The National tribune., 1910-07-21
REMOVAL OF COL. MosBY.

lie service of worthy Union soldiers who
served their country well in the field
and in civil employment the press bu-
reau, which has always been at the
service Of the ex-guerrilla, Mosby. Is
filling the papers with complaints over
his removal This is exceedingly i'm
polite, as there are too many Union
veterans alive who remember with hor-
ror and execration the deeds of the
band of guerrillas Mosby led. The vet
eran, Gen. E. w. Whitaker, who was
Gen. Clusters Adjutant-General, and
than whom no better cavalryman ever
drew a saber. writes to the Washington
Post, quoting from an authorized Life
of Mosby, written by one of Mosby' s
men:
On page 2s2 of this book you will
| find these words: The partiSans pur-
sued them for a mile, and then returned
to put to death all the prisoners who
had been taken and all the wounded
who had fallen by the way /"
In his report of this affair to Gen. Lee
Mosby says: They returned with 80
horses and no prisoners On page
476 will be found Mosby's address to his
men, dated April 81. 1865 tknowing
that Lee had surrendered his entire
army at AppomattoN-1 days before) ::
L disband your organization in prefer
ence to surrendering. to our enemies"
Soldiers of the Army of the Potomac
believe "Mosby's men, were not heroes,
/ but gang of outlaws, robbers and cow
ardly murderers. who never fought
openly, but attacked trains from the
bushes and in the dark. In the par
| ticular case noted above these outlaws
were in our uniform and in our lines in
the rear of Gen Sheridan's army, and
had surprised a small cavalry patrol
that was acting under the orders of the
commanding General of the Union
army.
Personally 1 have high regard for
the brave men who wore the gray and
met me in open battle. L number many
of them as my warm friends. and have
| been complimented by invitations to
their Reunions and banquets. They
| know my sentiments as to 'Mosby'S
gang" and / think l know their senti-
| ments. The survivors of the grand old
Army of the Potomac have a perfect
| disgust for the memory Of "Mosby's s
gang" but will be delighted to meet
any member of the Confederate veter-
ans who served the Lost Cause hon.
orably in battle.
| The historical truth is that the par
ers liked to call themselves, were the
greatest bane to the Southern Confed-
eracy, and are hated by the genuine
Confederates worse than they do the
Yankees. They were men who, under
the pretense of serving the Confeder-
acy. INDUCED in their wicked propensi-
ties for murder and robbery. No mat
| ta,. N
Virginia, Kentucky or Missouri, they
hurt the Confederates and the Confed-
crate cause worse than they did the
Union soldiers.
In the last years of the war we find
the Confederates, and particularly Gen.
Lee, trying to gather these fellows In
and make them help in winning actual
battles. Lees reports to the Confeder-
ate War Department are full of COM
plants as to these men, the damage
they were doing to friends and the
wiekedness of their Sinking their duty
in the ranks. They were the vermin
that every civil war breeds to distress
the country. Any man who escapes
from the strict discipline of an army to
/ OpcA dlc oil Aiio o"h icSpcHoiDlily Ii
very likely to soon become murderer
and robber.
A year or so ago one of Mosby's press
bureau wrote a wonderful story for
Munsey's Magazine of brilliant
achievement in capturing a Paymaster
on the Baltimore G. Ohio Railroad
When the feat came to be analyzed in
- l.
vulgar holdup such as were once fire.
quent on the Western roads and which
only Injured to the benefit of the ban
ditti A sailor who was on the train
wrote a true story for The National
Tribune. He was the only man on the
train who was in uniform. and as he
was going home on furlough he was
| without arms, as all the I:sst were.
Mosby's spies IN Washington had
learned of the departure of the Pay
master on a certain train. AS the coun-
try was then supposed to be peaceful,
no guards accompanied him, and at a
convenient place gang Of robbers had
been collected who stopped the train
and took not only the Paymaster's chest,
but robbed every passenger ON the
train, even going thru the trunks OF
the ladies. Not a dollar Of this money
ever went into the Golfers of the South
ern Confederacy, but was divided among
the banditti who planned the holdup.
Col. Mosby's attempts to glorify him
self and his men have gone beyond the
point of endurance. and the true his
tory will come out which will be ruin
GUS to their reputation.