Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1895-03-22
MOSBY'S RAIDERS.
Their Reunion R"vivcs Memories of Their
Thrilling Career.

Thrilling Career.
Apropos of the late reunion in Alex
andria, Va. of the survivors of Mosby's
partisan rangers "A letter TO the Phila-
delpha Press from that city says:
When Mosby organized his rangers,
rs they were called, numbers of young
men, from the rich planters son to the
struggling store clerk, living in the
counties of Loudoun, Fauquier. Gull
pepper Prince William and Fairfax
locked to his standard. This youthful
and impetuous band of troopers. who
had, metaphorically speaking grown
up in the saddle were thoroughly famil-
lar with that romantic belt of country
in whose streams they had fished, and
over the hills and through the valleys of
which they had hunted the fox, and
with a good horse under them and a
brace OF pistols in their belt, they be-
came perfect dare-devils under Mosby's
intrepid leadership, and to execute his
plans would run the risk of being cap
tured or shot with an abandon that was
"a gay rs ii was reckless
Mosby aimed to do on land what Adj
mirnl Semmes did on the high seas,
though on much smaller scale. His
numerous raids among the enemies
supplies. the way i'm which he impeded
their progress by tearing up the rail
roads and other schemes of strategy, to-
gether with the bold captures he effect
ed sometimes surprising a whole regi-
meut with mere handful OF men, aided
the southern army materially in the
early stages of the late war, and proved
him to be "A genius in that mode of war
fare. AT the close of the war Mosby
was an idol in Virginia and could have
had any honor within the Gift of her
people. Neither the prestige of the
governorship nor that of the United
States senate would have been beyond
his reach, probably. But when he re-
pudiated the principles of the confeder-
acy and swOre allegiance TO Gen. Grant,
his popularity began 10 wane, his
friends and admirers gave him the cold
shoulder, and in few years his name,
that had been on 50 many tongues, lost
its magic.
The result was he abandoned what
had been a lucrative law practice at the
WarrentOn bar. then the ahicst i'm the
state, with abundant litigation before il
to be settled sacrificed hi, beautiful
nome and accepted petty consuiship
AT Hong Kong.
About the same time that Mosby went
over to the republican party he became
involved i'm a controversy with the late
a. ID. PAYNE. who was captain OF the
famous Black Horse Cavalry. a few
hours afterward Mosby sent Payne a
peremptory challenge, which was
promptly accepted. PAYNE. having the
choice of weapons, designated the rifle.
Payne was known TO be a dead shot
with rifle while Moshy was equally
as expert with a pistol. and not a
stranger TO any iirearm that was in use
during the war
~ both had growing families depend
ent upon them and were men of social
prominence, whose courage and impet-
nous natures had so lately distinguished
them i'm time of war. the news of the
trouble spread like wi.diire and pro-
duced intense excitement both north
and south. \ secluded spot about ten
miles from WarrentOn was selected a
the battle-ground and daybreak named
as the hour of meeting. Under cover
of nightiall Payne and his second a
brave young fellow named Littieton
Helm, who has since died made their
way To the scene of action. and all
night long stood out in the open in a
drilling rain, practicing by the light
of a capricious moon. shooting paper
balls into the air.
They hailed with delight the first
glimmer of dawn and were in high
spirits, but after long wait for Mosby
and his party Payne showed signs of
Impotence and disgust. Two hours
passed. but Mosby still failed TO put in
an appearance. Suddenly the clatter
of a horses hoofs was heard and Mos
by's second rode up and announced
that his principal had been arrested in
| Washington the evening before. The
affair blew over or was patched up in
some way; at any rate the duel never
came off.
Mosby has an interesting family Of
| children, consisting OF two sons and
/ three daughters. One of his sons. John
/ Mosby. is "A LAWYER in Denver. Mosbv's
personality is striking one. His
/ ciean-shavcn face of wcll-cut features
and eagle eve would attract attention
anywhere lie has preoccupied air
and j. disposed 10 bee cold and taciturn
/ to strangers but with his friends he i
an aifable aud entertaining companion.
whose conversation reveals scholarly
tastes and a close observance of men
and affairs.