This book tells the history of Mosby's Rangers from first hand accounts of soldiers and the inhabitants in which they encountered.

This book tells the history of Mosby's Rangers from first hand accounts of soldiers and the inhabitants in which they encountered.

During the Civil War, John Singleton Mosby led the Forty-third Battalion, Virginia Cavalry, better known as Mosby’s Rangers, in bold and daring operations behind Union lines. Throughout the course of the war, more than 2000 men were members of Mosby’s command, some for only a short time. Mosby had few confidants (he was described by one acquaintance as “a disturbing companion”) but became close friends with one of his finest officers, Samuel Forrer Chapman. Chapman served with Mosby for more than two years, and their friendship continued in the decades after the war. Take Sides with the Truth is a collection of more than eighty letters, published for the first time in their entirety, written by Mosby to Chapman from 1880, when Mosby was made U.S. consul to Hong Kong, until his death in a Washington, D.C., hospital in 1916. These letters reveal much about Mosby’s character and present his innermost thoughts on many subjects. At times, Mosby’s letters show a man with a sensitive nature; however, he could also be sarcastic and freely derided individuals he did not like. His letters are critical of General Robert E. Lee’s staff officers (“there was a lying concert between them”) and trace his decades-long crusade to clear the name of his friend and mentor J. E. B. Stuart in the Gettysburg campaign. Mosby also continuously asserts his belief that slavery was the cause of the Civil War—a view completely contrary to a major portion of the Lost Cause ideology. For him, it was more important to “take sides with the Truth” than to hold popular opinions. Peter A. Brown has brought together a valuable collection of correspondence that adds a new dimension to our understanding of a significant Civil War figure.

"Colonel Mosby was a 'Virginian of the Virginians', educated at the State's University, and seemed destined to pass his life as an obscure Virginia attorney, when war brought him his opportunity for fame. The following pages contain the story of his life as private in the cavalry, as a scout, and as a leader as partisans"--Introduction.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1867 edition. Excerpt: ... APPENDIX. ACCOUNT OF PRIVATE M'CUE'S IMPRISONMENT. [TnK following facts in regard to the treatment of M'Cue have, at my request, been furnished me by a gentleman well acquainted with them. They present a picture of despotism and cruelty rarely witnessed in a Christian country, but they bear, at the same time, honorable testimony to the fidelity with which General Grant adhered to the engagements which he contracted at Appomattox Court-house.-- Editor.] From Annapolis he was removed to Baltimore and cast into a negro jail, where his treatment was that of a convict. He was heavily ironed, and confined in a dark, cold cell, and when a fellowprisoner, through the iron-bars of his dungeon, gave him a blanket, the order was given to the prison-guard to take it away. Very soon a man dressed in Confederate uniform was put in the cell with M'Cue, and left to spend the night with him. The stranger made advances toward an acquaintance, asked his fellow-prisoner his name, to what command he belonged, and the charges preferred against him, and at the same time told him that he himself was under charges as a Confederate, and was to be tried by a military commission. He doubted not, he added, that both of them would be sentenced to the gallows. "I have a proposition to make to you, for there is but one way in which we can save our lives--to rush upon the guard, seize their arms, and murder them. In the confusion thus created, an opportunity may occur for our escape." The proposition was so wild and impossible of execution that M'Cue at once saw in it a snare prepared for his destruction. So he very quietly said to his companion," You may attempt to murder the guard and make your escape, but I will have nothing to do with it." He knew he was a...