The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1895-01-27

turn to harper y refiy I'"'
infest the country between here and win
chester. Mosby's gang hung on our hanks
between Goose creek and Smokers Gap.
drin9 into our rear as we passed. Trains
require strong escorts. little parry
twenty minutes ahead OF my escort was
attacked beyond Charlestovn. The leu
tenant and two men we're killed ana SIX
captured"
MosBY's OPERATIONS.
This retrograde movement must nave
been a surprise to Grant; certainly noth-
Ing In his instructions JUSTIFIED 1t. AZ
that time I was In command OF pat
TALON OF cavalry tForty-thrd virginia..
Our theatre of operations was In Norlher"
Virginia. Ia the counties bordering Oh
the Potomac OH both sides Of the Biue
Ridge. It's points Of rendezvous were
along the eastern slope of the mountains.
could muster two OF three hundred men,
but the battalion. generally operated III
attachments of twenty-five or thirty, i'll
order 10 annoy and confuse the enemy
by striking a great many points at the
same time. / was directly under the OF
ders of General Robert h. Lee ana cor
responded regularly with nm. My eon
mand was the best uniformed anu '"e
best equipped body of men III ms amy
Our muster rolls sre among tle s-
crate archives in Washington. Inc s'olioo
that Bohemians have published OF our
zinc IN diseuise are pure Inventions
'rhe hundreds of northern soldiers Win
whom we came in contact are witnesses
To the contrary. Attacks and demohstfa-
lions were continually made along the 10
tonac and on the enemys communion
lions. The object was to compel heavy
attachments from the invading army 10
nrotect their borders and It's line OF sup
81 ffxtaGt N
of the enemy IT is dcnominated partisan
warfare and has the sanction of all
writer's on the science OF war. 1t is as le-
Ultimate TO strike an enemy In rear as in
front. During the time that Sheridan was
i'm the Shenandoah Valley this partisan
corps was the only Confederate force that
operated in his rear. or in Northern Viz
GINA east of the Blue Ridge. Sheridan az
fected to call us "guerillas," but never
defined what he meant by the term.
eve HUNG ONE AND SHOT SIX
Sheridan 10 Grant:
Berryville, Va, Aug. l1th.
"Mosby has annoyed me and captured
few wagons. We hung one and shot SIX
Of his men yesterday. | have burned all
wheat and hay and brought off all stock,
cattle and horses south Of Winchester.
Two days before this | had sent three
hundred OF his men prisoners 10 Rich
mOnd.
Again. August 18Th. Sheridan to Grant;
"Guerillas give me great annoyance. but
] am quietly disposing of numbers Oh
them"
Everybody will understand what quiet
~ disposlng" of a man means. especially
when read in the light Of his former dis
patch.
Again. Halltown, August I'D. Sheridan
TO Grant:
I'VE have disposed of quite number
OF Mosby's mem"
disposed Of is not the usual language
i'm which military reports state the cas-
ualties of war.
On September 18th Sheridan again tells
General Grant:
We have extermnated three officers
and twenty-seven men of Mosby's COM
mand in the last twelve days
1--WE have exterminated' is the lam
guage of the master of Stair. when he an
nounced the massacre of Glencoe. Sher!-
dan nowhere makes the slightest charge
against nay men of any act OF inhumanity
or breach of faith.
Not one-third of my command was from
that section of Virginia. great many
were Marylanders. Even If it had been
an unorganized body of citizens defend
ing their homes, they would only have
been doing what Gov. Curtin and Gen
eral Couch urged the Pennsylvania peo-
pie 10 do when threatened with invasion.
Pittsburg, Pa, August 4, 1861
To the people of the southern tier Of
counties of Pennsylvania:
Your situation Is such that raid by
the enemy is not Impossible at any time
during the summer and coming fall. L
therefore call upon you TO put your rifles
and shot-guns in good order. also supply
ing yourselves with plenty Of ammuni-
ton. Your cornfelds, mountain forests
thickets, buildings, etc, furnish favorable
places for cover; and at the same time
enable you to Kill the marauders, recol-
Letting that if they come it is to plumber
destroy and burn your property.
ID. y. COUCH.
Major-General Commanding.
This appeal to Pennsylvanians to turn
bushWhacliers is signed by graduate or
West Point and an officer of the regular
army, who once commanded a corps in
the Army of the Potomac. There were
great many men then with Sheridan
who had been captured by me and eX-
changed one was General Wells. COM
handing a brigade of cavalry. Another
was Colonel Russell. a. 4. G., Of the
Cavalry Corps.
our operations were called predatory
by people who were annoyed by them. In
a certain sense they were. All war must,
in a measure, be predatory Porter and
FarraSut, capturing merchant vessels and
dividing prize money with their crews,
are samples.
saERIDAN's DEvAsTATIoNs.
An artist who would paint from life
picture Of predatory war would select
Sheridan on his retreat down the Shenan-
doah Valley, driving herds of cattle and
focks of sheep before him.
Sheridan 80 Grant:
"HarTisonburg, October
Il have devastated the Valley from
Stanton down to Mount Crawford, ard
will continue. The destruction Of mills.
grain, forage, fOundries, etc, is very
great. The cavalry report TO me that
they have collected 5000 head Of cattle
and sheep between stanton and Mount
Crawford"
THE RIGHTS OF THE PARTIZAH.
Bowler, writer Of high authority,
says:
The partisan leader commands a corps
whose object is to injure the enemy by
action separate frcn that of his own
main army; the partisan acts chiefly
upon the enemy's lines of communication
and connection, and outside of and be-
yond the lines of operation Of his own
army, in the rear of and on the TANKS OF
an enemy. But he Is part and parcel of
The army, and as such considered en-
titled 10 the privileges of the law of war
so long as he does not transgress it,"
In his work from which | have before
quoted, General Hamiey says: Nothing
but the disabling of the enemy by heavy
defeats can prevent these enterprises
,fcf 81 ., nj,