Laid waste to everything

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3 responses to “Laid waste to everything”

1. 

   gpthelastrebel

   December 6, 2024

   Virtually from the beginning of the war, the Yankees saw an opportunity for plunder. John Mosby shot a Union soldier while he was still a private under Colonel “Grumble” Jones and was on outpost duty. Mosby found a letter from the man’s sweetheart encouraging him to send her “captured articles”. Now since she could hardly have meant horses, guns or the accoutrements of war, one must assume that she meant objects from civilian homes – jewelry, silver, etc.

   When Mosby was horribly wounded on December 21st, 1864, as he lay in agony in a pool of his own blood having been shot in the belly, a group of Yankees including a Major and a doctor plus some private soldiers, stripped him of his boots and his blood soaked pants before leaving him to (as they believed) die.

   Frankly, the Yankee army was nothing more than thieves in uniform.

   Virtually from the beginning of the war, the Yankees saw an opportunity for plunder. John Mosby shot a Union soldier while he was still a private under Colonel “Grumble” Jones and was on outpost duty. Mosby found a letter from the man’s sweetheart encouraging him to send her “captured articles”. Now since she could hardly have meant horses, guns or the accoutrements of war, one must assume that she meant objects from civilian homes – jewelry, silver, etc.

   When Mosby was horribly wounded on December 21st, 1864, as he lay in agony in a pool of his own blood having been shot in the belly, a group of Yankees including a Major and a doctor plus some private soldiers, stripped him of his boots and his blood soaked pants before leaving him to (as they believed) die.

   Frankly, the Yankee army was nothing more than thieves in uniform.

   Virtually from the beginning of the war, the Yankees saw an opportunity for plunder. John Mosby shot a Union soldier while he was still a private under Colonel “Grumble” Jones and was on outpost duty. Mosby found a letter from the man’s sweetheart encouraging him to send her “captured articles”. Now since she could hardly have meant horses, guns or the accoutrements of war, one must assume that she meant objects from civilian homes – jewelry, silver, etc.

   When Mosby was horribly wounded on December 21st, 1864, as he lay in agony in a pool of his own blood having been shot in the belly, a group of Yankees including a Major and a doctor plus some private soldiers, stripped him of his boots and his blood soaked pants before leaving him to (as they believed) die.

   Frankly, the Yankee army was nothing more than thieves in uniform.

   Val

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2. 

   gpthelastrebel

   December 6, 2024

   Didn’t they know who the Gray Ghost was??? Seems there would have been quite a reward for his body????

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3. 

   gpthelastrebel

   December 6, 2024

   Mosby was dining at the home of Ludwell Lake with one Ranger, Tom Love. He had just done a reconnaissance of the Union cavalry and had stopped at Lake’s home because he was hungry. It was a horrible night – rain, ice, sleet etc. and everything was bitterly cold; ice clung to the trees and the ground was frozen solid.

   Mosby believed that the Yankees had bivouacked for the night, but he was wrong. They started off again and seeing the horses, rode up to the house and burst in. Mosby and Love had left their weapons outside and had taken off their outer clothing and hats. Mosby put his hands to his neck to cover the two stars on his collar that identified him as a Lieutenant Colonel. He knew that even if they didn’t guess who he was, his rank would make him a prisoner so he knew at all costs, he had to convince his captors that he was only a lowly lieutenant.

   The Yankees were much the worse for drink taken against the miserable weather. The officer who burst in with some troopers went up to Mosby and asked his name. He told him that he was “Lieutenant Johnson of the 6th Virginia cavalry.” Suddenly shots erupted outside the house. Two bullets entered the window, one a revolver bullet that took a button off Lake’s vest (Mosby had Lake on one side of him, Lake’s daughter on the other and the Yankee captain in front of him). The second bullet missed everybody but Mosby. It struck him two inches below and to the left of the navel. He said that when it happened, he only felt a “stinging sensation” but cried out, “I am shot!” in hopes of causing confusion – which he did! The Yankees pushed over the table and ran out into the yard.

   In the dining room, Lake was dancing around and yelling and his daughters were screaming. Mosby took advantage of the moment, walked across the hall into Lake’s bedroom (which was on the ground floor), took off his uniform jacket and rolled it up. He then knelt down and shoved it as far as he could under Lake’s dresser. When he had finished, he lay down on the floor with his head to the dresser, put his hand in his pants where blood was pouring from the wound and rubbed the blood into and around his mouth to give the appearance of spitting up blood from the wound. It was his intention to pretend to be dying, but frankly, the stinging sensation had been replaced by a feeling that he was being cut in half with a very dull saw. He said he began to feel faint and sick and that his life actually passed before his eyes. He believed that he was dying but he didn’t want his body taken away by the Yankees as some sort of trophy. He may have seen the photos of Bill Anderson taken after his death and he didn’t want to appear in newspapers and books in such a state for his children to see in later years.

   When the Yankees returned, they went to him and Major Frazer asked Mosby’s name. He again said he was Lt. Johnson (Frazer had already asked Lake’s daughter and Mosby listened in fear not knowing what she would do – however, she denied knowing Mosby). Frazer then opened Mosby’s pants and drawers to look at the wound. He had a doctor with him; both men pronounced the wound mortal and they stripped him of his boots and pants and then left him in a pool of his own blood.

   When the Yankees returned to camp, they looked at his coat, cloak and hat – the outer garments he had shed for dinner – and determined that these costly items were not the plumage of a mere lieutenant. Love and a few other captured Rangers were shown the garments and told that the man who wore them was dead but they denied that they belonged to Mosby. However, the officer in charge of the regiment thought differently and the next morning they returned to Lake’s house looking for Mosby – but he was gone.

   The rest of the story – of his escape in an ox cart in the storm that night and the ten days or more that it took his men to transport him to safety behind Confederate lines during the incredible manhunt that the Yankees had underway reads more like a novel than history – but it is all true. It is a fascinating and wonderful story of suffering, courage and brilliance in the most trying of times.

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