Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1872-04-02
Colonel Mosby.
from III. warrenton 1nde1.1s

We see 10 an issue of the Grand Army
Journal. of the 10th inst, published in
Washington, ID. O., "a defamatory attack upon
our !townsman, Col; sMosby The occasion for.
this attack was INSTRUMENTATION upon the floor
of the House of Representatives, and the att
tention there paid him BY Democratic mem-
bers.
1t is an easy matter for reckless editors and
anonymous correspondents to state that Col.
Mosby OF any other officer of the Confederate
army was monster of cruelty, and to bolster.
up such assertions by reference to cases of as,
sassination to which none but dead men can
testify.
But it is quite another matter to sustain
such statements by admissible evidence. No
greater mistake could be made than to sup>
pose that Mosby acted without reference to
accountability, or that his command was
"gang of cnt-throats" He was regularly
commissioned by the Confederate States Sec
rotary of War and subjected to orders of
General Lee, with whom he was in constant
communication, and to whom he rendered val
liable service. His command was composed
of veterans selected for courage and discipline,
as being most easily controlled on outposts, and
of boys under military age, reared in this aud
contiguous counties, too fresh from their fire.
side affairs to harbour a criminal thought or to
strike merciless blow. Friend and foe alike
admit Lee to have been a Christian soldier,
and it ought to be sufficient refutation of
the SANDERS of the Journal to answer that
the only reproof which he ever gave Mosby
was couched in these words, when the latter
on crutches approached him: "Colonel, 1
have but one fault to find with you, and that
is, you will get.wounded." If this we're not
enough, the safe conduct given to more than
al !pSo fol- h.
and his command during the last two years
of the war and sent to Richmond, ought
surely to silence the groundIess charge that
he .sviolated every principle of humanity"
Ii six thousand prisoners were safely con-
Quoted over a hundred miles to Confederate
prison by escorts from Mosby's command,
what becomes of the sweeping charge that
they were ga gang. of cut throats" and he
WAS their worthy leadeI?" And if those
escorts are allowed to have had no respect for
helpless enemy, is it reasonable to suppose
that they would have shocked the modesty of
friends of both sexes along their route by ex
posing the nakedness of any one under their
charge?
1t is true that Custar's lawless behavior at
Front Royal compelled Col. Mosby to appeal
to the bloody code of retaliation But that
was neither cold>blood assassination nor
SSoi GU "'oHiS ~ "uFueT MOSDy 8 men mad
been gibbeted after surrender by order of
Custar. A squad of Clusters command were
subsequently captured, and in the face of day
forced to draw tickets in the lottery of death.
The men upon whom. the fatal dacsion rested
were sent under guard to Berryville, across
the Shenandoah, almost in sight of the
enemy's bivouac, and there hung as examples
of military justice.
1t is also true that incendiaries in blue who
were caught in the act of firing dwellings be.
longing to non>combatcnts were not treated
as prisoners of war. The laws of humanity
forbade that they should be so treated; aud
it any Union soldier fell with torch in hand.
their blood lies rather on the head of the Of
Ulcers who ordered them upon fiendish errands
than on the head of Mosby and his men.
Col. Mosby who lives almost within the
shadow of the nation Capitol, notified the
Federal commander of the commission of
these acts at the time they occurred. and does
not now deny them. They furnish founda-
ton for all the wild stories of his cruelty
1T crimInality attaches to him on their ac>
count why has he not been tried by court
properly constituted
The answer is, Mosby is guiltless of any
crime
While scores of Union officers of unGues>
tionable reputation have paid HIM even higher
compliments than Democratic Congressman
only skulkers aud bummers, who fa,tened on
contracts and plumber during the war, and
hope to grow richer by keeping alive sectional
anlmosIties since the Inauguration of peace.
seem to refuse him his just need of praise.