Gray Ghost: The Life of Col. John Singleton Mosby

Image Plates

This previously unpublished photograph depicts Mosby as a lieutenant colonel in 1864. (From the collection of Kent Masterson Brown.) Mosby’s reputation as a troublemaker at the University of Virginia went against him during his trial for shooting a fellow student. This daguerreotype was made before he was expelled for the shooting. (University of Virginia Library.) This portrait of Mosby as a University of Virginia student, depicting the gentle, scholarly side of his personality , contrasts so greatly with his daguerreotype of the period that he looks like a different person. (University of Virginia Library.) Above, Mosby shot fellow University of Virginia student George R. Turpin in Brock Boarding House,later renamed the Cabell House.(TheAlbemarle County Historical Society.) Below, Bristol,Tennessee/Virginia,in 1856 was on the verge of a building boom that would attract Mosby in 1858. (Courtesy of V.N.“Bud” Phillips.) Mosby’s wife, Pauline Clarke Mosby, enjoyed reading and discussing literature with her husband. She was a beloved wife and mother, and a dedicated member of the Roman Catholic Church. (The Virginia Historical Society.) Just before beginning his guerrilla warfare and perhaps sensing that he was on the verge of destiny, Mosby posed for his favorite wartime photograph of himself . (Russell, Memoirs.) Union general Edwin H. Stoughton (left), a graduate of West Point and descendant of a prominent Vermont family, never recovered his reputation after Mosby captured him in bed in this house (below) in Fairfax, Virginia. (The National Archives; The Virginia Historical Society.) After he became famous for capturing Stoughton, Mosby was promoted to major, a rank he held from March 26, 1863, to January 1864. (The National Archives.) Union soldiers such as these in southern Maryland searched for Mosby’s men in the bedrooms of his civilian supporters. (Frank & Marie-Therese Wood Print Collections, Alexandria, Virginia.) Families boarding Mosby’s men concealed them in secret hiding places such as the hidden cellar under the dining room at Belle Grove. (The Virginia Historical Society.) When he painted Mosby from life in Richmond in February 1865,Louis Mathieu Didier Guillaume may have portrayed the raider’s silent hand signal to attack. (Courtesy of the R.W. Norton Art Gallery, Shreveport, Louisiana.) The first page of Harper’s Weekly, September 5, 1863, featured Mosby’s men raiding sutler wagons near Washington, D.C. (The Library of Congress.) Above, Union troops guarding Chain Bridge on the Potomac River in Washington , D.C. went on alert during invasion panics resulting from fear of Mosby. (The Library of Congress.) Below, Lightly equipped and superbly mounted, Mosby’s men hovered just out of rifle range,scanning passing columns for stragglers and creating fear in the minds of the enemy.(TheWestern Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio.) During this October 11, 1864, attack by Mosby’s men in the Shenandoah Valley, Sheridan’s chief quartermaster, Lt. Col. Cornelius W. Tolles, and surgeon and medical inspector, Emil Ohlenschlager, jumped from the ambulance in which they were riding and attempted to escape. Both were mortally wounded. (The Western Reserve Historical Society.) Robert E. Lee told Mosby that his only fault was that he was always getting wounded.During his convalescence from his September 14,1864,wound Mosby posed for this photograph in Richmond. (The Virginia Historical Society.) Sheridan set aside a hunter-killer team of 100 men under Capt. Richard Blazer with one mission—kill or capture Mosby and his men.Here,Blazer and his men hunt for Mosby. (The Western Reserve Historical Society.) When Mosby’s Rangers emptied their revolvers, they used them as clubs. In this image Pvt.Sydnor G.Ferguson strikes the blow that knocked Capt.Richard Blazer to the ground and brought his capture on November 18, 1864. (The Western Reserve Historical Society.) Above, Fear of Mosby intruded on the honeymoon of Union general George A. Custer and his wife, Elizabeth, portrayed by newspaper artist James E. Taylor on a visit in 1864 to Sheridan’s headquarters in the Shenandoah Valley. (The Western Reserve Historical Society.) Below, Gen. Philip H. Sheridan nearly always succeeded, except in capturing Mosby. In this postwar photo he confers with subordinates, left to right: James W. Forsyth, Wesley Merritt, Thomas C. Devin, and George A. Custer. (The National Archives...