Ghost in the Saddle: The Wild Ride of John Mosby

Books and movies have often saluted highly trained outfits like the Navy SEALs, Marine Force Recon., the Army’s Rangers and Green Berets, and the Special Tactics teams of the Air Force. Consequently, these elite troops are familiar to many Americans.
That Revolution created a similar folk hero in South Carolina’s Francis Marion, known as the “Swamp Fox” for his cunning and his ability to launch unexpected strikes against superior British forces. Nearly all American wars since then have given rise to leaders and military forces who fought conventional wars by unconventional means.
“Yes! Have you got the rascal?”
“I am Mosby,” said the intruder.
Both in war and in peacetime, Mosby also practiced what we today would describe with the adage “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” Dismissed from the university and sentenced to prison for the shooting, Mosby began studying law books in his cell, obtained an early release and pardon for his poor health, read the law with a friendly attorney, and soon hung out his own shingle.
After the Civil War ended—Mosby was one of the last Confederate officers to surrender—he risked and received the enmity of his fellow Southerners by becoming a Republican and by befriending and endorsing Ulysses Grant, his old opponent, for the presidency. The two remained friends until Grant’s death in 1885. From 1878 to 1885, Mosby served as U.S. consul to Hong Kong, fighting the corruption he found in the foreign service, and later worked as an attorney for the Southern Pacific Railroad. He rejected the postwar “Lost Cause” ideals of the Old South, mocked those who claimed that slavery was not the cause of the war, and until the end of his life, followed his own singular political path.
From boyhood through all these other endeavors, Mosby was known for his resilience and fighting spirit.
With this command and operating at times with Stuart, at times on his own, Mosby began the raids and the harassment of Union forces that would win him his nickname “Gray Ghost.” Not only did this tactic of sudden attacks and then disappearing into the region’s foothills and forests, or blending in with the general population, spread fear among his enemies, but these raids also brought much-needed supplies and weapons to the South.
Meanwhile, his exploits brought both fame and notoriety. Southerners adored and romanticized his exploits; Northerners reviled him for his raids and the humiliation and death that came with them.
Having confirmed these killings, Mosby retaliated by ordering seven captured Union soldiers put to death, although two escaped and two more, both shot, were left for dead and miraculously survived.
In “Gray Ghost: The Life of Col. John Singleton Mosby,” author James A. Ramage records an amusing anecdote from the Shenandoah Valley that succinctly renders the powerful hold Mosby had on the imagination:
In addition to Melville’s verse, numerous historical markers and monuments around Virginia bear witness to Mosby’s military actions. Two movies, a popular 1950s television show, several biographies and novels, and even a computer game also mark his impact on American history.