John Singleton Mosby, 23 September 1864

MOSBY, John Singleton (1833-1916). Autograph letter signed ("Jno S. Mosby") as Lt. Colonel to Union Major General Philip H. Sheridan, [Virginia], November 11, 1864.

Two pages, 125 x 205mm. (A few pin holes, separated fold with some loss to text, filled in with tissue.) Custom cloth clamshell.

After Sheridan executed seven of his imprisoned Rangers without trial, Mosby retaliates by hanging an equal number of Union prisoners. A dramatic and important letter from the important Confederate cavalry commander written to his opponent Philip Sheridan shortly after the notorious exchange of summary executions during the bitter guerrilla war that consumed the upper reaches of the Shenandoah Valley: “General. Some time in the month of September, during my absence from my command, six of my men, who had been captured by your forces, were hung & shot in the streets of Front Royall, by the order & in the immediate presence of Brigadier-General Custer. Since then another captured by a Col. Powell on a plundering expedition into Rappahannock was also hung – A label affixed to the coat of one of the murdered men declared that ‘this would be the fate of Mosby & all his men.’ Since the murder of my men, not less than seven hundred prisoners, including many officers of high rank, captured from your army by this command, have been forwarded to Richmond, but the execution of my purpose of retaliation was deferred in order as far as possible, to confine its operation to the men of Custer & Powell. Accordingly on the 6th inst. seven of your men were, by my order, executed on the Valley pike, your highway of travel – Hereafter any prisoners falling into my hands will be treated with the kindness due to their condition unless some new act of barbarity shall compel me reluctantly to adopt a course of policy repulsive to humanity.”

On 23 September 1864, Mosby’s Rangers attacked a Union Army wagon train near Front Royal. A Union brigade commanded by Colonel Charles Lowell, Jr. caught the Rangers off guard, forcing their retreat and taking six prisoners back to the Union stronghold at Front Royal. The death of Union Lieutenant Charles McMaster, shot in the head during the ambush, caused a fervor among the Federal cavalrymen; many believed Confederate forces murdered McMaster following his surrender. Brigadier Generals Wesley Merritt and George A. Custer ordered the six to be executed without trial, including a 17-year-old boy who was shot in front of his pleading mother. A sign reading “such is the fate of all of Mosby’s men” was hung on one of the bodies. (A seventh Ranger would later be executed in a separate incident.) Determined for revenge, Mosby waited until 27 Union prisoners were captured from Custer’s command and forced them into a brutal lottery. Twenty-seven slips of paper were put into a hat, twenty being blank and seven being numbered. Those who drew the seven numbered slips would be hung and their bodies left alongside the Union supply lines. After the hangings, the following note was left on one of the bodies: “These men have been hung in retaliation for an equal number of Colonel Mosby’s men, hung by order of General Custer at Front Royal. Measure for measure.” (Williamson, 288). Published in Mosby, Memoirs 302-303). Provenance: Marshall B. Coyne (his sale), Sotheby’s, New York, 5 June 2001, lot 230.