A unique system was devoted to obtaining and stopping John Singleton Mosby, also known as the Gray Ghost, as a Confederate political leader whose Rangers’ asymmetrical warfare tactics, including blotting up bridges, attacking supply lines, and other corporate disruptions, proved to be a thorn in the side of North forces during the Civil War.
Mosby’s capacity to rise from the dead appeared to be his, with some serious injuries and death being his constant defense. The Union troops actually had him in their grasp one night in December of 1864.
The full details of this extraordinary story and system are found in my new bestselling book, The Unvanquished: The Untold Story of Lincoln’s Special Forces, the Manhunt for Mosby’s Rangers, and the Shadow War That Forged America’s Special Operations. The guide details the play of the unusual rebel conflict that shaped the Civil War, including the account of the Union soldiers who hunted Mosby and his Confederate Rangers from 1863 until the war’s conclusion at Appomattox, a story that was originally unfathomable and gave rise to the development of modern U.S. special operations in World War II. The Civil War is resurrected by The  book, which offers a novel, groundbreaking perspective.
Group portrait of Confederate cavalry Colonel John S Mosby ( also known as the’ Gray Ghost’, 1833- 1916 ) with soldiers of the 43rd Battalion, Virginia Cavalry ( also known as Mosby’s Rangers, or Mosby’s Raiders ), ( ( top row, from left ) Lee Herverson, Ben Palmer, John Puryear, Tom Booker, Norman Randolph, Frank Raham, ( second row, from left ) Robert Blanks Parrott, John Troop, John W Munson, John S Mosby ( with feather ), Alphonso M Newell, Neely, Charles H Quarles ( third row, from left ) Walter Gosden, Harry T Sinnott, Otho L Butler, Isaac A Gentry ), in Richmond, Virginia, circa 1864. Formed on 10th June 1863, the 43rd Battalion was disbanded on 21st April 1865. ( Photo by Archive Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images )
For much of December 1864, Mosby and his Rangers found Loudoun County, Virginia in smoking ruins and subject to General Philip Sheridan’s scorched- earth policy. ” I’ll be contacting Loudoun County right away to let them know that Israel has a God.” Mosby has irritated me a lot, but now the people are realizing that he does n’t hurt me much but instead leaves them with all that their lives have accumulated.  ,. But they will cry for peace when they must bear the loss of their comforts and possessions, “1 Sheridan wrote on November 26. He sent his cavalry regiments, who had been fighting Mosby for months, to burn all mills and barns, squander all forage and subsistence, and drive off and kill livestock in the “burning raid.” Homes were to be spared. With the division’s massive numbers, Mosby could only attack rear elements of Sheridan’s army but could not stop the swath of destruction they cut across the county.
Mosby’s Rangers, Public Domain
Mosby, coming from a wedding near Glen Welby farm on a cold early December night, arrayed in his finest—with heavy black, scarlet- lined cape, ostrich- plumed hat, gold cords, tall boots, and two stars gleaming on his collar indicating his rank—stopped with fellow Ranger Tom Love at a friendly home for a late supper. They left their horses and firearms outside, believing themselves safe. However, amid their dinner, scores of Union troops descended on them and their hosts.
Mosby quickly covered the stars on his collar with his hands when Union officers entered the two-story mansion known as Lakeland. ” I knew that if they discovered my rank, to say nothing of my name, they would guard me more carefully”. A stray bullet from outside struck the Confederate guerilla leader in the stomach as he stood by a Union officer. He gasped,” I am shot” !2
Chaos ensued. In his memoir, Mosby describes a “horse race” that involved the supper table being knocked over and the tallow lights being turned on. ” In a few seconds, I was left in the room with no one but Love, Lake]their host], and his daughter”. Mosby, who was still bleeding profusely, entered the adjacent bedroom and hid his coat with its distinctive stars before lying on the floor, “determined to play the part of a dying man.” When the Union soldiers returned, they questioned a guest at the dinner who knew Mosby well, and whose brother was in his command, about the fallen man’s identity. Before she told him she had never seen him before, Mosby “awakened with fear and trembling for her response.” ” I’m certain that nothing has been found in the eternal records about that good woman who denied my name and saved my life.”
When the soldiers interrogated him and examined his wound, Mosby himself gave him a false name and false command. A doctor declared his wound to be mortal, shot through the heart. He “found the heart quite low down,” and even at that point, I was tempted to laugh at his ignorance of human anatomy. The soldiers left after removing his beautiful boots and trousers, believing a dead man would no longer require them, after which I only gasped for a few words and felt as though I was dying.
” I never complained about [the bullet], even though I was a prisoner at the time because it turned out to be a lucky shot for me.” It was the means of my escape”. After waiting for his hosts to arrive to confirm that his enemies had left, Mosby rose from the pool of blood and entered the other room,” as if I had risen from the tomb.” Even Mosby still believed he might have a foot in the grave, saying,” My own perception was that the wound was mortal and that the bullet was in me.” Mosby was taken to a safe house in the middle of a fierce storm, where doctors removed the bullet before taking him to his father’s home in Lynchburg to be put to rest. He was then transported to his father’s house in Lynchburg, where he was subsequently taken to his father’s house to convalesce. Northern and Southern press inaccurately reported his death in the interim, but a Northern paper later retracts with the line” the devil takes care of his own” (5 ).
-
OR, Series 1, Vol. XLIII, Pt. II, Chap. LV, 672.
-
Mosby, Memoirs, 338.
-
Mosby, 339, 340, 341.
-
Mosby, 341.
-
Mosby, 345, 342, 352.
Patrick K. O’Donnell is a bestselling, critically- acclaimed military historian and an expert on elite units. He is the author of thirteen books, including , his bestselling book on the Civil War The Unvanquished: The Untold Story of Lincoln’s Special Forces, the Manhunt for Mosby’s Rangers, and the Shadow War That Forged America’s Special Operations, currently in front display of Barnes and Noble Stores nationwide. His other bestsellers include: The Indispensables,  , The Unknowns, and Washington’s Immortals.  , O’Donnell served as a combat historian in a Marine rifle platoon during the Battle of Fallujah and often speaks on espionage, special operations, and counterinsurgency. He has provided historical consulting for DreamWorks ‘ award- winning miniseries , Band of Brothers , and documentaries produced by the BBC, the History Channel, and Discovery. PatrickKODonnell.com , @combathistorian
