan . Eric, do you want to cover this . Eric definitely, and i will hit it a little bit. One of the things that probably shook sheridan up just a tad was mosbys raid, the berryville wagon trade raid train raid. 350 razors plus rangers plus two pieces of artillery. They captured release a couple hundred Union Soldiers. Countless, at least in the hundreds of horses and mules, cattle. And sheridan did right to grant about how devastating that rate actually was. And sheridan did write to grant about how devastating that raid actually was. Mosby became a thorn under sheridans saddle. One of the things that is very important to talk about when you talk about the wagon train raid, sheridan went back to harpers ferry, and he stayed there for a month, knows all because of the wagon train rate at berryville. So there is no doubt that mosby affected sheridan. Yes, sir. Can you elaborate on mosby and stuarts collaboration during the Gettysburg Campaign . Well, mosby is the one that gave him the Bad Information that started things going awry on his trip to gettysburg. Mosby told him it was clear at haymarket, and as soon as stuart got to haymarket, he ran into hookers army, and from there he went from the tavern to brownsville, and he was trying to catch up with the Confederate Army. So things started going wrong for stuarts cavalry based on the first intelligence that he received from mosby. We have a question here, and then i will go to you. Go ahead. A question for the viewers why was mosby called the gray ghost . Why was mosby called the gray ghost . I do not think any raynauds i could be wrong, you correctly here but i do not know if and when he knows where that came from. I heard it was president lincoln. If you have ever been on my bus tours, you heard me say this over and over, there is one word that you hear me say over and over, he is ubiquitous, he is here, he is there, he is everywhere. The gray ghost. [laughter] a question right here. Yes, a comment on the origins of mr. Mosby, the least favorable light is the execution of the Union Soldiers from custards s command. I want to say something, and eric told me to bring this up earlier, i believe. My great, great, great uncle was thomas anderson, who was shot in the war, so when we talk about the executions, it was very personal to me. Mosbys men were executed, six of his men were executed, two were hanged, and four were shot, and one of them was thomas anderson, my relative. Another ranger was captured as a part of general powells command, and he was hanged. Mosby was away from the unit when it occurred. Mosby came back, he found out about it he sent a commune occasion to his chain of command, robert e lee i was as a q seven execute seven men because i had seven men executed. He follow the chain of command and it was approved for him to retaliate in kind. There were three Union Soldiers hang in retaliation for seven of his men. Four Union Soldiers shot and possibly all of them survived. When mosby was told off the blade three or four of them survived, mosby said, that is ok. They will tell everybody what happened. He sent a communication to sheridan and said something to the effect, i wanted this barbarity to end. And it did. Ignores the fact from what i read what was done at four royal was done at retaliation for what mosbys men did eventually. Men cutting off a sheep and being killed. My understanding is what led to the execution and forth royal fort royal was that mosbys men had a history of executing. They didnt have a history. Here is what as they did have. They found Union Soldiers burning homes near berryville. And if there were three homes that were being burned. And if they found the Union Soldiers and they found the Union Soldiers who burned to the houses and killed the man. That is a fact. They did give them no quarter. I think you will find in the press the Northern Press at that time, i believe they had a hard time explaining why the rangers on a constant basis made them look foolish. And we are not talking about cap dancing. These are people killing each other. That was the goal here. Killed the other guy. The rangers worked up close and personal with the pistols to were three or four feet away 16yearold, 17yearold 18yearold kids prior to that who were schooled and are now fighting. They have been yoked with executing prisoners and hanging prisoners and doing those things. I have not found any evidence other than what was written in newspapers. Not official records or anything the rangers wrote. And the rangers acrosstheboard were pretty honest one and they talked about things that other rangers did. I think it is called black fact flag warfare. It came, it started with it is hard to say where it started. It was more titfortat. This thing with joe nelson and killing the union. And from no. I do not know. I thought he was part of custers staff ann kuster knew the guy. He ordered five houses would be burned. And one of mosby s off mosbys officers saw pillars of smoke. A ring to it and there were houses and ran to it and there were houses on fire and women were screaming. What are we to do . They went from one house to the other and the yankees burned at his house. They went out and slaughtered them. Men who were pulled bodies, dead bodies over them to keep from being killed themselves. Union soldiers crawling away shot in the back. Only a couple of them escaped. Almost 30, i will say 28 or 29 men murdered and that experience. Those guys went back to sheridan and sheridan went nuts. They told sheridan what are they experienced and is holding got worse and worse and worse until colonel mosby got permission from his superior officer. Retaliation and kind was legal under International Law and those days. He got permission and he has the law on his side. He went after those guys. Three of them were killed and 4 were not. That was enough. There is no record of mosby ever torturing anyone. I did a for that you for the United States army and they addressed it on a legal basis. They found the trees at fort troops at fort royal had conducted illegal activities by killing mostlys men. Mosby had followed the rules of war. I thought i would pass it along. It was important for me to be up part of that. My understanding, i do not want to and the battles around royal there was a lieutenant by the name of mcmaster who there is still some doubt whether or not he was still fighting or whether or not he had surrendered. And sold the union obviously took of the position he had surrendered and he was executed by mosbys men after he had surrendered. Some took the position he was still fighting and therefore legitimate target. That is my understanding was precipitating cause of the execution. Thats really got the ire of the troops up. Mcmasters was trying to cut off retreating rangers. If he jumped off his horse because the rangers were already being chased by Union Cavalry youre trying to cut them off. Theres Union Calvary chasing the rangers and this guy is going to jump off his horse and throw his hands up in the air with running as fast as i possibly can. Lets think about that for a minute. I am not saying the rangers were justified, but that is a tough deal when you are racing and being chased. And a guy cutting you off and said i surrender. The comments before he died was i surrendered and they shot me down. That got the blood flowing for the troops and they executed six of the rangers. I have read that the mosby was such a direct to washington threat to washington that they took off the planks every night from keeping him from getting into the city. Can you talk about that . His activities in maryland and possibly pennsylvania . Maryland and pennsylvania . The stories on the planks being taken up were true. He pushed in several times. We did a dvd about mosbys combat operations in Fairfax County. Everybody know mosbys confederacy but when you add up operations to actions in fairfax , more than anywhere else, they had a real nag to wreak havoc. There was a threat to washington city. They did get into maryland a little bit. There was not one aborted raid to going to annapolis to snatch the governor there. That did not work out too well. The commander was killed. They got into pennsylvania and any sort of death during the Gettysburg Campaign but they cannot find stuart so they turned around. But i think it was just the perceived threat with them continually popping up into fairfax into a visit before. Into 1864. It had washington pretty concerned. He met into the aqueduct and adams town. And i did a tour of mosbys combat operations in maryland maybe seven or eight years ago. It was raining all day. Everybody got soaked. When we got to the aqueduct, i said i would understand if you do not get off the bus. Everybody did. [laughter] this gentleman here had his hand up. Would mosby hanged the seven one of the people who got the flag carrier a 14yearold boy. [indiscernible] the guy who appealed to the confederate officer, to spare the boy when they withdrew wasnt the guy who got the unlucky number. Let the 14yearold go. Thank you very much. [applause] the civil war heiress your every saturday at 6 00 and 10 00 p. M. Every saturday. To watch more, visit our website. Youre watching American History tv, all weekend, every weekend on cspan3. Coming up John Brown University history professor Preston Jones on the growth and development of Anchorage Alaska since its founding 100 years ago. This 50 Minute Program was hosted by the cook inlet historical society