Transcripts For CSPAN3 American History TV In Grand Junction Colorado 20150906

For his wonderful remarks. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2015] you are watching American History tv. Like us on facebook. Welcome to Grand Junction, situated on the Colorado River on the high desert of western colorado. This city of 59,000 season average of 200 85 days of sun per year. Making it ideal for outdoor enthusiasts as well as growers. Without from our Charter Communications Cable Partners, we will look at the history of Grand Junction. Here about the area positive contribution of development of the atomic weapons in the 1940s. When the Atomic Energy commission started in 1940 seven, Grand Junction becomes a regional hub for uranium purchase. How earlyfind out turned it into an agricultural center. They said water is more precious than gold. It is our light source and blood source. Without it, we would be another long stretch of desert. Begin with some of the discoveries in the area. Its makeup makes it a prime location for the discovery ofs of dinosaur fossils. A placee currently at called dinosaur hill in colorado. This is a spot that is part of. He Natural Conservation area this area was originally settled in the 1880s p are almost as soon evil started living here year round, they were finding bones washing out of the hillside, all coming out of this formation p right in this area is so rich. Elmer riggs was a paleontologist to was pretty well known. He had no intention of coming to the grand valley. Exhibition where a lot of people were looking for early dinosaurs. The leader of academy of sciences in Grand Junction sent him a letter. Dr. Bradley, and said hey, we have just been settled. All of the ranchers in the area keep picking up giant bones. These are dinosaur bones. Look ats here to really the bones. Please consider coming here. Looked at the map and saw there was a Railway System into Grand Junction, which is very important to get supplies. He decided to come here. It is one of the most common sauropods. For continue to scour bones. Just a few miles east of here at assistant came across the bones of a truly enormous animal. A was a partial skeleton of brachial source. When it was discovered, it was the largest dinosaur ever known. Once the discoveries got out, you started having more people coming in. Rush to grand valley really happened in the 1970s with expedition from the l. A. County museum here at that is when the paleontological area was discovered and they started uncovering all these small animals that lived alongside the dinosaurs. That is when the science hit a fan and everybody wanted to come to Grand Junction to do their research. We are now entering a new phase of the able to do collecting and build our collections here because we are partnering with colorado university. Not only are we acting as a museum and as field agents to do the science, but we are also starting to involve the students in the learning process of eontology at a formal important life level. The rest takes place at the lab in the museum where you take the bones, clean them up, and get them ready for Scientific Study and display. Now, were sitting inside the paleo lab at the dinosaur theney museum, where all of bones we collect out of the field come into the museum to be cleaned up and prepare for either display in our gallery, or research in our collection. We have over 10,000 bones in our collections. We have a rich area, really dense with fossil bones, particularly from the jurassic time. 5000 bowls bones were pulled out of this one quarry. Some we get single bones. Some we get a section of the tail and maybe some teeth. All, things like dinosaurs, fish, crocodiles, invertebrates like insects and plants, we have about 10,000 individual fossils in our collection. The very first fossil to get catalogued at the museum in colorado is this animal. It is a school and partial skeleton of a new species of saratov source. You are looking at the dominant in the upper bone job. You can see some of the teeth coming down here. This would have been a smaller, meat eating dinosaur. A new species covered in the area and a 1970s by the first curator. We have is part of the skull. We also have, this phone, you can see like the sauropod vertebrae, it is completely with these structures. A light element or the bones in a dinosaurkull do not fuse. You typically find them in isolated little pieces. You can find the rain case. Here is the vertebrae skeleton. He is where the final court enters into the brain. Here, youre looking at the sides of the brain case. Is a little squished, but brain cases are one of the jewels that paleontologists look for. Can tell a lot about bring structure and where the cranial nerves are exiting the brain, what are the different portions of the brain that are enlarged in the animals. Common dinosaurs, allosaurus, one of the most common creditors in that time. They have compressed, sharp, steak knife teeth. Think of a double steak knife going through your porterhouse. It cuts like water. They are compressed on the outside edges of the skull and a little fatter on the run of the skull. Will find theme with roots still on them. Most of the teeth we find are broken at the root. This means the animal shed its tooth during feeding. These reptiles replaced teeth throughout why are there not like humans. Off teeth, it is no big deal. They just grow another one. It is always exciting when you find teeth with roots on them because that means there might be a skull nearby and maybe it is in pieces or maybe it is a little more intact. We are looking at a bone that is halfway through being cleaned up. It is not ready to be flipped over to have been assigned with that yet. It is the largest most complete yes ever found. This is where it was attached. Mammals have a ball and socket joint near the hip. Dinosaurs do not have that. They can move, highly mobile, in one direction. They cannot kick out to the side it whenever you try to break off the drumsticks on the turkey, that cracking sound. You are cracking it because it does not pull out of the socket. This is the hip end. All the way down there is the knee end. This femur is six feet, seven inches long. It is a contender for the recordholder of the andre the giant of dinosaurs. Average would have been 75 feet long. This animal, we have done the math. It should have been about 90 feet long. , but aot a new species very large individual. Not only is it a large individual. It has also got unusual markings on it. You can see these punure ones here. These are not normally here. These are punctures from cause, probably from the toes of a predatory dinosaur. Over here, you see 1, 2, 3 scrah marks. Some indexrom finger, second fingers of the three fingered hand coming this way. The most common predatory dinosaur. When we pulled it out of the quarry, it is obviously a very of rocks, bone, and we pulled it out and it weighed 2800 pounds. We had to borrow from the city to lift it from the ground there at our partners over at the bureau of Land Management gave a gave us the ok to get this sucker up because they were very aware of how scientifically important it was to put an upper limit on how big some of the animals can get. There are certain things you can do by having a museum in the deal that you cannot do elsewhere. Area where the museums in california come to do their field worker not only can we show you what is going on every day in paleontology here in the grand valley. We also run a popular dinosaur day program will retake general public as young as five years old out on dinosaur days and let them try for themselves. Having a museum here keeps these discoveries in the area and really just kind of reinforces that sense of pride to our residents. All weekend, American History tv is featuring Grand Junction, colorado. In the early 1900s, the city experienced a boom in will latering, which be used for the manhattan project, to develop nuclear ii. Ons during world war our Charter Communications Cable Partners worked with cspans city tour staff on we traveled to Grand Junction to explore that citys rich history. Learn more about Grand Junction all weekend on American History tv. When people first came to Grand Junction, they said water is more precious than gold. It is our life source and blood source. It is true. Without water, we would be another desert and pretty nondescript. Is climate in Grand Junction ideal if youre into sports and Mountain Biking, but not so much farming. We only have eight inches of rain here and 300 days of sunshine. So we have to get the water from somewhere else. The first pictures we have come it looks like the desert and some of the early fun pictures, they put a show on the ground with a hat on top and said, this is Grand Junction. The first settlement took place in 1881. A lot of people had read earlier reports that this would be a great valley if you could bring in irrigation from the Colorado River. River at that time was called the grand river. Plus, we had eight to 10 foot snow so they could create reservoirs to collect water. Was an ideal is to farm place to farm because we had a lot of sunshine and abundant water because of your negation. Because the early settlers decided to put small ditches in an diverse the water from the and we had waterwheels that would lift the water up into the irrigation ditches and canals, but then it grew immensely. We would start at the eastern end of the valley. Then in several decades, there , and the projects highway canal started to get going. Time,er a four decade of it just irrigated the entire grand valley. It was an amazing transformation. Right off that, they noticed our dry climate. 8 humidity. They started to plan crops. One thing they noticed were peaches. It was ideal for peaches. They have the right heat, the temperature, and our peaches were and still are the size of a softball. Right away, they started at orting peaches. Apples and cherries through all parts of colorado and then out of the state. As early as 1910, had 1500 carloads of fruit going out. The promotion of Grand Junction at the turnofthecentury was next to none. They said you could get rich on two acres of features and life was easy. It was not as hard as back east. The gardeof eden. That is what some of the advertisements said. Easy to make money, you did not need a help bunch of land to make money, and a lot of people bought into it. Hundreds of people moved from the midwest and california coming to have their idyllic gentlemen farmers, but it never worked out that way because it is a hard life aired it is not natural. It is not like ohio or new york where you have rain and you have to put in irrigation. All around your farm. You have to maintain the ditches. You have to clean them out. You could have a sudden frost and lose your whole crop in one fell swoop or one night. An interesting invention here, and there have a pot would be smoke and actually heat of the orchard. Later on, they took a propeller off an airplane and had propellers mounted in the orchards that blew the warm went through the orchards to keep them from freezing. Upay if you are traveling east orchard, you can still see the propellers mounted on what they used if they would have a warning of a frost. The weather is important here. Everyone has a close eye on the weather am especially ranchers and farmers. Because still to this day, you can lose your entire crop in one night because of heavy frost. Right now, were at the National Historic site. It is one of the few firms that looks like it did in the 1920s. The whole area where we are at is actually all orchards and farms. 22,000 trees at one time. The showcase of an early entrepreneur, who came from back east and actually wanted to into the showcase orchard and farm in western colorado come at one time, it was the largest and what he did not count on was the deficits against rowing here. That would be overwatering peer when you overwater the soil, that will be alkali and it would leech up and kill the trees. We also had infants infestations and other insects. At one time, we had 150,000 trees ripped up and replanted. Coloradom of western acquiredn 1980 here because it was one of the last remaining orchards that reflected the early 20s. We bought and restored it, as you can see today. It is now kind of like a for school kids, children, and visitors to find out what it was like to run an orchard in the 1920s. We have costume interpreters and blacksmiths. In september, at one of our premier events, they actually crush apples and make apple cider, and fresh apple cider, there is nothing like it here it is amazing. You know the aggro Tourism Business has really grown here. We still produce a lot of produce. Peaches, apples. Really taken off is the winery. We have over one dozen wineries here now. We have wine tasting. We have a wine country in. Are 10 into come here as a vacation spot not only to enjoy Mountain Biking and other outdoor rec nation opportunities, but to go to all these different wineries, and we even have a wine train now that comes and people can enjoy the weekend. A lot of people in the area, it is pretty flat, the valley, so they ride their bikes and go to the wineries and do taste testing. It is a fun event. I think without the introduction of water and irrigation canals and ditches, Grand Junction would be another flat part of the desert. It is amazing the transformation. I think early people that actually came here and settled in and moved away and came back 20 years later could not believe it was the same place. Because, you know, we ended up with treelined streets and the water, to this day, is probably one of the most precious commodities. Continually fought over. The Colorado River runs to california. We have what they call the Colorado Water compact that was signed in the 1920s that share the water and all the aids. Everybody keeps a close eye on our precious resource, water. All weekend, American History tv is featuring the city of rand junction there in 1911, president taft established the Colorado National monument after john autobuild trails connecting plateaus to the canyon. Before that, many residents believed the canyons were in excess of two humans. Hosted by our Charter Communications Cable Partners, in the history. Learn more about Grand Junction, colorado, all weekend. When you look at the history of the american west, one trend that is seen all over in every little mining town, ranching community, any you could imagine in the west, we tend to see boom and bust economies. , especiallyolorado right here in Grand Junction, colorado, one of the first boom busts we see in the area was Copper Mining. When the expedition passed through the area in 1870s, there was a lot of copper in a lot of the formations that were easy to get to. We had quite the copper industry during the 1890s. Entire cities were based around Copper Mining not far out of Grand Junction, and they completely disappeared and nothing was left. We then had a small oil and boom and bust in the 1920s. Perhaps the most famous boom and bust was the uranium boom. Couple of decades, uranium was the king. By 1970, that industry quickly collapsed. Plateau the colorado and especially here in this county come outside of Grand Junction, we are surrounded by morrison rocker. The morrison formation is from the middle of the drastic. About 150 million years old. Within the morrison, we find a lot of dinosaur bones and fossils. And that has really intrigued scientists for a long time. The the other thing we also find is a mineral, a rock called carter tight, which contains three different elements. Radium, which is radioactive and was used to help solve and fight cancer. It also contains vanadium, used to strengthen steel. During the build up to world war ii and during world war ii itself, it was of extreme value. Chronic tight also contains uranium. And uranium, as we know, is one of the best sources for atomic power and atomic weapons. 1890, a couple of copper miners were in south Grand Junction and were searching for copper deposits and kept on coming across a bizarre looking rock. It was not something they were very familiar with. They sent a sample of the rock down to a colorado mining town, hoping geologists down there might be able to identify it. Do notoked and sai we know. They sent it to france and there, it was discovered to be con a tight. It wasng of value within radium. Here is a great source of it. Viewed as almost useless. In the 1920s, radium was king. All over western colorado. A couple of small communities rose up, trying to find as much radium as they can. 1920s, a grand was the onthe price words. That lasted clear until the 1920s. When it was found to in africa, it completely collapsed. Remembered, doing during the 1940s, they opened up new mines. With world ware i, the rise of the automobile means there is more demand for steel. We want our battleships and thanks to be strong. Processing andrt mining. This goes on clear until the start of world war ii. The dutch it is seen as a strategic material. They sent people all all out to look for those deposits. In 1943, the u. S. Government went on a secret project called the manhattan engineering district. They said they were going out looking for this, but really we had enough. The manhattan engineering district was doing was looking for uranium. Scientists telling the u. S. Government this is what uranium can be used for. They sent researchers and rulers out, looking for uranium under the guise of looking for the uranium industry just exploded. Largestnction is the city here most of the law most of the mines located not very far away. Grand junction was a natural hub in terms of logistics. 1943, while sending people out, the manhattan engineering district also buys 60 a 68 Hundred Acres of land. Ore,start processing that and that a rain death uraniums sendoff to fit several sites across the United States to work on the overall manhattan project. And so we had early on the manhattan engineering project buying land locally, using land to set up research stations, and when the atomic started in 1947, Grand Junction becomes a regional hub for uranium purchase. During the height of the you boom, Grand Junction called itself the atomic city, featured in life magazine, talking about uranium creating a new wild west and focusing on the community of Grand Junction and other surrounding areas. Grand junction and several towns all over the Colorado Plateau start getting the idea that, we are going to be the hub of research, the hub of energy not just for the united dates, but for the world. In Grand Junction, one of my favorite access that captures this idea that we are at the center of the atomic universe, in 1955, they have the Atomic Energy competition, where we had a couple of young ladies who participated. The photograph has them wearing sashes and their holding an isotope atom. The winner is reaching into a pile of uranium ore and her prize was whatever a trip for uranium was valued at that day. Grand junction really hit its atomic fever. Welcomeope adam on the to Grand Junction sign. We thought uranium was going to be king and we would be sitting on the throne. Not only to be Atomic Energy commission keep a base rate here in Grand Junction, but a Uranium Company also opened a mill in 1950. The mill was located where there was once a sugar processing plant. And then they came in an expanded on that site aired from they processed millions upon millions upon millions of pounds of raw or that came in and process that into uranium oxide, that was sent all across the country. Conditions were very difficult there. A lot of mill workers became sick with various lawn diseases and other cancers. But in 1970, after the mill closed, they decommissioned the mine and most of it was taken down in 1979. The uranium mill operated for 20 years and seven downtown Grand Junction. They produced a large quantity of the junk rock that had the uranium leached out and processed out. We had this junk rock. People in Grand Junction starting in the late 50s started looking at the rock saying, that would make certification for homes. People would come and take that rock and use it as a nation buildings. Of course, it was covered this is producing radon gas and people started getting very sick it in 1954, they started a 22 million Governments Fund cleanup in the city of Grand Junction. 600 different bulletins buildings were raised, have the foundation taken out, redone, and the buildings lowered back. This caused a big up with in the community. Was obvious this needed to be done because people were getting sick, but it also involved entire businesses and buildings to reopened, unable again. Some thought it was an extreme reaction and him said, we absolutely have to do is. Grand junction started Getting Press as being the city that glows at night and how you going into a basement at Grand Junction and the walls will just they were covered in uranium 30 was not quite that dire but definitely a Public Health issue. Led to a bust in the you boom is that the United States did not produce as much atomic power as we originally thought and hoped. By the late 1950s and early 1960s, instead of making more atomic web bins weapons, we started making less. You destroy some of yours, we destroy some of ours. We were making less atomic weapons. Catch on on the scale we were hoping for. The overall demand, the end product, is no longer in need and that helped lead to the Atomic Energy commission saying that we will no longer purchase uranium. That leads to the glass of the Atomic Energy sector. All weekend, American History tv is featuring Grand Junction, colorado. In 1901, elmer riggs from chicagos field museum discovered the bones of a 70 foot long, 30 ton dinosaur. The site is now known as dinosaur hill. Cspans city tour staff recently visited many site showcasing the history. Where more about Grand Junction all weekend here on American History tv. We are in an area called canopy. It is the only source of clear cold water from the mountains. For thousands of years, people have camped here. We have the early paleolithic indians camped here. Name means, logical. It is actually a great campsite the youth because you are near a water source. Today, were out here to look at that stone structure behind us. It is a hastily built, small military structure. Today, we would call it a rifle pit. We were out here in 2006, doing an archaeological survey, looking for a different object. A Spanish Colonial object found into the in the 1960s. We actually stumbled on this site and we recorded it because we wanted to come back and we were really interested. Our archaeologists were puzzled by what it was. Excavate inted to 2009, we found a lot of objects, including fragments of Spanish Colonial armor. Most interestingly, a wheelock pistol, and early pistol that was like a crock. A clock. You rounded up and the pistol itself was probably 2. 5 feet long. We actually found the trigger guard and the part that actually fires the piece right in a specific area. Our initial reaction to it was this was an early campsite we did not know anything about. About the area is it floods constantly. You can probably hear the water behind us. For hundreds of years, there have been massive floods. Strategic, you have the 19th century in 18th century and him and team. It is all mixed together. We will find bullet fragments from the 19th century with Spanish Colonial objects. It is really hard for our knowledge is to did to discern what happened here. Theory, cancer hundreds of years, they collected metal. Out heree the spanish the middle they got, the pieces of armor, lances, they were all distributed and traded. Should be a collection site for the tribe to disseminate the metals to the different areas. The museum of the less. It is an exhibit of distant treasures that chronicles live is and it came north. And what were they looking for. My research that a lot of the reasons they came up north is that they were. Racking down myths one of the myths is the seven cities of gold. In a lot of early spanish chroniclers, they actually said it was located off the gulf of mexico. He follow a large river 39 Degrees North latitude. That is exactly where Grand Junction is now. Presentday Grand Junction colorado would he write here. These are the seven cities of gold. We are a teaching museum. All we did here is something unusual. We have a piece of iron the blacksmith would carry it to repair equipment while on the next edition. A rectangular piece of metal. This one actually has a royal stamp on it. Armor. Have fragments of the muffin bun does not fit the Spanish Colonial time. We think that trail being used they sawime, perhaps the little fort and thought, it might be something interesting. In, orfind 1850s that speculation on how it got there but it is interesting. The spanish had little cannons they used on ships called antiboarding cannons, to prevent others from boarding the ship. Mounted in a piece of wood and they would fire either stone, lead balls. The stone balls, people asked why not let ball, why not just own balls . The stone balls in placement, they shatter. Find stone shot. Probably one of the most just things, we also found a trigger guard from a pistol and it is a fairly large, primitive pistol. I have had a lot of people say, are you going to follow this . They were like, we hope you do not. We like the mystery of it. You know historians and. Rchaeologists are tenacious solve theot really mystery, we have still documented all the different uses. You want to have the answer on paper and not just have it end like theirmyth mythical chase across the centuries. But hopefully, we will get down to the bottom of it and get some definitive answers. All weekend long, American History tv is featuring Grand Junction, colorado. The city used irrigation to help develop food farming. Together with our Charter Communications Cable Partners, cspans city tour staff visited the site exploring the history more of all weekend. Everyone was amazed, it is not a widely publicized presence here. People find out about this because they read magazine articles. It is not our typical colorado scenery, not what most people think of when they think of colorado. It comes as a surprise to find it here. Vagabond not in the sense that he was a nerd well, but he did not have any permanent roots. Inwas attracted to the area it was a type of country that was very appealing to him. He began to agitate for the creation of the National Park here. The first thing he did was wrote a lot of letters to prominent people trying to get it established as a National Park he also constructed a lot of trails to afford asked into the canyons. Sure local people came out for a picnic and so on. One of the other things he did he started, collecting buffalo nickels from the kids in town and used the money to transport a couple of bison in here. He wanted to establish a herd of ricin in the monument. The oaks club conspired to bring a couple of elks. John got some money from the and for manymmerce years, we had a bison here. They said theyre out of here and went on south into the high country. Oddly enough, theyre are coming back into the monument now. Removed in 1983 because they were confined to a adverseea and had an impact on the resource. That was the kind of thing he did. Interested intly promoting it and so on. There was no concerted effort until john otto came here to set it aside. There are a couple of distinctions between National Parks and National Monuments. One distinction was legal. Is more based on resource qualities. The National Park here, the creation of a National Park for congress are is much more difficult to do. And National Monument can be established by a president ial proclamation. Though john otto wanted a National Park, it was easier to establish a National Monument and that is what happened when president hath proclaimed the. Rea in 19 11 his resource base, generally, a National Monument is set aside in wreck mission of one spectacular feature. In this case, the erosional qualities of the monument. The National Park is like multiple National Monuments all thrown together. Yellowstone, the first National Park, wildlife values as a Mountain Range running through it, a huge, high elevation. All of the thermal features and so on. That is what sets parks apart from monuments. It is a fuzzy boundary between them. Areas that are natural parks probably should be monuments and vice versa. Early attempts to make the monument accessible included building trails into some of the and also pioneering a road into the monument called the servers trail. The serpents trail served not only to afford access to the monument, but also for ranchers living south of the monument, access to their land and so on. At some point, he envisioned the serpents trail would be the starting point for the union wrote, which would continue all the way from the Grand Junction area. He was a big schemer, dreaming of these huge rod checks and so on. Is one of the reasons he eventually left the monument. They thought they would like to have the same road but not running through the monument, running through the grand valley along the route of the railroad. Basically along the route of interstate 70 today. Auto ended up on the short end of the argument and that was one of those things because he was sova said first. It is one of the things that helped ease him out the door. Beyond the serpents trail, the park service but there would be a value in having a road. So that people would have a spectacular distance from nature of the cross and entered the monument. In 1929, the park service had already established drawings for rimrock drive. Chamber of commerce and some other sources. The construction did not start until after the start of the great depression. In 1933, after Franklin Roosevelt was inaugurated, in his first hundred days, he did all kinds of things to stimulate the economy and one of them was the conservation corps. Camps and several basically, those men along with local folks build the rimrock drive. It is a road that could not be built today. For environmental reasons and cost reasons and so on, no one would even to attempt such a project where it i think at the peak of the project, there were as many as 600 working on it. Work was handwork, using mules and sticks and shovels and so on your they had mechanized equipment and did a lot of lasting as well. Blasting as well. The administration has some presence here. The emergency room every administration and so on. There were a lot of out the better goal release agencies that work in the print during the depression years. They built fabulous sansone structures. Work was done by local experienced men. They endured to this day and are on the national register. Really gorgeous buildings. Said this place was like the heart of the world for him. That is the feeling a lot of us have left and privileged to work here. It is a terrific life peer tire jenny one who has the opportunity or is coming this way to take the time to pay us a visit. Spend two hours driving across the road and enjoy a threshold is very and or you can. Ommit to a longer stay there is a lot to see and do. Throughout the weekend, covers grandory tv junction, colorado. Learn more about Grand Junction and other stops on our tour at cspan. Org citiestour. Historyatching american tv, all weekend every weekend on cspan3. A signature feature of book tv is our allday coverage of book fairs and festivals from across the country with top nonfiction authors. Near the end of september, we are in new york for the brooklyn look festival celebrating its 10th year. In early october, the southern festival of looks in nashville. The weekend after that, we are live from austin for the textbook festival. We will cover two book festivals on the same weekend care the wisconsin book festival in madison, and back, east coast, the boston book festival. We will be in portland, oregon, for word stock. Followed by the book awards in new york city. And we are live for the 18th year in a row from florida. That is a few of the fairs and festivals this fall. A panel of civil war scholars discuss the life of john and his involvement in the american civil war. Ghost, thehe grey commander led most of the rangers in central and Northern Virginia, with quick raids that disrupted supply lines and communications to after the work, he became a republican and supported the president ial campaign of president grant. The program was hosted by the bull run civil war roundtable. [applause] thank you, mark. Was born in richmond, virginia. Medium height. His fair complexion and delicate unveiled nothing unusual about him. He was frail as a child and spend his time reading and books. G his small stature led to him being picked on by most kids. Greece anding 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 to 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 eb 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, stuart 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 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. Intelligent, 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 he would 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. He would not ask is meant to do his men 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 command in salem, todays marshall, virginia. The majority of the rangers at that disbanding went the next day to winchester seeking their patrols, paroles 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 would come up 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 gentlemen 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 daughters of the confederacy. She was known throughout the south for her efforts with the udc and the robert ely cap. The robert e lee camp. You can see with the bottom udcamer, to this day, the has 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 ran what you would consider today a type of united way, and helped retired veterans and their wives. As life 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 belonged 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 ben palmer and janet and norman Vincent Randolph . [laughter] happily, i discovered that ben palmer did in fact marry in 1878 to a woman named ellen knoll, known as nelly. Almost 10 years his junior way to go, ben [laughter] 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, february, 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 where the picket 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. Edwin h. Stoughton. Mosby knew he was there. But he did not know where he was staying. Is 24 years old. He is the youngest general in the union army. He is in charge 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 would 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 thoma house to capture the good colonel. Luckily for sir Percy Wyndham, he has been called into washington city, and he is not there. Mosby would then take five men, and he would go to the dr. William presley gunnel house. The five men he would take was would be william lyle hunter. Hunter 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. Become one of the first officers under mosbys command. The day after company a was formed, he would be killed in 1863 in seneca mills. 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 hatcher. 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 waken the general, but he wont awaken. [laughter] so 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 is has captured you. A true story. An epic 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 8 220,000, 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 raid at fairfax 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 grant. 1872 i willtime in , 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 president 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 on to president grant. Grant said 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 of that . 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 bill 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. Hands of a dentist. 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 warrington. He had lived there for sometime, but because he had become a republican, his family the his family were pariahs. His law practice fell. His children were beaten at school. The people had turned against him. People would cross 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 rutherford b. Hayes. It was hayes who appointed mosby as u. S. Consul to hong kong. He arrives in 1878. He sees 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. 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 thing had 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 States. 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 gangplank. 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. Mosby 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. He sent a telegram, please help my friend. 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 s to court. 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 that 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 couple of months was feeling poorly again. He went to the doctor, he said mosby, i do not like what icp or like what i am seeing. I will send you to my friend to at 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, is the 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 cargo from his pocket, hands it to 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 and itlooks at the card, is that of ulysses s. Grant iii. So what you get from this is the completion of the circle, these two men who wouldve been, frankly, nobodies 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. With that war made those two men. It 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 . The question is 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 . 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. 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, knew 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 youre surrounded . What you do when you are almost out of ammunition . How do you set 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 . Yes, big yankee ames was a very interesting character, and i believe he was killed later in another raid. Why did he defect 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 raid. Why did he defect and go over to mosby . Don the explanation that has been given when he was asking actually questioned 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 went 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 up 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 wounds . Can we discuss mosbys wounds . Mosby was wounded three times by bullets, three times in Fairfax County, once on the 24th twice 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, or fault faquier 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. But the man was as hard as would take her lips woodpecker lips. [laughter] 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 train raid. The most men mosby had together for one raid was in berryville. 350 rangers plus two pieces of artillery. The captured at least a couple hundred Union Soldiers. Countless, at least in the hundreds, of horses and mules, cattle. And sheridan did right to grant sheridan in fact lied to grant about how devastating that raid actually was. Mosby became a thorn under sheridans saddle. And i think don can talk a about the Family Impact that had on some of his ancestors. 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 and that was all because of that wagon train raid 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 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. Can you explain to viewers why was mosby called the gray ghost . Why was mosby called the gray ghost . I dont begin anybody knows. I could be wrong. But i do not know if anyone 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 custers 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 communication to his chain of command, robert e. Lee, and he said i want to retaliate in kind, i want to execute seven men because i had seven men executed. That went to robert e. Lee, and went to the confederate secretary of war, and that went to jefferson davis, and he followed the chain of command, and it was approved for him to retaliate in kind. There were three Union Soldiers hanged in retaliation for seven of his men. Four Union Soldiers shot and possibly all of them survived. When mosby was told that 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. But it ignores the fact, at least from what i read, what was done at fort royal was done at retaliation for what mosbys men habitually did. Man cutting up a sheep and being killed. My understanding is what led to the executions in front 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 there were three homes that were being burned. And they found the Union Soldiers who burned to the houses and they killed those men. 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 tap dancing. These are people killing each other. That was the goal here. Kill the other guy. The rangers worked up close and personal with the pistols and were three or four feet away, 17, 18yearold kids, a couple years prior to that had been i in school 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. Reports. Ommanders and the rangers acrosstheboard were pretty honest when they talked about things that other rangers did. I think it is called black flag warfare. Pardon me, eric. 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 i think he was a mess steward. No . I dont know. I thought he was part of custers staff and custer knew the guy. He ordered five houses would be burned. And one of mosbys officers saw pillars of smoke. 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 pulled bodies, dead bodies over them to keep from being killed themselves. Union soldiers crawling away who were shot in the back. Only a couple of them escaped. Almost 30, i will say 28 or 29 men murdered and that in that experience. Those guys went back to sheridan and sheridan went nuts. They told sheridan what are they experienced and is holding got and that is when this whole thing just got worse and worse and worse until colonel mosby got permission from his superior officers. Retaliation and kind was legal because retaliation in kind was legal under International Law in 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. For the United States army and they addressed it on a legal basis. They found the trees at fort troops up front royal had conducted illegal activities by killing mosbys men. Mosby had followed the rules of war. I thought i would pass it along. It was important for me to be a 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. It depends on who you believe. So, the union obviously took 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 a legitimate target. Was, to my understanding, the precipitating cause of the execution. That 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, he is 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 with these men running as fast as they 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 then 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. Go ahead, alan. I have read that the mosby was such a threat to washington that they took off the planks of the bridge every night from keeping him from getting into the city. Can you talk about that . His activities in maryland and perhaps even pennsylvania . Mosbys operations in 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 acknot they had a real kn to wreak havoc. There was a threat to washington city. They did get into maryland a little bit. There was not one aborted raid that was to go into 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 mosby could not find stuart , so they turned back. They got up and the pointed rocks area, i think, a few times. But i think it was just the perceived threat with them continually popping up into fairfax into 1864. It had washington pretty concerned. He made it 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] we have time for one more question. This gentleman here had his hand up. When mosby hanged the seven, he made the decision all at once. And one of the people who got the flag card was carrier, a 14yearold boy. [indiscernible] the guy who appealed to the confederate officer, to spare the boy when they withdrew was the guy who got the unlucky number. So they let the 14yearold go. Thank you very much. [applause] with the sudden death of president harding, Vice President Calvin Coolidge takes off. Grace coolidge was in the norm is a popular first lady and influence the taste of american women by becoming a style icon, although she married a man known as site like cal. Shes her office to bring attention to issues she cared about. This is cspan possible original from, first ladies Martha Washington to michelle obama. That on American History on cspan3. 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