About this Site:MosbysRangers.com has been developed with the intention of ultimately providing a comprehensive online clearinghouse for all information relevant to Col. Mosby and his men, for historians, history buffs, reenactors and family researchers alike. There's a lot of material, so this will take time! Please bear with us.
The site is produced by Kathryn Coombs and Jeff Smith, who serve, respectively, as president and vice president of the John Singleton Mosby Living History Association.
Jeff has been portraying Col. Mosby for over six years in reenactments, living history events and presentations to school and civic groups as well as various commemorative activities. He recently served as honor guard at the Stuart Mosby Society's annual service of commemoration at General Stuart's grave in Hollywood cemetery.
Film work has included a part as one of General T.J. "Stonewall" Jackson's staff officers in the forthcoming film, "Gods and Generals" (to be released November 2002). This film, directed by Ron Maxwell, is a prequel to the Mazwell / Ted Turner film "Gettysburg" and stars Robert Duvall as General Lee and Stephen Lang as Gen. Jackson. Other film work includes two films on Mosby for Fairfax Cable, a Mosby documentary entitled "Children of the Mist" and work as an extra in "Gettysburg".
Kathryn is a life long Mosby fan and amateur historian raised in Mosby's Confederacy. She portrays a variety of women of the "debatable land" of Northern Virginia during wartime. Recent portrayals have included Confederate heroine Laura Ratcliffe, Betsy Settle Edmonds and Mary Kile Settle (the mother and aunt of diarist Amanda "Tee" Edmonds), and Herndon housewife and Union sympathizer Kitty Kitchen Hanna.
The aims of the John Singleton Mosby Living History Association are to:
- Increase
public awareness of Col. Mosby's important role in the
War Between the States, and the overall contribution made
by Partisan Rangers operating behind enemy lines, of
which Mosby's were the most prominent and successful.
- To
promote awareness of Col. Mosby's service to his country,
not only to Virginia and the Confederacy during the War,
but also his very significant contributions as a United
States government official and political ally of
President Grant (and subsequent Republican presidents)
after the War.
- To
encourage analysis of the leadership style of Colonel
Mosby and his understanding of the value of psychological
warfare, and its impact on later generations of military
leaders.
- To
further research into the backgrounds and wartime and
post-war records of the many brave men who served under
Colonel Mosby, and the history of the 43rd Battalion of
Virginia Cavalry.
- To
increase public knowledge about everyday life in Northern
Virginia during the Civil War, the impact of the War on
the local population, male and female, pro-Union and
Pro-Confederate, and the degree to which Mosby's command
in effect constituted a popular resistance to an
occupying military presence.
- We
also hope to add to the current research base by
providing a forum through which descendants
of Mosby's men
can share any stories handed down in their family, family
pictures and photographs of artifacts, in effect building
a "virtual museum" online to the memory of this
remarkable hero and the brave men who fought under
him.
MosbysRangers.com will also report on all relevant events, both within "Mosby's Confederacy" of Northern Virginia and in other areas, and to link to and support all efforts to expand research and preserve his memory.
If you have any suggestions of things you'd like to see on this site, please e-mail Kathryn at MosbyWeb@aol.com.
This site is supported by the Oreo Foundation, a non profit group set up to support living history efforts. It is named after Jeff's first horse, Oreo, who was tragically killed in the line of duty when a minivan which ran off the road when Jeff and Oreo were returning from their marathon ride from Connecticut to Richmond and back in 1998.Site Development by Washington WebWorks, LLC
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