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The 43rd Virginia Cavalry Battalion, also known as Mosby's Rangers, Mosby's Raiders, or Mosby's Men, was a battalion of
partisan Partisan may refer to: Military * Partisan (weapon), a pole weapon * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line Films * ''Partisan'' (film), a 2015 Australian film * ''Hell River'', a 1974 Yugoslavian film also know ...
cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...
in the
Confederate Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...
during the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
. Noted for their lightning strike raids on
Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...
targets and their ability to consistently elude pursuit, the Rangers disrupted Union communications and supply lines. The 43rd Battalion was formed on June 10, 1863 at Rector's Cross Roads, near
Rectortown, Virginia Rectortown is an unincorporated community in Fauquier County, Virginia. The Rectortown Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal gov ...
, when
John S. Mosby John Singleton Mosby (December 6, 1833 – May 30, 1916), also known by his nickname "Gray Ghost", was a Confederate army cavalry battalion commander in the American Civil War. His command, the 43rd Battalion, Virginia Cavalry, known as Mosb ...
formed Company A of the battalion. He was acting under the authority of
General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...
Robert E. Lee, who had granted him permission to raise a company in January 1863 under the
Partisan Ranger Act The Partisan Ranger Act was passed on April 21, 1862 by the Confederate Congress. It was intended as a stimulus for recruitment of irregulars for service into the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. The Confederate leadership, lik ...
of 1862 in which the
Confederate Congress The Confederate States Congress was both the Provisional government, provisional and permanent Legislature, legislative assembly of the Confederate States of America that existed from 1861 to 1865. Its actions were for the most part concerned w ...
authorized the formation of such units. By the summer of 1864, Mosby's battalion had grown to six cavalry companies and one artillery company, comprising about 400 men. After February 1864, the Confederate Congress revoked the authority of all partisan units, except for two, one of which was the 43rd Battalion, the other being
McNeill's Rangers McNeill's Rangers was an independent Confederate military force commissioned under the Partisan Ranger Act (1862) by the Confederate Congress during the American Civil War. The 210 man unit (equivalent to a small or under-strength battalion) was ...
. The battalion never formally surrendered, but was disbanded on April 21, 1865, after Lee surrendered the
Army of Northern Virginia The Army of Northern Virginia was the primary military force of the Confederate States of America in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was also the primary command structure of the Department of Northern Virginia. It was most oft ...
at Appomattox Court House to
Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...
but not before it had attempted to negotiate surrender with
Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...
Winfield S. Hancock Winfield Scott Hancock (February 14, 1824 – February 9, 1886) was a United States Army officer and the Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 1880. He served with distinction in the Army for four decades, including service ...
in
Millwood, Virginia Millwood is an unincorporated community located in Clarke County, Virginia, United States. Millwood is the home of many of Clarke County's most historic sites including the Burwell-Morgan Mill (1785), Carter Hall (1792), the Greenway Historic Distr ...
.


Etymology

What to call the Confederate 43rd Battalion was a matter of contention during the war. The members of the battalion were referred to as soldiers,
partisan Partisan may refer to: Military * Partisan (weapon), a pole weapon * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line Films * ''Partisan'' (film), a 2015 Australian film * ''Hell River'', a 1974 Yugoslavian film also know ...
s, rangers, and guerillas. The Union viewed them as unsoldierly: a loose band of roving thieves. Northern newspapers and Unionists referred to them as guerrillas, a term of opprobrium at the time. One of Mosby's men, Munson stated in memoirs published after the war that "the term uerrillawas not applied to us in the South in any general way until after the war, when we had made the name glorious, and in time we became as indifferent to it as the whole South to the word Rebel." Mosby himself avoided overtly militaristic words like "troops" or "soldiers" or "battalion" in favor of the more familial "Mosby's Men" or "Mosby's command".


History


Unit organization and muster

* Company A - Organized June 10, 1863, at Rector's Cross Roads,
Rectortown, Virginia Rectortown is an unincorporated community in Fauquier County, Virginia. The Rectortown Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal gov ...
* Company B - Organized October 1, 1863, at Scuffleburg, Virginia, just south of
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
* Company C - Organized December 7, 1863, at Rectortown, Virginia * Company D - Organized March 28, 1864, at Paris, Virginia * Artillery Company - Organized July 4, 1864, at Paris, Virginia * Company E - Organized July 18, 1864, at
Upperville, Virginia Upperville is a small unincorporated town in Fauquier County, Virginia, United States, along U.S. Route 50 fifty miles from downtown Washington, D.C., near the Loudoun County line. Founded in the 1790s along Pantherskin Creek, it was originally nam ...
* Company F - Organized September 13, 1864, at Piedmont Station near
Delaplane, Virginia Delaplane is an unincorporated community in northern Fauquier County, Virginia, approximately due west of Washington, D.C. Delaplane is situated along U.S. Route 17, U.S. Route 50, and Interstate 66; bordering Upperville, Virginia to the north, H ...
* Company G - A reorganization of the Artillery Company, November 28, 1864, at Salem in
Fauquier County, Virginia Fauquier is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 72,972. The county seat is Warrenton. Fauquier County is in Northern Virginia and is a part of the Washington metropolitan area. History In 16 ...
* Company H - Organized April 5, 1865, in
Loudoun County, Virginia Loudoun County () is in the northern part of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. In 2020, the census returned a population of 420,959, making it Virginia's third-most populous county. Loudoun County's seat is Leesburg. Loudoun C ...


Operating area, purpose, and recruiting

The method of operation involved executing small raids with up to 150 men (but usually 20 to 80) behind Union lines by entering the objective area undetected, quickly executing their mission, and then rapidly withdrawing, dispersing the troops among local Southern sympathizers, and melting into the countryside. Mosby's area of operations was
Northern Virginia Northern Virginia, locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA, comprises several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is a widespread region radiating westward and southward from Washington, D.C. Wit ...
from the
Shenandoah Valley The Shenandoah Valley () is a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge- ...
to the west, along the
Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augus ...
to
Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...
to the east, bounded on the south by the
Rappahannock River The Rappahannock River is a river in eastern Virginia, in the United States, approximately in length.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 It traverses the entir ...
, with most of his operations centered in or near Fauquier and
Loudoun Loudoun ( gd, Lughdan) is a parish in East Ayrshire, Scotland and lies between five and ten miles east of Kilmarnock. The parish roughly encompasses the northern half of the Upper-Irvine Valley and borders Galston Parish (which encompasses the ...
counties, in an area known as " Mosby's Confederacy". Mosby's command operated mainly within the distance a horse could travel in a day's hard riding, approximately in any direction from
Middleburg, Virginia Middleburg is a town in Loudoun County, Virginia, United States, with a population of 673 as of the 2010 census. It is the southernmost town along Loudoun County's shared border with Fauquier County. Middleburg is known as the "Nation's Horse an ...
. They also performed raids in
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
. Of his purpose in raiding behind the Union lines, Mosby said: Mosby felt that "a small force moving with celerity and threatening many points on a line can neutralize a hundred times its own number. The line must be stronger at every point than the attacking force, else it is broken." The unit also utilized child soldiers. According to the memoirs of former partisan Munson, Mosby welcomed volunteers attracted by the glory of the fight and the allure of booty, and had an eye for intelligence, valor, resourcefulness, but "what Mosby liked best was youth. He agreed with
Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
, that boys make the best soldiers . . . mere boys, unmarried and hence without fear or anxiety for wives or children." A few partisans were wizened old men in their 40s, but most were in their late teens or early 20s; two paroled after the war at Winchester were only 14 years old. An adolescent boy released from school for the day in Upperville just as Mosby's men were chasing Union troopers out of town "became so excited that he mounted a pony and joined in the chase with no weapon except his textbook. This would be the last day of study for Henry Cable Maddux . . . but the first of many raids with Mosby's men."


Uniforms, weapons, and tactics

The 43rd Battalion were partisans who melted into the civilian population when not on a raid, and at one point General Grant ordered several captured partisans hanged for being out of uniform. Nonetheless when raiding they did wear Confederate gray at least in some fashion. Munson said in his memoirs:
"Something gray" was the one requisite of our dress and the cost of it mattered little. Much of it was paid for by Uncle Sam out of the money we got from him directly and indirectly. . . . It has been said that we wore blue to deceive the enemy, but this is ridiculous, for we were always in the enemy's country where a Southern soldier caught dressed in a blue uniform would have been treated to a swift court-martial and shot as a spy. I never knew, nor did I ever hear, of any man in our Command wearing a blue uniform under any circumstances . . . We had no reason to use a blue uniform as a disguise, for there was no occasion to do so. Many of our attacks were made at night, when all colors looked alike, and in daytime we did not have to deceive the Yankees in order to get at them.
Munson's denial of the use of Union blue is contradicted by another source however. The diary of Union mapmaker Private Robert Knox Sneden, who Mosby captured near Brandy Station, Virginia at 3:00am November 27, 1863, records that Mosby's raiders were disguised in Union Blue overcoats, and so was Mosby himself. While interrogating Sneden, Mosby "opened his blue cavalry overcoat, showing a Rebel uniform underneath." Mosby's men each carried two .44 Colt army revolvers worn in belt holsters, and some carried an extra pair stuck in their boot tops. Mosby and his men had a "poor opinion" of cavalry sabres, and did not use them. Munson "never actually saw blood drawn with a sabre but twice in our war, though I saw them flash by the thousand at Brandy Station." Union cavalry initially armed with the traditional sabre fought at a considerable disadvantage:
The Federal cavalry generally fought with sabres; at any rate they carried them, and Mosby used to say they were as useless against a skillfully handled revolver as the wooden swords of
harlequin Harlequin (; it, Arlecchino ; lmo, Arlechin, Bergamasque dialect, Bergamasque pronunciation ) is the best-known of the ''zanni'' or comic servant characters from the Italian language, Italian ''commedia dell'arte'', associated with the city o ...
s. As the Mosby tactics became better known, scouting parties from the Northern army began to develop an affection for the
pistol A pistol is a handgun, more specifically one with the chamber integral to its gun barrel, though in common usage the two terms are often used interchangeably. The English word was introduced in , when early handguns were produced in Europe, an ...
, with increasing success I might add. In stubborn fights I have seen the men on both sides sit on their restless horses and re-load their pistols under a galling fire. This was not a custom, however; someone generally ran to cover after the revolvers were emptied. We both did this a good many times but, I believe, without bragging at the expense of truth, that we saw the back seams of the enemy's jackets oftener than they saw ours. . . Revolvers in the hands of Mosby's men were as effective in surprise engagements as a whole line of light ordnance in the hands of the enemy. This was largely because Mosby admonished his men never to fire a shot until the eyes of the other fellow were visible. It was no uncommon thing for one of our men to gallop by a tree at full tilt, and put three bullets in its trunk in succession. This sort of shooting left the enemy with a good many empty saddles after an engagement.
For instance, describing the fight at Miskel's barn, Munson says of William H. Chapman (later lieutenant colonel of Mosby's command) wheeling his horse in a thicket of Yankees " e pistols were not a foot apart. The Yankee's pistol snapped isfiredbut Chapman's did its deadly work. He fired six shots and emptied five saddles." A few guerrillas equipped themselves with
carbine A carbine ( or ) is a long gun that has a barrel shortened from its original length. Most modern carbines are rifles that are compact versions of a longer rifle or are rifles chambered for less powerful cartridges. The smaller size and lighter ...
s captured from the Union, but "they were unhandy things to carry" and unsuited for fighting on horseback; indeed in the thick of a February 1865 fight the carbines' long barrels made them too unwieldy to fire, and they were used instead as clubs. Mosby tried out some small field artillery pieces, including a brass Napoleon, but artillery proved to be too cumbersome for his fast hit-and-run tactics and not especially helpful in action. Ultimately Union troops found the mountainside hiding places of the cannons and made off with them. "The rangers had some of the best horses in a region known for raising great horses." All men had at least two; Mosby himself as many as six, since a few miles at a flat-out run would exhaust even the best horse—and Mosby's men were constantly either running toward or away from the federals. The men were devoted to their horses. During the Mount Zion Church fight on July 6, 1864, guerrilla John Alexander "noticed in one of the charges that his mount was unaccountable dull, and in spite of the most vigorous spurring ... fell into the wake of the pursuit." After the action he rode his horse some distance toward Fairfax, slid exhausted out of the saddle and fell asleep in a field, and on the following morning:
. . . awoke ndsaw my horse standing at my feet with his head bending over me. His breast and forelegs were covered with clotted blood which had flowed from an ugly bullet wound. How long he had stood there in mute appeal for sympathy and relief, I do not know--perhaps all night. But as I recalled how cruelly I had spurred him to the chase the evening before, how without a groan of protest he responded the best he could, and how patiently he had stood with me, all unconscious of his suffering, on that lonely, miserable watch, I was not ashamed to throw my arms around his neck and weep out of my grief and contrition. . . . That was urfinal ride together.
Speed, surprise and shock were the true secret of the success of Mosby's command. A small, intrepid mounted force could charge a much larger one, and with the terrorizing advantage of surprise, rout them. If attacked themselves, the guerrillas would sometimes ride away a brief distance and then round on their attackers and charge back into them, panicking and scattering them in the melee. Or they would simply "skedaddle", that is scatter to the four winds, and individually make their way back to the farms in Loudoun and Fauquier counties where they were welcomed, hidden, and succoured. Mosby would then send word telling chosen men when and where to assemble for the next raid.


43rd Battalion unit history


1863

* The Chantilly Raids - January 5–6, 1863 * The Chantilly Church Raid - January 26, 1863 * The Herndon Raid - February 2, 1863 * The Thompson's Corner Raid - February 26, 1863 * The Fight at Aldie - March 2, 1863 * The Fairfax Court House Raid - March 8–9, 1863 * The Miskell's Farm Fight - April 1, 1863 * The Warrenton Junction Raid - May 3, 1863 * The First Catlett Station Raid - May 19, 1863 * The Second Catlett Station Raid - May 30, 1863 * The Raid on Seneca Mills - June 11, 1863 * The First Calico Raid - June 19, 1863 * The Raid on Mercersburg - June 28, 1863 * The Fight at Gooding's Tavern - August 24, 1863 * The Cavalry Camp Raids - September/October, 1863 * The Wagon Raids - October/November, 1863


1864

* The
Battle of Loudoun Heights The Battle of Loudoun Heights was a small cavalry skirmish during the American Civil War between John Mosby's Rangers and Major Henry A. Cole's 1st Potomac Home Brigade Maryland Cavalry on January 10, 1864, in Loudoun County, Virginia. Cole's ...
- January 1864 * The B&O Raid on Duffield Station - January, 1864 * The Fight at Blackleys Grove - February 20, 1864 * The Battle of 2nd Dranesville - February 21, 1864 * The Second Calico Raid - July 3, 1864 * The
Action at Mount Zion Church The action at Mount Zion Church was a cavalry skirmish during the American Civil War that took place on July 6, 1864. The skirmish was fought between Union forces under Major William H. Forbes and Confederate forces under Colonel John S. Mosb ...
- July 6, 1864 * The Berryville Wagon Raid - August 13, 1864 * The
Raid on Merritt's Cavalry Division Raid, RAID or Raids may refer to: Attack * Raid (military), a sudden attack behind the enemy's lines without the intention of holding ground * Corporate raid, a type of hostile takeover in business * Panty raid, a prankish raid by male college ...
- September, 1864 * The Manassas Gap Railroad Raid - Oct 3–7, 1864 * The
Greenback Raid Greenback may refer to: Currency * Greenback (1860s money), a fiat currency issued during the American Civil War *Greenback, a nickname used for the United States dollar in the financial press in other countries, or slang for the US paper dolla ...
- October 14, 1864 * The Valley Pike Raid - October 25, 1864 * The
Rout of Blazer's Command Blazer's Scouts was a unit of the Union Army during the second half of the American Civil War. They were particularly active in tracking down and confronting Confederate partisans and guerrillas in West Virginia and Virginia; especially those o ...
- November 17, 1864 The total tally for the 43rd Battalion by October 1864 was 1,600 horses and mules, 230 beef cattle, 85 wagons and ambulances, and 1,200 captured, killed or wounded, including Union
Brig. Gen. Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...
Edwin H. Stoughton Edwin Henry Stoughton (June 23, 1838December 25, 1868) was appointed a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War, but his appointment expired after it was not confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Four days later, on March 8, 1863, ...
who was captured in bed.


1865

* The B&O Raid on Duffield Station II - January, 1865 * The Fight at Mount Carmel Church - February 19, 1865 * The Skirmish at Munson's Hill - March 12, 1865 * The Harmony Skirmish - March 21, 1865 * The B&O Derailment Raid - March, 1865 On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered the 43rd Battalion's parent command, the
Army of Northern Virginia The Army of Northern Virginia was the primary military force of the Confederate States of America in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was also the primary command structure of the Department of Northern Virginia. It was most oft ...
. Immediately Colonel Mosby attempted negotiations with the Union commander in
Winchester, Virginia Winchester is the most north western independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Frederick County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Winchester wit ...
, to arrange for the surrender of the 43rd Battalion, but could not come to terms. Instead of surrendering, Mosby's command simply disbanded. On April 21, twelve days after Lee's surrender, Mosby gathered his battalion at Salem in
Fauquier County, Virginia Fauquier is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 72,972. The county seat is Warrenton. Fauquier County is in Northern Virginia and is a part of the Washington metropolitan area. History In 16 ...
, and read this farewell address to his men: With no formal surrender, however, Union
Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...
Winfield S. Hancock Winfield Scott Hancock (February 14, 1824 – February 9, 1886) was a United States Army officer and the Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 1880. He served with distinction in the Army for four decades, including service ...
offered a reward of $2,000 for Mosby's capture, later raised to $5,000. On June 17, Mosby surrendered to Major General John Gregg in
Lynchburg, Virginia Lynchburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner John Lynch (1740–1820), John Lynch, the city's populati ...
.


Reputation

Virginian newspapers were eager to carry articles about Mosby's Rangers. When other correspondents were captured in the Rangers' raids, they were treated well and given liquor and cigars. Mosby often played up his exploits to gain attention in the press for his unit and to emphasize the fact that the 43rd Battalion was a legitimate military command within the command structure of the
Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...
's army.


Legacy


The military effectiveness of Mosby's command

It is difficult to evaluate the contribution of Mosby's raids to the overall Confederate war effort. In his memoirs, John Munson stated that if the objective was simply "to annoy the enemy," they succeeded. In discussing as Mosby's "greatest piece of annoyance", the Greenback Raid in which Mosby's men derailed a train and captured a $170,000 payroll from the paymasters of
Philip Sheridan General of the Army Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831 – August 5, 1888) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close as ...
's army (each of the 80 raiders received a $2100 share, though Mosby himself took nothing), Munson says that due to Mosby's comparatively tiny force
... was necessary for the Federal troops to guard every wagon train, railroad bridge and camp with enough active and efficient men to prevent Mosby from using his three hundred raiders in one of his destructive rushes at any hour of the day or night. . .
General Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General of the United States ...
at one point reported that seventeen thousand of his men were engaged in keeping Mosby from attacking his weak points, and thus away from active service on the firing line. Finally it was not safe to send despatches by a courier unless a regiment was sent along to guard him.
On the other hand, Mosby's guerrilla operations were not highly regarded even within the Confederate Army. Brigadier General
Thomas Rosser Thomas Lafayette "Tex" Rosser (October 15, 1836 – March 29, 1910) was a Confederate major general during the American Civil War, and later a railroad construction engineer and in 1898 a brigadier general of volunteers in the United States Army ...
(with the support of Generals
Jubal Early Jubal Anderson Early (November 3, 1816 – March 2, 1894) was a Virginia lawyer and politician who became a Confederate general during the American Civil War. Trained at the United States Military Academy, Early resigned his U.S. Army commissio ...
and Fitz Lee) urged disbanding Mosby's command in a letter addressed to General Robert E. Lee. Rosser agreed with the Union that Mosby's men were not soldiers but glorified thieves—and bad for morale, because his regular troops were jealous:
osby's menare a nuisance and an evil to the service. Without discipline, order or organization, they roam . . . over the country, a band of thieves, stealing, pillaging, plundering and doing every manner of mischief and crime. They are a terror to the citizens and an injury to the cause ecause:First. It keeps a man out of the service whose bayonet or saber should be counted on the field of battle when the very life or death of our country is the issue. :Second. They cause great dissatisfaction in the ranks from the fact that these irregular troops are allowed so much latitude, so many privileges. They sleep in houses and turn out in the cold only when it is announced by their chief that they are to go upon a plundering expedition. :Third. It . . . encourages desertion . . . they see these men living at their ease and enjoying the comforts of home, allowed to possess all that they capture . . . . Patriotism fails in a long and tedious war like this to sustain the ponderous burdens which bear heavily and cruelly upon the heart and soul of man. . . .
General Lee sent the letter on to the Confederate War Department with an endorsement recommending "the law authorizing these partisan corps be abolished." But the War Department simply reduced the authorized partisan commands to two, Mosby's and John H. McNeill's. On later reflection, Lee concluded that whatever the military utility of the rangers in the larger scheme of things, Mosby was "zealous bold, and skillful, and with very small resources he has accomplished a great deal."''43rd Battalion Virginia Cavalry Mosby's Command'' p 105 (discussing Lee's recommended promotion of Mosby)


See also

*
List of Virginia Civil War units Virginia provided the following units to the Virginia Militia and the Provisional Army of the Confederate States (PACS) during the American Civil War. Despite the state's secession from the Union it would supply them with third most troops from a ...
*
List of West Virginia Civil War Confederate units The following is a list of West Virginia Confederate Units which were composed mostly or notably by citizens of the 50 counties of western Virginia which eventually became West Virginia. These units, with the exception of the Kentucky units, are d ...
*
McNeill's Rangers McNeill's Rangers was an independent Confederate military force commissioned under the Partisan Ranger Act (1862) by the Confederate Congress during the American Civil War. The 210 man unit (equivalent to a small or under-strength battalion) was ...


References


Bibliography

* Evans, Thomas J. and Moyer, James M., ''Mosby's Confederacy: A Guide to the Roads and Sites of Colonel John Singleton Mosby''. Shippensburg, PA: White Mane Publishing Co., 1991. * Jones, Virgil Carrington., ''Ranger Mosby''. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1944. * Keen, Hugh C. and Mewborn, Horace., ''43rd Battalion Virginia Cavalry Mosby's Command''. Lynchburg, VA: H. E. Howard, Inc., 1993. * Mosby, John S., ''Mosby's Memoirs''. J. S. Sanders & Co., 1995. * Munson, John W., ''Reminiscences of a Mosby Guerilla.'' Zenger Publishing Co., 1906. * Ramage, James A., ''Gray Ghost: The Life of Colonel John Singleton Mosby''. University Press of Kentucky, 1999. * Scott, John, ''Partisan Life with Col. John S. Mosby.'' Harper & Brothers, 1867. * Williamson, James J., ''Mosby's Rangers: A Record of the Operations of the Forty-Third Battalion Virginia Cavalry from Its Organization to the Surrender''. New York: Ralph B. Kenyon, 1896.


External links


Mosby Heritage Area

Stuart-Mosby Historical Society
{{Authority control Units and formations of the Confederate States Army from Virginia United States Army Rangers Loudoun County in the American Civil War Fauquier County in the American Civil War Operations of the 43rd Virginia Cavalry Battalion 1863 establishments in Virginia Military units and formations established in 1863 1865 disestablishments in Virginia Military units and formations disestablished in 1865 Irregular forces of the American Civil War