1864), in which a party of Rangers entered a train of the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad, near Kearneysville, capturing, among other
officers, Majors Moore and Ruggles, Federal paymasters, with their
funds, Lieutenant Grogan, of the Rangers, has said that the command,
the next day, "met at Bloomfield, in Loudoun County, and examined into
the condition of our sub-U.S. Treasury, and finding there a net
surplus of $168,000, the same was divided among our stockholders
($2,000 each) and circulated so freely in Loudoun that never
afterwards was there a pie or blooded horse sold in that section for
Confederate money."]
Many of his followers were recruited in Loudoun County. A few before
the advent of Mosby had pursued peaceable vocations; but the command
consisted in the main of men who had seen active service in the
cavalry and infantry regiments, but tiring of the routine and
discipline of the camp had returned to their homes in Loudoun and
adjoining counties. At times he had with him dauntless spirits who had
been incapacitated for infantry duty by reason of wounds received in
action, some of these carrying crutches along with them tied to their
saddle bows. At another time he enrolled several experienced fighters
who had been absent from their regiments without leave ever since the
first battle of Bull Run--a period of nearly two years.
With this promiscuous following, which at no time exceeded one hundred
men, he instituted a long unbroken series of successful strategems,
surprises, and night attacks, harassing the communications of the
Federal armies, confusing their plans by capturing dispatches,
destroying supply trains, subjecting their outposts to the wear and
tear of a perpetual skirmish, in short, inflicting all the mischief
possible for a small body of cavalry moving rapidly from point to
point on the communications of an army.
He believed that by incessant attacks he could compel the enemy either
greatly to contract his lines or to reinforce them, both of which
would have been of great advantage to the Southern cause. By assuming
the aggressive, a rule from which he not once departed, he could force
the enemy to guard a hundred points, leaving himself free to select
any one of them for attack.
But the theories, purposes, and methods of this peer of partisan
leaders is best explained by himself. Simply and unostentatiously, but
withal convincingly, expressed, they give to the man and his deeds the
unmistakable semblance of fairness and legitimacy. These, together
with his masterly defense of partisan warfare, follow in modified and
disconnected form:
"The military value of a partisan's work is not measured by
the amount of property destroyed, or the number of men
killed or captured, but by the number he keeps watching.
Every soldier withdrawn from the front to guard the rear of
an army is so much taken from its fighting strength.
"I endeavored, as far as I was able, to diminish this
aggressive power of the army of the Potomac, by compelling
it to keep a large force on the defensive. I assailed its
rear, for there was its most vulnerable point. My men had no
camps. If they had gone into camp, they would soon have all
been captured.... A blow would be struck at a weak or
unguarded point, and then a quick retreat. The alarm would
spread through the sleeping camp, the long roll would be
beaten or the bugles would sound to horse, there would be
mounting in hot haste and a rapid pursuit. But the partisans
generally got off with their prey. Their pursuers were
striking at an invisible foe. I often sent small squads at
night to attack and run in the pickets along a line of
several miles. Of course, these alarms were very annoying,
for no human being knows how sweet sleep is but a soldier. I
wanted to use and consume the Northern cavalry in hard work.
I have often thought that their fierce hostility to me was
more on account of the sleep I made them lose than the
number we killed and captured."
* * * * *
"My purpose was to weaken the armies invading Virginia, by
harassing their rear. As a line is only as strong as its
weakest point, it was necessary for it to be stronger than I
was at every point, in order to resist my attacks.... It is
just as legitimate to fight an enemy in the rear as in
front. The only difference is in the danger. Now, to prevent
all these things from being done, heavy detachments must be
made to guard against them."
* * * * *
"The line that connects an army with its base of supplies is
the heel of Achilles--its most vital and vulnerable point.
It is a great achievement in war to compel an enemy to make
heavy detachments to guard it...."
* * * * *
"Having no fixed lines to guard or defined territory to
hold, it was always my policy to elude the enemy when they
came in search of me, and carry the war into their own
camps."
* * * * *
"These operations were erratic simply in not being in
accordance with the fixed rules taught by the academies; but
in all that I did there was a unity of purpose, and a plan
which my commanding general understood and approved."
* * * * *
" ... while I conducted war on the theory that the end of it
is to secure peace by the destruction of the resources of
the enemy, with as small a loss as possible to my own side,
there is no authenticated act of mine which is not perfectly
in accordance with approved military usage. Grant, Sherman,
and Stonewall Jackson had about the same ideas that I had on
the subject of war."
Though all his engagements were reported to Stuart till the death of
that great cavalry leader, in May, 1864, and afterward to General
Robert E. Lee, Mosby was allowed the freedom of untrammeled action in
the sense that the operations of his command were left to his
individual discretion.
The following militant verses were published in a Southern magazine,
soon after the war, and won immediate popularity:
_Mosby at Hamilton._
BY MADISON CAWEIN.
Down Loudoun lanes, with swinging reins
And clash of spur and sabre,
And bugling of battle horn,
Six score and eight we rode at morn
Six score and eight of Southern born,
All tried in love and labor.
Full in the sun at Hamilton,
We met the South's invaders;
Who, over fifteen hundred strong,
'Mid blazing homes had marched along
All night, with Northern shout and song,
To crush the rebel raiders.
Down Loudoun lanes with streaming manes
We spurred in wild March weather;
And all along our war-scarred way
The graves of Southern heroes lay,
Our guide posts to revenge that day,
As we rode grim together.
Old tales still tell some miracle
Of saints in holy writing--
But who shall say why hundreds fled
Before the few that Mosby led,
Unless the noblest of our dead
Charged with us then when fighting.
While Yankee cheers still stunned our ears,
Of troops at Harper's Ferry,
While Sheridan led on his Huns,
And Richmond rocked to roaring guns,
We felt the South still had some sons,
She would not scorn to bury.
_Battle of Leesburg_[32] ("_Ball's Bluff_"[33]).
"After the first battle of Manassas, Col. Eppa Hunton had been ordered
to reoccupy Leesburg with his regiment, the Eighth Virginia. A little
later Col. William Barksdale's Thirteenth Mississippi, Col. W.S.
Featherstone's Seventeenth Mississippi, a battery, and four companies
of cavalry under Col. W.H. Jenifer were sent to the same place, and
these were organized into the Seventh Brigade of the Confederate Army
of the Potomac, which, early in August, was put under command of
Brig.-Gen. Nathan G. Evans, who had been promoted for his brave
conduct July 21st. General Beauregard's object in locating this strong
force at Leesburg was to guard his left flank from a Federal attack by
way of several good roads that led from the fords of the upper
Potomac, near that town, directly to his Bull Run encampment; to watch
the large Federal force that McClellan had located on the opposite
side of the Potomac; to keep up a connection with the Confederate
force in the lower Shenandoah Valley by a good turnpike that led from
Leesburg across the Blue Ridge, and to save for his army the abundant
supplies of the fertile County of Loudoun.
"On the 15th of October (1861) General Banks' division of the Federal
army was located at Darnestown, Md., about fifteen miles due east from
Leesburg, with detachments at Point of Rocks, Sandy Hook,
Williamsport, etc.; while the division of Brig.-Gen. C.P. Stone,
composed of six companies of cavalry, three of artillery, and the
infantry brigades of Gens. W.A. Gorman and F.W. Lander and Col. E.D.
Baker, was located at Poolesville, eight miles north of east from
Leesburg. The object in this disposition of so large a force was, not
only to guard the right of the big Federal army that General McClellan
was gathering at Washington, but especially to cover the important
approaches from the northwest to Baltimore and the Federal city,
particularly those from the lower Shenandoah Valley and northeastern
Piedmont, Virginia.
[Footnote 32: Virginia Military History, by Jedediah Hotchkiss.]
[Footnote 33: Also called "Battle of Harrison's Island" and "Battle of
Conrad's Ferry."]
"On October 19th, McCall's Federal division advanced to Dranesville,
on the road to Leesburg and about 15 miles from that place, 'in order
to cover the reconnoissance made in all directions the next day;' and
later, Smith's Federal division advanced along a parallel road to the
west, acting in concert with General McCall, and pushed forward strong
parties in the same direction and for the same purpose. About 7 p.m.
of the 19th, Stone's advance opened a heavy cannonade on the
Confederate positions at Fort Evans, on the Leesburg pike, and at
Edwards' Ferry, and at the same time General Evans heard heavy firing
in the direction of Dranesville. At midnight General Evans ordered his
whole brigade to the front, along the line of Goose Creek, 3 miles
southeast of Leesburg, where he had a line of intrenchments, to there
await an expected attack from General McCall, the next morning,
Sunday, October 20th, as it had been reported that the Federal advance
was moving in force from Dranesville toward Leesburg. Evans' scouts
captured McCall's courier bearing dispatches to General Meade,
directing him to examine the roads leading to Leesburg. The Federal
batteries kept up a deliberate fire during the day, but no assault was
made.
"On the morning of the 20th the Federal signal officer on Sugar Loaf
Mountain, in Maryland, reported 'the enemy have moved away from
Leesburg.' This Banks wired to McClellan, whereupon the latter wired
to Stone, at Poolesville, that a heavy reconnoissance would be sent
out that day, in all directions, from Dranesville, concluding: 'You
will keep a good lookout upon Leesburg, to see if this movement has
the effect to drive them away. Perhaps a slight demonstration on your
part would have the effect to move them.' McClellan desired Stone to
make demonstrations from his picket line along the Potomac, but did
not intend that he should cross the river, in force, for the purpose
of fighting. Late in the day Stone reported that he had made a feint
of crossing, and at the same time had started a reconnoissance from
Harrison's Island toward Leesburg, when the enemy's pickets retired to
intrenchments. That 'slight demonstration' brought on the battle of
Ball's Bluff on Monday, October 21st. On the morning of the 21st,
McCall retired from Evan's front to his camp at Prospect Hill, 4 miles
up the river from the Chain bridge. From his point of observation, at
the earthworks called 'Fort Evans,' to the eastward of Leesburg,
overlooking the fords at Conrad's and Edwards' ferries and Ball's
Bluff, Evans, at 6 a.m. on the 21st, found that the enemy of Stone's
division had effected a crossing at Edwards' Ferry and at Ball's
Bluff, 4 miles above. He promptly sent four companies from his
Mississippi regiments and two companies of cavalry, under the command
of Lieutenant-Colonel W.H. Jenifer to the assistance of Captain Duff,
to hold the enemy in check until his plan of attack should be
developed. Colonel Jenifer immediately engaged the Federal advance and
drove it back toward Ball's Bluff.
"The force that had crossed at Harrison's Island, about midnight of
the 20th, was part of the command of Colonel Baker, some 300 men under
Col. Charles Devens, of the Fifteenth Massachusetts. Its object was to
capture a Confederate camp that had been reported to be about a mile
from the river. This force advanced to an open field surrounded by
woods, where it halted until it could be joined by a company from the
Twentieth Massachusetts, which had been left on the bluff, on the
Virginia side, to protect the Federal return. Devens, at daybreak,
pushed forward with a few men to reconnoiter, and, in person, went to
within sight of Leesburg. Thinking he had not been discovered Devens
determined to remain and sent back to his brigade commander, Colonel
Baker, for reinforcements. The latter consulted his division
commander, General Stone, and obtained permission to either withdraw
Devens or to send over reinforcements to him. He promptly directed
Devens to hold his position and said that he would support him in
person with the rest of his brigade. The boats and flats that had been
provided for crossing the Potomac from the Maryland shore to
Harrison's Island and from the latter to the Virginia shore were
entirely inadequate, and it was nearly noon before Devens' regiment of
625 men was closed up on the Virginia shore.
"Convinced at about 10 a.m. that the main Federal attack would be at
Ball's Bluff, four miles northeast of Leesburg, Evans ordered Colonel
Hunton with the Eighth Virginia[34] to the support of Colonel Jenifer,
directing him to form the line of battle immediately in the rear of
Jenifer's command, and that the combined force should then drive the
enemy to the river, while he, General Evans, supported the right of
the movement with artillery. This movement was made soon after noon
and the opposing forces at once became hotly engaged, the Confederates
advancing on the Federals, who held a strong position in front of the
woods. Learning, at about this time, that an opposing force was
gathering on his left and that he would soon be vigorously attacked by
a body of infantry that appeared in that direction and by a body of
dismounted cavalry that had deployed in his front, and apprehensive of
being flanked, Devens retired his regiment to an open space in the
woods, in front of the bluff, and prepared to receive an attack. To
ascertain about reinforcements Devens went back to the bluff about 2
p.m., where he found Colonel Baker, who directed him to form his
regiment on the right of the position that he proposed to occupy,
while Baker placed 300 of the Twentieth Massachusetts on the left and
advanced in front of these his California regiment, with two guns,
supported by two companies of the Fifteenth Massachusetts. At about
the same hour General Stone ferried a strong force across the river at
Edwards' Ferry to make a demonstration on Evans' right, leaving
Colonel Baker in command at Ball's Bluff. Stone then telegraphed to
McClellan: 'There has been a sharp firing on the right of our line,
and our troops appear to be advancing there under Baker. The left,
under Gorman, has advanced its skirmishers nearly one mile, and, if
the movement continues successful, will turn the enemy's right.'
[Footnote 34: The regiment in which were several companies of Loudoun
soldiers.]
"At about 2.30 p.m., General Evans, having the advantage of a
concealed, shorter, and inner line, seeing that the enemy was being
constantly reinforced, ordered Colonel Burt, with the Eighteenth
Mississippi, to attack the Federal left, while Hunton and Jenifer
attacked his front, holding the attack at Edwards' Ferry in check by
batteries from his intrenchments. As Colonel Burt reached his
position, the enemy, concealed in a ravine, opened on him a furious
fire, which compelled him to divide his regiment and stop the flank
movement that had already begun. At about 3 p.m., Featherstone, with
the Seventeenth Mississippi, was sent at a double-quick to support
Burt's movement. Evans reports: 'He arrived in twenty minutes and the
action became general along my whole line, and was very hot and brisk
for more than two hours, the enemy keeping up a constant fire with his
batteries on both sides of the river. At about 6 p.m. I saw that my
command had driven the enemy to near the banks of the river. I ordered
my entire force to charge and drive him into the river. The charge was
immediately made by the whole command, and the forces of the enemy
were completely routed, and cried out for quarter along his whole
line. In this charge the enemy was driven back at the point of the
bayonet, and many were killed and wounded by this formidable weapon.
In the precipitate retreat of the enemy on the bluffs of the river,
many of his troops rushed into the water and were drowned, while many
others, in overloading the boats, sunk them and shared the same fate.
The rout now, about 7 o'clock, became complete, and the enemy
commenced throwing his arms into the river.... At 8 p.m. the enemy
surrendered his forces at Ball's Bluff, and the prisoners were marched
to Leesburg.'
"During this action, Colonel Barksdale, with nine companies of the
Thirteenth Mississippi and six pieces of artillery, was held to oppose
Stone's movement from Edwards' Ferry and also as a reserve. After the
engagement, Evans withdrew all his brigade to Leesburg, except
Barksdale's regiment, which he left in front of Edwards' Ferry.
"Each of the combatants had about 1,700 men engaged in this action.
The Confederates had no artillery in the fight, while the Federals
had three light guns. Shortly after the action became general, Colonel
Baker, passing in front of his command, was killed by a sharpshooter,
which so demoralized the Federals that the surviving officers
conferred and decided to retreat. This was opposed by Colonel Milton
Cogswell, of the Forty-second New York, who had succeeded Colonel
Baker in command. He said a retreat down the bluff and across the
river was now impossible, and that they must cut their way through the
Confederate right to Edwards' Ferry. He promptly gave orders to that
effect, and moved to the front, followed by the remnants of his own
two companies and a portion of the California regiment, but not by the
others. He was quickly driven back and the whole Federal command was
forced to the river bluff in great disorder. Just then two companies
of the Forty-second New York landed on the Virginia shore. These
Colonel Cogswell ordered up the bluff and deployed as skirmishers to
cover the Federal retreat, while he advanced to the left with a small
party, and was almost immediately captured. Colonel Devens escaped by
swimming the river.
"On the morning of the 22nd, Colonel Barksdale informed General Evans
that the enemy was still in force at Edwards' Ferry. He was ordered to
carefully reconnoiter the Federal position, learn its strength and
make attack. This he did, at about 2 p.m., and drove a superior force
from an intrenched position to the bank of the river, killing and
wounding quite a number of men. At about sundown, the Federals, having
been reinforced and holding rifle-pits, Barksdale withdrew to Fort
Evans, leaving two companies to watch his front. The enemy recrossed
the Potomac during the night. Evans reported his loss, in the thirteen
hours of fight, on the 21st, as 36 killed,[35] 117 wounded, and 2
missing, from a force of 1,709. Among the killed was the brave Colonel
Burt. The Federal losses were returned at 49 killed, 158 wounded, and
694 missing. General Evans claimed the capture of 710 prisoners, 1,500
stands of arms, 3 cannon and 1 flag.
[Footnote 35: The Confederate soldiers who fell in the battle of Ball's
Bluff are buried in Union Cemetery, on the northern border of
Leesburg. Their resting place is marked by an imposing marble shaft,
in honor of the comrades of "the lost cause," "wherever they lie."
Many of the Union soldiers who perished at Ball's Bluff lie buried
where they fell. Their mournful little cemetery was recently acquired
by the Federal government and its approaches and environs greatly
improved. The battlefield is still one of the chief points of interest
to visitors to central Loudoun.]
"Evans called on Longstreet for reinforcements when he reported his
battle of the 21st, thinking that 20,000 Federals were in his front.
Colonel Jenkins, with the Eighteenth South Carolina cavalry and
artillery was dispatched from Centreville in the afternoon of the 22d,
and marched toward Leesburg, through mud and a driving rain, until
midnight, when the infantry went into bivouac; but Captain C.M.
Blackford's cavalry and four guns of the Washington artillery hurried
forward all night and came in sight of Leesburg about daylight of the
23d. That morning, finding his men much exhausted, General Evans
ordered three of his regiments to fall back to Carter's mill, a strong
position on Goose Creek, about 7 miles southwest from Leesburg, and
join Jenkins, who had been halted at that place, leaving Barksdale
with his regiment, two pieces of artillery and some cavalry, as a rear
guard near Leesburg, and Hunton, with his Eighth Virginia and two
pieces of artillery, on the south bank of Sycoline Creek, 3 miles from
Leesburg, and sending his cavalry well to the front toward
Alexandria."
_Munford's Fight at Leesburg._[36]
"Having driven Pope's army to a secure position behind the defences of
Washington, General Lee turned northward to the Potomac and began the
first Maryland campaign.
"While this movement was in progress Stuart covered the front toward
Washington. He had learned that an irregular body of cavalry under a
certain Captain Means was harassing the citizens in the vicinity of
Leesburg, and on the 2d of September (1862) he sent Colonel Munford,
with the Second Virginia Cavalry, to that point. On approaching
Leesburg, Munford learned that it was occupied by Means' company and
that he was supported by about two hundred men under Major Cole, of
Maryland. Munford's regiment numbered only about one hundred and sixty
men, but, approaching Leesburg by an unexpected direction, he effected
a surprise, and after a heavy skirmish completely routed Means' party
and pursued him to Waterford, a distance of seven miles. He captured
forty-seven prisoners, and killed or wounded twenty."
[Footnote 36: _Life and Campaigns of Maj.-Gen. J. E. B. Stuart._]
_Battle at Aldie._[37]
"Early on the morning of the 17th of June, 1863, Colonel Munford, with
the 2d and 3rd Virginia Cavalry, moved from Upperville through
Middleburg, and having established his picket posts east of Aldie,
crossed over to Snicker's Gap road and proceeded with these two
regiments to procure corn at the house of Franklin Carter, about a
mile distant. He expected to encamp that night in the vicinity of
Aldie.
"Colonel Williams C. Wickham, with the 1st, 4th, and 5th Virginia
Cavalry, the remaining regiments of the brigade, had moved from
Piedmont through Middleburg, and was about to place his men in camp at
Dover Mills, near Aldie.
"The 5th regiment, Col. Thomas L. Rosser, which arrived some little
time after the 1st and 4th, was directed by Colonel Wickham to pass
beyond Dover Mills, and select a camp nearer Aldie. In so doing
Colonel Rosser encountered the enemy, who was rapidly driving back the
pickets established by Colonel Munford.
"The force of the enemy making this attack was the 2d cavalry
division, commanded by Gen. D.M. Gregg, and accompanied by
Major-General Pleasonton. General Kilpatrick's brigade, consisting of
the 2d New York, 1st Massachusetts, 6th Ohio, and 4th New York
regiments, supported by the 1st Maine Cavalry from Col. J.J. Gregg's
brigade, and by Randol's battery, appears to have done all the
fighting. The two other brigades of General Gregg's division were
closed up within supporting distance.
[Footnote 37: _Life and Campaigns of Maj.-Gen. J. E. B. Stuart._]