Historic Photo: Mosby’s Men

Mosby’s Rangers

The Men Who Rode With the Gray Ghost

Few Confederate units were as feared, or as admired, as Mosby’s Rangers. Officially the 43rd Battalion of Virginia Cavalry, they were led by Colonel John Singleton Mosby, a lawyer turned cavalryman whose lightning raids earned him the nickname “the Gray Ghost.”

Mosby’s men operated behind Union lines in northern Virginia, mostly in Loudoun and Fauquier counties. The area became so closely tied to them that it was known as “Mosby’s Confederacy.” The Rangers struck supply wagons, railroads, outposts and couriers, then melted back into the countryside, often sheltered by local families. Their raids tied down thousands of Union troops who were needed elsewhere.

Never Surrendered

Mosby’s Rangers fought on until the very end of the war. In April 1865, rather than formally surrender, Mosby gathered his men and disbanded the battalion. It was a fitting end for a unit that had always done things its own way.

This historic photograph shows some of the men who rode with Mosby. They were mostly young, often local, and fiercely loyal to their commander and to Virginia. Their story remains one of the most remarkable of the war, and it is still told with pride across the Old Dominion.

Remember the cavalrymen of Virginia with a flag from our Confederate flag collection.

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