The Washington times., 1911-10-13
SHATTERED RANKS
OF MOSBY'S BAND
MEET TOMORROW
Rangers To Recount Stirring
I Scenes Of Civil War At
Manassas Reunion.

~ There will gather tomorrow, at
Manassas, Va, in a reunion Of
cofnradeship founded in the bloody
9, stress Of the civil war, the survivors Of
what was doubtless the most unique
(. military body of those bloody days
= Mosby's command. re4
- There are not many that remain; time
,lp1as done what the swords and bullets
= 'bf the enemy did not succeed in do
7, ing; and out of that band that fiirted
~ with danger and laughed at death, in
&c the days when their intrepid COM
1nander gaylly led them to do the i'm
~ nlpossible-which oftimes was done. as he
Ia said, because 1t was impossible-there
. are but scant hundred that will
!, gather at Manassas to tell again the
\ tales of their daring deeds in the roar
n ing sixties.
1t was in the country about Manassas.
'f'when the Northern Armies overrun
= Northern Virginia, that "Mosby's Men,
Il. were the only representatives of the
g Southern Confederacy to bear the battle
ag between the Rappahannock aad the
= Potomac rivers.
Old Only In Years.
=. 1t will be a reunion of old men, but
r they >are old men that still have the
's than a dozen years ago Uncle Sam
:, called for volunteers to free Cuba. out
stripped their children in offering their
rs tried war wisdom to the service of
= their country. And one. Captain
= samuel Chapman, now q minister OF
:. the gospel at Covington, Va, (whom
W ais old leader had characterized
as deserving of no praise for bravery
y because he was SO utterly without any
Y sense Of fear) was the chaplain OF Old
Virginia's regiment that fought the
cpaniards in Cuba.
Il These old veterans Of the war time
will gather at Manassas tomorrow and
talk over the days when 1t was boots
and and saddle with them seven days ir
tunity not for rest but for fight.
For many years they have gathered
Z each autumn at some place that was
a scene of part of their activities, dur.
ing their stirring career.
49, These old veterans, who dared the
Z. most dangerous service of the Confed
sn crate army. were the last, soldiers O
-. up. 1t was almost a month after Gen
y eral Lees surrender at Appomattox he
fore their leader, still hoping that tn.
q Johnston. in North Carolina, might
through some miracle, stay the vic
torious advance Of the Northern arms
r called his soldiers before him one brigh
iSs spring morning at Salem, now Marshall
<! which they had fought for four year
I'll was indeed lost, bade them return t,
sc.their homes and submit to the will o
rs the victor. 'Mosbys Men" were tn,
ug last of the Confederates to lay dow
sia their arms in Virginia, the battlegroun,
az OF the civil war.
Officers In Charge. .-.
And when they laid them down. the.
did so in fact. Many of them hav
since that time held offices Of trust an,
honor In the service of Uncle Sam. No
Y few have become ministers of the Cos
pei. 1t alv Us has been their boas
= that they ught as long as there wa
any chance in the fight, but that, whel
r all hope was gone, they quit fightin
~ and became loyal citizens of the Union
'' The reunion of these grizzled veteran
-, is organized under charge of Col. viii
liam Chapman, of Richmond, second Il
command in Mosby's Rangers, who 70
more than thirty years has occupied
high position in the revenue service o
the Government With him are associ
ated Capt. Ben Palmer, a prominen
business man of Richmond; John Rus
y sell, of Berryville. in the Shenandoa
valley; Major Robert Hunter, of Wash
ington, and others who saw hot wa
under their leader in the bygone days.
The Southern railway will make
special excursion rate from Washingto
to Manassas to those desiring to atten
the reuhioh. '...... ........