The Sunday herald. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1866-1887, 1885-12-06
tSan Francisco CALL

warfare in which he was engaged has been written
OF by two Of his men Crawford and Scott, the
former Of whom Is Californian. When Col.
Mostly was In CHINA as Consul at Hong Kong, shortly
before his recent retirement from that Federal po-
ston, and his subsequent departure for this cty,a
New York publishing firm sent there several nun
dred copies Of blood and.tnundcr story, In when
he was principal character The fame that ne won
and the yellow backed literature was disposeu OF III
q couple OF hours.
Before inc war broke out John s. Mosby was
practicinp law In Virginia. lie was then twenty
seven years oil. Un the day the first shot OF the
Rebellion was bred at Fort Sumter he Joined com
pany OF cavalry which became part OF the flrst VIZ
ginia Cavalry Regiment, doing duty In the Shenan-
doah Valley. Co. Jones made him his adJntant.
on the reorganization Of these Confederate forces
Fitzhugh Lee, VINO has Just been elected Governor
OF Virginia. was chosen colonel of the regiment and
Mosby sent In his resignation as ah1ntant. Much to
In December, 1862, the cavalry Of both armies lay
Inactive on the banks of the kappahannock, only
infantry ouposs being maintained. Under these
few civalrymen for Remembering purposes, and
relieved him and them OF AL the ordinary military
regulations Mostly was subject to the orders OF no
one but stuart anil Gen. Lee, and with his small
bniy OF men could leave and enter camp when he
chose. One day he left camp Win fifteen cavalry
make what observations he could In Northern Vir-
glnla. 81 went. intending to he gone two or three
weeks" he sail, and never came hack" His Gu.
reer aa leader In II peculiar aui, to some extent,
new style OF lighting then began. Ills forces con.
between four or i've hundred yonng men, ready TO
do ami dare anything In the way Of warfare.
it was romantic life we led" said Col. Mosby.
Isl have rarely talked about the war, because dis
like to recall the OF blood that occurred then,
but there were other features OF 1t that are pleasant
e Ss 70 s 81 s s e
The privaies were dressed and accnured AZ well as
any major general In the army his cost us moth
Ing. lhe Union furnished us everything we re.
ariired Every man of us was mounted on the hest
Of Federal horses and sat in Mcclellan saddles. At
first, when our force was small, we con,ented our
never taken part In war. have yon?"
"None. except OF a domestic nature"
swell, when troops are encamped In force twenty
cavalrymen or SCARE stationed together couple OF
miles from the main body on the roads or other ap-
prOaches, 10 give warning Of the coming OF the
enemy These are nutposts. led my men by
roundabout ways until we got between the outposis
and the Federal troops they were guarding. AZ
night, when our attacks were made, only a vldette
remained on watch for them, the others at the out
post going to sleep, and he kept hundred yards or
up behind without being noticed, and II We were
seen 1t was supposed that we were coming from the
Federal lines. In this way we captured many
picket by surprise, and at every capture, having
horses and arms to give away, obtained more men,
one night In the dead of winter set out with about
Informed me that larger force OF cavalry than
usual had been placed at the outpost, because the
new methods Of warfare that practiced were be-
ginning to he felt. and my men had ridden far
that night and determined that wonld not go back
without making some effort to carry out my design.
reasoned that the Federal cavalry w0ud think that
a detachment which would dare attack them was as
large or larger than theirs. and as was dark they
c roa a n nsce a our NH @ Gn cS a'H N
front this time. The videtie saw us when We were
about two hundred yards away, and when he called
out to u.s. Halt! who goes there? q we raised rebel
yell that shook the echoes OF the night and spurred
our horses on ut an Increasing speed. The cavalry
were sleeping In sch m, anl the yiaete who
did not stay TO see who we were hut rushed OIL Into
the pine forest near there, leaving over hundred
horses with equipments behind. We were satisfied
with our booty.
You knog we are retsrrs to yss
did pof deserve that Tile. All The Weapons we had
were two Colts army pistols. bushwhacker
generally gets behind tree and ires at long range
shoot far enough. Beside, we always fought
mounted, which bushwhacEers do not do. We were
IN peculiar position AMI one that permitted US to
tween Washington and the Union Army. the latter
being between us and Lees forces. by being behind
the Federal Army, which was fronting Lee. we com
PEELED the throwing ont OF pckes In Its rear, anil
we worried the Union troops SO constantly that these
plckeis were made numerous enough for the vldeites
10 see or call out to each other at night hem too.
we threatened TO cross over into Maryland and take
Washington by ourselves SD In order to head us
retained along the Potomac In this way many
thousands OF Federal troops who would otherwise
have assisted In beleaRuering Lee were kept watch
ing me. other plcSets were also thrown out to pro.
tect SherIlans army on another se Of the territory
which cons,itu'edm my base OF operations. The topOg
raphy OF the country was such that an active par
tisan could accomplish telling results. You might
suppose circle In which was at the centre and
Union troops were all around me at the cironmfer.
ence You can easily see what an Immense number
of men II would take to guard every point OF that
circumference. as was done them and what proper.
| ton they bore 10 my troops"
" Under such circumstances 1t seems easy fol
| them to have captured YOU"
"They did not lind 1t easy said tho Colonel
| smiling at the recollectiOns passing through his
| mind. Whenever we were attacked and pursued
as we often were, we aed Into ne IN, mountains Of &c
| miRt A body OF trOODs always found 1t useless tC
follow us further. Each man could easily ind a
hiding place In the thick forests Of pine. We had
| rendezvous where we afterward came together. Al
| o matter OF course, some Of my men were wounded
and KILLED, but had no difficulty In getting others Il
take their places as mine was tho most attractive
| regiment In the Confederate service. In order Il
| avoid an lrreirevable disaster divided my troops
| into two bodies One OF them was under the charge
| OF Lieui. Col Chapman. VINO was afterwari ap
pointed special Internal revenue agent by Presi
dent Grant one Of my o,eeTs MAJ Richards b.
Well, only one OF these parties went out at time
and consequently always had fresh troops to de
!. Were you never c,ptured?"
"Once lay wounded on the ground when
Federal soldier came up and asked me who was
| gave him fictitious name, and as he did mot Know
me he left me there. That wasthe nearest approach
had to being captured. The bullet struck me Il
Just before went away to China | left 1t with m
daughter as memento. was wounded six times
IN Mo ospy Ue ny of
exploits, and gave an horitaiye account OF sewers
captures that he made.
IN the history of the Cvil War, written by III
Comte dc Paris, who was on Mcclellans stan, ther
Is the following passage concerning the guerill
son the sih OF March hosby siRnazed himself by
bold stroke of extraordinary audicty. The reade
Will probably remember that the Virginia ATTORNEY
having landed, on the attn OF August, 1862, at Aiken
? Landing, was the hrst 10 carryto Lee the news {
Burnsde's departure from Alexandria. lie wa
psoss wssfa ss
| two months the crime OF having once slept "a
? sonndly near the Federal oulposis. Since then
had thought OF nothing but TO revenge himself I,
his mishap, and to catch, IN his turn, some unloni
IN nagranle delicta OF profound sleep But h
mined 10 90 IN searan of them il, me Very centre
the Federal quarters, at Fairfax Courthouse, b
tween Washington aud Honker's army"
Stosghton prlsoner?"
Yes. / captured him right among four or a.
"The night selected was pieh-dark. The FEEDER
cavalry pckes were three or four miles OF from n
army, and as guide, OF mine knew where the
passed beyond their line.
I've rode through the entire army, those who sa
: stoagntons headquarters. II was ane br,
house. dlsmonnisd and rang the bell. One Of =
aides put his head out Of the window and sal
belonged to the Firth New York Cavalry. and had
despatch for aen. stoughton The aide came dow
In his night clothes and opened the door. grabb
. him by the collar and requested him to take me
once to Stoughton's room. Heidi 30. Gen. Stoug
ton was In bed snoring. Half dozen emp
| champagne bottles were lying around on the tab
Y and floor Stoughton was In deep slumber, lylI
on his face palled down the ned,elohes and ga
and appeared very Indignant.
"'Wh0 are you 2 he asked nercey.
"'You'ye heard OF Mostly, haven't you? 4
o CURED.
Sudden interest.
@, No. but he's caught YOU, replied.
"sThe devil exclaimed Sioughion.
"sGet up aud dress, said. lie did SO, He kne
II was dangerous not TO obey orders; Meanwhile
seut my men around to the atabeA They got ADO
hundred splendid horses, mounted thirty or for
prisoners on them, and we rode on. We were III,
fully seven miles within the Union lines, and und
the circumstances naturally thought II doubt
whether we could safely get out
ave had TO go by Centreville where the Uni
troops were stationed. When we passed there, an
a sharp ride, the day was Just breaking. We cou
= see the guns pointing straight al ns. and could he
the cry OF the sentlnels that all was Well. IN
supposed we We're their own cavalry, as we we
coming directly from headquarters. felt that VII
we had done would be discovered, and that
II would be followed by Federal cavalry. SO aft
| nj n "A "A