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Reminiscences of a Mosby Guerrilla

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JOHN MUNSON WAS ONLY 15 YEARS OLD, A NATIVE AND RESIDENT OF RICHMOND VIRGINIA WHEN HE FIRST HEARD OF THE DARING TALES OF JOHN S. MOSBY AND HIS BAND OF PARTISAN RANGERS. HE SET OUT ON FOOT TAKING TEN DAYS TO GET INTO 'MOSBY'S CONFEDERACY' WHICH WAS BASED IN UPPER FAUQUIER, LOWER LOUDOUN COUNTIES. HIS FIRST HAND ACCOUNTS, OFTEN PUNCTUATED WITH HUMOR, GIVES AN AMAZING ACCOUNT OF WHAT IT WAS LIKE DURING THE CIVIL WAR TO WORK IN A UNIT THAT WAS NOT A PART OF THE REGULAR ARMY OF THE CONFEDERACY. THE 43RD BATTALLION (DESIGNATED AFTER FORMALLY ORGANIZING LATER IN THE WAR) OPERATED IN SMALL GROUPS USUALLY NO MORE THAN 50 OR AS FEW AS TWO OR THREE FOR SCOUTING ASSIGNMENTS OR RAIDS DESIGNED TO NIP AT THE HEELS AND IRRITATE THE UNION FORCES,STEAL SUPPLIES, BURN BRIDGES, AND SO ON EVEN KIDNAPPING A UNION GENERAL FROM HIS BED ONE NIGHT IN FAIRFAX COUNTY. MUNSON WAS WITH THIS OUTFIT FROM EARLY IN IT'S OPERATION UNTIL THE VERY END, MOSBY LEARNED OF LEE'S SURRENDER AT APPOMATTOX AND CHOSE TO DISBAND HIS UNIT IN LIEU OF SURRENDERING TO UNION FORCES, MOSBY HIMSELF NOT ACHIEVING PAROLE UNTIL EARLY 1866, NEARLY A YEAR AFTER WAR'S END IRONICALLY BY THEN PRESIDENT U.S. GRANT, HE WAS THAT MUCH HATED FOR HIS ACHIEVEMENTS BY THE YANKEES. IF ONE IS AT ALL FAMILIAR WITH THE AREA OF OPERATION, THIS BOOK HELPS TO FULLY APPRECIATE THE BOLDNESS OF HIS WORK, HIS PASSION AND ENERGY FOR IT AND THE FACT IT WAS ALL DONE ON HORSEBACK. SPECIAL INSIGHTS ARE GAINED INTO MOSBY'S RELATIONSHIP WITH GENERAL R.E. LEE, GENERAL J.E.B. STUART AMONG OTHERS AS WELL AS HIS UTTER DISPLEASURE OF UNION GENERAL CUSTER (YES, THE SAME ONE WHO BIT THE BIG ONE AT LITTLE BIG HORN AFTER THE WAR) AFTER CUSTER HAD SEVERAL OF MOSBY'S MEN MURDERED WHO WERE IN HIS CUSTODY AS PRISONERS OF WAR. MOSBY LIVED UNTIL 1916, THE BOOK WAS PUBLISHED IN 1906, EVIDENTLY WITH COLONEL JOHN SINGLETON MOSBY'S APPROVAL. TRULY A ONE OF A KIND PERSPECTIVE. IF YOU ENJOY READING ABOUT THE CIVIL WAR, YOU'VE CERTAINLY HEARD OF MOSBY. HERE'S A BOOK THAT SHOWS HOW GUERRILLA WARFARE WAS IN THE OLD DAYS.

John Munson was a teenaged rebel, with Mosby's guerrilas, that is! This is a highly readable account of the adventures and misadventures of Mosby's famous batallion. The best thing about the book is the author's sense of humor. Munson was a fine writer with a way of describing how the grim business of war was the adventure of his life.