The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-04-03
MOSBY DESCRIBES
A GALLANT RAID
He and His Men Tried to Do
Their Duty
SOLDIERS DUTY TO KILL
The Colonel Tells of Some of the
Heroic Feats of His Men and of
the Sturdy Strength of
Their Foes.
SOLDIERS DUTY TO KILL
BY wATTERsoN sTEALEY.

BY WATTERSoN STEALEY.
Washington, April -(speciaL)-CoL
John s. Mosby, the Confederate cavalry
raider, has addressed the following let
ter to Judge Edward Campbell of Penn
sylvania 1t gives an interesting ac-
count of a dash made by one of Mosby' :
men upon a superior force of unioi'
troops:
Judge Edward Campbell, Uniontown, Pa
Ny Dear Sir: / received your letter with
newspaper clippings containing the texts
of three letters from members OF the
Fourteenth Pennsylvania cavalry in an
swer to my published letter addressed to
Mr.. Frank Moss of Boston. Mr.. Moss,
Captain Barton of Brookline, Mass and
a number of others had been captured by
my command; 1 sent you to read some
letters | had received from them. AT
Mr. Moss request ] was invited TO the
G. A, r. banquet in Faneuil Hail last
summer, You also sent me a newspaper
with q letter from a man VINO seems
TO have been an officer in the first PENN
sylyania cavalry. He complains OF our
killing pickets-which he calls murder /
never understood that a picket Is non
COMPLAINT and exempt from the ordinary
dangers of war When soldlef Is VI,
picket duty he is armed for attack ana
defense Members of the Red Cross So
cjetv do not carry arms, or go on the
nickel line except to care for the wound
ed | shall not crafty this man by put
ting his name in print. He evidently mas
The same ambition as the aspiring youth
who fred the Ephesian dome; ne longs ~,
Immortality. and is not scrupulous ABOUT
the way to get IL.
He saws thai he dreaded Mosbys COM
,nand more than any other, ana thal
..our piclket posts and picket lines were
never free from his raids | am giau W
boar that IL is what we were there LOT.
NJ, onerations received the commentator
Of General Lee and General Stualt l.
nos not much concerned about the opln-
ions of Pennsylvania people at INA. t'.ie'
If thew we're afraid of me, all the pet s
He SAYS we would shoot a picket 800
we would capture nm 'aNe nis 80 hs
and eouipments and leave ms oous ~
- ad Tor Inv his comrades | reckon tiiae
e abo,,t fine truth. Having done our uu's'
80 loft II to the picket comraoes ~
do theirs. AS long as there are VIZ .,
such things will happen. Men 20 " e.a.
80 Eill and get killed. During the MS u.s.
WOW Of the war ] was a private ~ -.
1Tirst virginia cavalry ana oiu a.
- 80 nicketing, Many shots were III "a
oeal VI ho,, was a vidette on the out
az ~ didn't cry but returned the ire
lrn,,,, man on our side was kiileu ""
" w - oall # murder, because we Weio
dlu ~. ,arrv n bullet in me and nave
soiu,e ai scara on my body but am hot q
,. 60 whine about them. IL ever
.,sla,, of them 1t Is In no spirit % - y,
4atIon or complaint, but Win lee cot
..Dr;de in the perilous hour VIZ - oono-
~ rhese attacks were mace 10 ~ ~.
them, o,,v TO consume their strength
PEI .,e ,,hat this man says we haue
-. u do IT was not my custom 70 t S
49, whom we were coming oo
NJ 20 Guard many points WINE We
iiau ,s 30 I was only carrying ou LIN,
n9a,aoieonic maxim. The poem, ,oars
Io,cl,et Guard" by Mrs. blizapeln naol,ly
hitch first appeared in Harper ,5 %
In November, 1861 Ut was g. n nathe
appropriate Tho killing of picket:
a,,,ot along the Potomac tonight
~, .a,,,d save the rush of the rlNer, =,
NO SUN noft falls the dew on the race Vi
the dead, ,.,,
The pcl5ets off duty TOT
Tells of Shooting Picket
,,,o,. of the First Pennsylvania
..,.a,,.v tells about a picket having oTen
.hot near Warrenton, va ny one -
1 si,,s,Ss and how he went on DARK
'-,'t ,,tb guard of 80 men Few
iHS from camp and captured Joe
asleen. He calls this a uahsSlous
,Ssdition." No doubt he thoush' so'
,,.oula have taken one man W w
Rut If Joe did murder the pione, w.,
dia he not hang Joe Wheh nc - q,
I'1 ~ saw him after the war IN
,,, :, Joe was lawful COMBAT
80. no did not go in disguise; put ne
~, 80 helong TO any command. lie was
,,;s own commander. General Coueh at
IIarr,shurg In the Gettysburg caiipaisii
issued a proclamation urging inc ol'iN e,ns
:. oo 70 bushwhacking. If there was
,,iI,tarv organization in the south
~ which the epithet of bush"naker uiu
not annlv II was mine. The ousr"hachei
Nras from ambush with a long rahse
,r,n NV men carried pistols ana always
attacked in a mounted charse. ihe ~.
pennsvlvanla cavalry know this iaet LOT
80, have felt the momentum of their
otorge AS a general rule, l have PAID
moro attention to fables published
about mo bv scribblers than CULVER ala
10 the Lilliputian's arrows write you
this letter because you are seeking ,he
tr,,tb one of the men OF the l4th
pepnsvlvauia cavalry says he was cap
tured bv my men and treated pretty
resnectably," but was sent OH on an
ennty stomach" which is probably true.
Empty StOmacneS were 'pihiii'" - 49,
shenandoah valley after Sheridan burned
N Another says that Mosby was
terror to the Union army. President
MCKINLEY told me the same thing. He
was a soldier in the Shenandoah valley
Rrt being terror to my enemies Is an
honor I must divide with Stonewal
jackson. Of course 1 get very small
share of it. These letters show that my
spectre still haunts some men TO whom
opposed in the war 1t is no discredlt
10 the renowned crusader that long nf-
Ter he was dead. the wild Arab used MS
name as a spell to quiet his horse. Glib
bon saws: ''The memory of Occur de
Lion, of the lion-hearted prince, was
long. dear and glorious to his English
subjects: and at the distance OF sixty
wears. It was celebrated In proverbial
sayings by the grandsons of the Turks
and Saracens against whom he had
fought his tremendous name was em-
pioyed by the Syrian mothers to silence
their infants; and if a horse suddenly
started from his way his rider was wont
10 exclaim "Dost thou fear King Rich
ard is in that bush?"
Another of these writer's speaks OF
-