Gray Ghost: The Life of Col. John Singleton Mosby (review)

?6?CIVIL WAR HISTORY could wear his constitutional robe when addressing the problem, while Lincoln was forced to play a heavy hand. Neely concludes that historians have viewed this difference between Lincoln and Davis in dealing with the border states as reflecting a basic difference between the two presidents in poUtical philosophy. After reading Neely's explanation, it becomes clear it was not. While Davis preached a "holier than thou" sermon, he soon succumbed to reaüty. On February 28, 1862, he suspended the writ of habeas corpus, which only one year earUer he had declared was a right "sacred to freemen." Imprisonments increased significantly without the pesky writ to get in the way. While the North saw the arrest of approximately thirteen thousand civiüans as "poUtical prisoners," Neely uncovered the records for 4,108 "political prisoners" under Davis's brand ofjustice. On a per-capita basis, the two figures are very close. In the end, we learn that civil liberties were a casualty on both sides. Should anyone be surprised? In Southern Rights, Neely has again produced a book that is both original and informative in a crucial area of the Civil War that has seen more myopia than scholarship. He presents us with a clear and scholarly explanation ofthis poorly understood aspect of fighting a war and fills a void that has been too long misunderstood . This is an important book, one that should be on any Civil War scholar's "must read" Ust. Edward Steers Jr. Berkeley Springs, W.V. Gray Ghost: The Life of Col. John Singleton Mosby. By James A. Ramage. (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1999. Pp. 428. $30.00.) John Singleton Mosby, one of the Civil War's legendary personalities and perhaps its foremost practitioner of partisan warfare, has long attracted the interest of historians, most notably Virgil Carrington Jones, Ranger Mosby (1944), and Kevin H. Siepel, Rebel: The Life and Times ofJohn Singleton Mosby (1983). James Ramage's meticulous biography is the latest offering and provides some new details about Mosby's life, career and motivations. Indeed, Mosby's "goaloriented leadership," self-discipUne, and infusion of team spirit is credited for his spectacular wartime successes (97). Among other things, Ramage attributes Mosby's renowned wartime fearlessness to his standing up to bullies during his childhood yet emphasizes his softer side as a devoted husband, parent, and grandfather (18). There is little need to outline Mosby's military exploits here because the author does so in fifteen of the book's twenty-three chapters. He never commanded more than four hundred men at any given time yet so dominated and demoralized Union forces in northern Virginia that the area became known as Mosby's Confederacy. It is obvious Ramage admires Mosby, yet his narrative avoids the pitfalls of blatant hero-worship. The Gray Ghost had his contempo- BOOK reviewsi6i rary detractors. Robert E. Lee complained he spent too much time attacking sutlers instead of military targets. Generals Thomas L. Rosser and Jubal Early accused him of hampering morale and encouraging desertions because their infantry envied the partisans' detached and seemingly easy-going duties, not to mention opportunities for licensed plundering (in, 134-36, 160-63). Rosser and Early's criticisms were most likely motivated by jealousy, as Mosby was personally honest (though given the nature ofhis duties occasionally disregarded regulations) and gained more favor int he Confederate press than the two generals combined. What is particularly appealing about this book is the attention paid to Mosby's postwar career. His rise and postwar fall as a Confederate hero, becoming a Southern Republican, friendship with Ulysses S. Grant, and role as a leading critic of Lee's Gettysburg campaign are all well documented in five chapters. He became an efficient reformer whose distinguished federal career as consul to Hong Kong, a land agent for the Department ofthe Interior, and as a Department ofJustice attorney brought him international respect as he crusaded against corruption with as much enthusiasm as he had fought Yankees. Ramage has done a masterfuljob ofresearching newly-available unpublished sources such as Mosby's personal scrapbooks at the University of Virginia Library . His bibliographic essay is a boon not only for...