Confederate Veteran John Mosby Knew the Lost Cause Was Bull

War is Boring ^ | May 1, 2017 | Kevin Knodell

[C19fan]

John S. Mosby, known as the “Gray Ghost,” was a Virginian who became legendary for his leadership of Mosby’s Rangers—a band of Confederate guerrilla fighters that harassed the Union Army and went toe-to-toe with George Armstrong Custer in the Shenandoah Valley.

Mosby is still highly regarded as a strategist and tactician and is studied to this day by practitioners of unconventional warfare. He lived a long life, dying early in the 20th century, and was also a lawyer, a diplomat and author who wrote about his experiences during the war.

[C19fan]

Money quote:

Despite’s Mosby opposition to secession, he nevertheless enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1861 out of loyalty to friends and family in his home of Virginia.

Too bad the modern day erasers of history don't bother studying this.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

“Both North and South
they knew our name.

The Gray Ghost is what they called me.
John Mosby is my name.”

[yetidog]

Robert E. Lee’s motives were similar.

[KC_Conspirator]

Interesting read. Mosby caused all sorts of head aches for the Union in the Shenandoah during the war.

[C19fan]

I know freepers know Lee was offered the command of the Union Army but he wanted no part of an army that was going to invade his Virginia.

[SaxxonWoods]

I know some of his descendants. Great family.

[CJ Wolf]

As a youngun I used to search for Mosby’s cave.

[DoodleDawg]

“People must be judged by the standard of their own age.”

That admonition should be taken to heart by all the people on both sides of the argument on any of the FR Civil War threads.

[odawg]

“Despite’s Mosby opposition to secession, he nevertheless enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1861 out of loyalty to friends and family in his home of Virginia.”

That sentiment was shared by Robert E. Lee and basically by the 92% of the total number of Southerners who did not own slaves. But Lincoln sent an invading army into their homeland; they did not have much choice at the time.

[pierrem15]

The American Civil War, like all wars, was complicated. So were the men who fought it. But it’s not so complicated that we can’t see it for what it was—a war over slavery. We dishonor the memory of all who died if we lie about what the Confederacy was or about the evils of slavery. The best way to honor the past is to learn from it.

Concluding paragraph.

This is true, but not so in the sense in which the author intends it.

To be very particular, the war was about who was going to make the decision to end slavery and when: the southern States where slavery was practiced; or, the national government of the United States.

I don't believe slavery would have existed much longer: Brazil abolished slavery in 1888. The Europeans would have discovered that cotton could be grown more cheaply in India and elsewhere and the market for slave produced agricultural products would have inevitably declined, and the moral and political pressure in the South to end the practice would have become overwhelming.

[rockrr]

Had he taken command of Union forces there likely would never been an invasion of Virginia.

[nikos1121]

I moved to Georgia from Chicago around 7 years ago. I repeatedly ask my staff, who are born and raised in the South, to tell me what the know about the civil war. Here are some of the responses, (I swear to God.)

Tell me who these people are

1. Robert E. Lee

“I think he was one of the soldiers in the civil. Don’t know which side he faught on.”

2. Who was the General at the end of the war for the North?

“Not one person knew.”

3. What Union General burned down Atlanta?

“Not one person knew. One person said, Lee.”

[SanchoP]

Eli Whitney and John Deere freed the slaves.

[Moonman62]

I think Lee was neutral on slavery, too.

[rpierce]

“[But it’s not so complicated that we can’t see it for what it was—a war over slavery.] This is true, but not so in the sense in which the author intends it.

To be very particular, the war was about who was going to make the decision to end slavery and when: the southern States where slavery was practiced; or, the national government of the United States.”

Worth repeating.

[Romans Nine]

“Eli Whitney and John Deere freed the slaves.”

Where is the “like” button?

I haven’t heard that in very very long time.

[nathanbedford]

The lost cause has been lost in many respects.

Respecting the immediate subject, Mosby and Mosby's Confederacy, that has been lost for some time now. The geographical area extends in northern Virginia from the suburbs of Washington DC to the Blue Ridge Mountains and into the Shenandoah Valley. It's central location was roughly Middleburg the spiritual center of what has become known as the Virginia horse country.

The geographical area has been lost in the sense that it has now voted in several cycles for Democrats. I've often posted that the Republican Party is in deep trouble when it cannot carry Mosby's Confederacy. But the Democrats alas are not the only threat to the geographical concept, creeping housing developments are eating their way westward and threatened to subdivide every square millimeter of that lovely, rolling horse country. A country perfect for foxhunting, in which I participated, and perfect for mounted guerrilla warfare is so brilliantly conducted by John S Mosby.

Just as surely as the land will be subdivided into an upscale Levittown, so the culture and history has to be purged to be replaced by a Levittown of more sinister proportions, political correctness.

Ultimately, the Lost Cause cannot coexist with Cultural Marxism.

[DoodleDawg]

Eli Whitney and John Deere freed the slaves.

Say what?

[CodeToad]

Long before the war the northern states had invaded the south by controlling the Congress that made laws harming the south. They felt invaded long before 1865.

[rockrr]

The south dominated congress in all but two years prior to the rebellion.