Evans, Thomas J., and James M.
Moyer. Mosby's Confederacy: A Guide to the Roads and Sites of Colonel John
Singleton Mosby. Shippensburg, Pa.: White Mane Pub. Co, 1991.
From the book’s dust-jacket: “As
Mosby said after reading the Life of Marion, ‘I remember how I shouted when I
read aloud…the way the great partisan hid in the swamp and outwitted the
British.’ As an old veteran, he explained his war tactics to an interested
small boy named George S. Patton, Jr. In between, Col. John Singleton Mosby
earned a reputation as the Civil War’s greatest guerrilla leader. He so
dominated his chosen battleground, centering in Northern Virginia, close to the
seat of the Union government, that it became known as Mosby’s Confederacy.”
This wonderful book is relatively
hard to come by, yet it is essential reading for anyone contemplating day-trips
into Mosby’s Confederacy. It was written by many of the stalwarts of the
Stuart-Mosby Historical Society, some of whom I’ve known and many I regret that
I did not know. Several of these men and women fall into the category of those
we call “old-timers,” in that they knew or knew someone who knew some of Mosby’s
men. So, much of what is found here is based upon oral history or rather
obscure written sources. Even if you never chance to enter Mosby’s Confederacy,
you may be fascinated by the places and events described in this book and the people who inhabited
them not so long ago.
