Mosby's raiders

Discussion in 'Civil War' started by thomas pendrake, Jul 7, 2014.

  1. thomas pendrake

    thomas pendrake Active Member

    One of the elite units of the War Between the States was Mosby's raiders. I would like any comments on this unit. When I was in the Army I met some special forces soldiers who were from a unit they said was descended from Mosby's raiders. I thought that they were from a S.C. Guard unit, but now realize that they should have been from Va. They used crossbows, as well as conventional weapons, including what looked like Bowie knifes. They wore hats that looked like Stetsons, and were somewhat scary. Comments, please.
     
  2. Kate

    Kate Active Member

    I'm not sure what kinds of comments you want... but yes, you're right about Mosby's originating in Virginia. They were a partisan cavalry unit and were the 43rd Battalion. AKA "Mosby's Rangers."

    One of their well-known "attributes" is being able to get away from anyone who may have been trying to find them. They were good with messing up Union supply lines. I'm sure you've heard of them being called roving thieves or "unsoldier-like guerrillas" (that last term post-war and by the north, of course) that were said to hide among the citizens of wherever they happened to be.

    It was rather late (relatively speaking) in the war when John Mosby formed the first company. It was already June of '63 if I'm not mistaken. More were added later.

    The 43rd saw its last action when Lee surrendered in spring of '65. Interestingly, they were one of the two "partisan" groups that weren't included when the Congress of the Confederacy disbanded other partisan groups in early '64.

    Also interesting is the fact that Mosby tried to surrender the 43rd to Win Hancock but couldn't get the terms he wanted.
     

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