The
Legend of Mosby:
Col.
John Singleton Mosby in Pop Culture
Mosby's Image During Wartime
The
exploits of Mosby's partisan ranger command behind enemy
lines soon began to attract the attention of the press, both
north and south, with his reputation securely made by the
audacious kidnapping of General Stoughton.
However, although he was Northern Virginia's local hero, his treatment in the Richmond press was initially quite restrained and businesslike, reporting on the latest count of Union wagons, horses, mules and prisoners captured. However, as the war dragged on and took its economic and emotional toll on the populace, Southern readers were increasingly hungry for good news. The media proclaimed him the "prince of guerillas" when Kentucky's great cavalry hero Gen. John Hunt Morgan was killed. When he visited Richmond in early 1865, he received a heroes welcome in the Confederate Congress, and he was asked to sit for portraits by three artists, two painters and a sculptor.
At
this time, a local photographic studio took a
picture for public distribution as a carte de
visite, in response to the growing public demand
for pictures of popular Confederate heroes. This
picture rapidly became the best-known image of
Mosby, a pop culture icon of its day.
The irony is, that the picture is probably the least typical
of any picture taken of Colonel Mosby during wartime. He
rarely carried a sabre, believing them largely useless in
cavalry engagements and fit only for cooking meat over a
fire. It is probable that the sabre and possibly the
binoculars were studio props, used to make Mosby look like
his public image.
In many ways, his fame was primarily spread by the Northern press, which tended to exaggerate the number of wagons, horses and men he had captured.
The
northern media turned him into a bogey man figure,
to the extent that dime novels were published with
titles such as "Jack Mosby the Guerrilla Chief"
(1864). These works portrayed him as a sort of
cross between Blackbeard, Dick Turpin and Robin
Hood. Illustrations showed him to be tall,
powerfully built, and dark haired with a long,
flowing beard -- in short, the physical antithesis
of the real Mosby, who had light reddish brown
hair, was between 5'7" and 5'8", and weighed less
than 130 soaking wet.
Picture from dime novel, with
caption referring to "barbarian acts of Jack
Mosby"
Although Mosby sported a beard on several occasions during
his partisan ranger career, he broadly preferred to be
clean-shaven, and was without a beard during the bulk of his
military service and the whole of his civilian
life.
This
dark-haired, powerfully built Dick Turpin type
image was also perpetuated by Herman Melville, in
his poem, "The
Scout Toward
Aldie.".
At this stage in Melville's life, he was an
aspiring novelist. Moby Dick and his other
classic works were yet to be written. However, his
treatment of Mosby as a larger-than life, continual
ominous presence almost foreshadows they way in
which he would write about the great white
whale!
Early
19th century Staffordshire figurine of English
highwayman Dick Turpin
Melville was visiting his friend Col. Charles Russell
Lowell, brother of James Russell Lowell and commander of the
2nd Mass. Cavalry at their headquarters near Vienna and was
invited to come along on a scouting mission aimed at
capturing Mosby. In the poem he variously described Mosby as
a satyr's child, lord of the woods, and "A black-eyed man on
a coal-black mare," (Dick Turpin, call your office!) He also
said that "His limbs were long, and large and round", when
they were none of the above.
Not only did Lowell's scouting mission fail to apprehend Mosby, Melville also clearly failed in even seeing him in the flesh!
Songs about Mosby and his Rangers:
Other less-famous poems and songs were written during the War and shortly thereafter, celebrating Mosby's exploits, both from a northern and southern perspective.
In James J. Williamson's 1896 book, Mosby's Rangers, he prints two such works -- a poem about the burning raids entitled "Mosby at Hamilton", a song entitled "Mosby's Last Raid into Loudoun" and a poem or song entitled simply "Mosby". The latter appears to be a song lyric, as the meter and structure of the lyric closely follows that of "An American Frigate" - the Revolutionary War song commemorating John Paul Jones' exploits on the Bonhomme Richard.
Here are the first stanzas of the two songs, side by side:
"An
American Frigate" It's
of an American frigate Mounted
forty-four guns, A-cruising
down the channel With
a noble commander, "Mosby" There's
a rebel guerrilla, To
catch U. S. horses He
proves quite a terror By
bagging their pickets,
the "Richard" by name
and from New York she came.
of Old England's fame
Paul Jones was his name.
one Mosby by name,
his principal aim;
to his keenest foe,
as many do know."
In addition the command had at least one song they had
written for themselves. Private Richard "Dick" Buckner,
formerly with Turner Ashby's cavalry command before General
Ashby's death, was leader of a band of Ranger musicians and
penned at least one tune, a verse of which is reprinted in
one of the volumes of Tom Evans' and Jim Moyer's "Mosby
Vignettes" series. We are attempting to find out whether the
whole text of the song survives -- but one of the lines
refers to the rangers as a bunch of Casanovas!
Mosby's Post-War Image:
After the War, the memory of Mosby's command was kept alive by the publication of various histories of his command, beginning with John Scott's Partisan Life with Col. John S. Mosby (1867). A number of individual Rangers published their memoirs - Rangers John Alexander, John Munson, company doctor Aristides Montiero and Ranger James J. Williamson, whose 1896 history of the command is still perhaps the definitive work, alongside the Keen and Mewborn regimental history.
After the 1868, Mosby's own popularity began steadily to wane in Virginia and in the South, because of his support for Grant and the Republicans. Initially, his influence held considerable sway and he was probably singlehandledly responsible for Grant carrying the Commonwealth in his reelection campaign. However, the hotly contested Hayes / Tilden race put Mosby in actual physical danger. He received death threats and a number of his former Rangers formed an informal bodyguard.
As his popularity waned in the South, Col. Mosby quickly realized that the fear in which he had been held in the North, had, postwar, turned into respect and admiration, and he was a popular fixture on the lecture circuit, often meeting up with old adversaries.
He was also a prolific writer, writing a staunch defense of JEB Stuart and his own war reminiscences and several articles and became respected not only as a historical figure but as a historian in his own right.
However, defending Stuart's actions at Gettysburg was interpreted by some as an implicit criticism of Robert E. Lee. Mosby greatly admired and venerated General Lee but felt that he should be viewed as a mortal, not a superhuman (as Lee himself wished to be viewed). This ran counter to the perceived wisdom of the communications machine of the "Lost Cause" At this stage, General Jubal Early, never a Mosby fan, was in control of the leading Confederate memorial organization and his old nemesis Fitzhugh Lee was national commander of the UCV.
As a result of this perceived heresy as a historian and his Republican politics, Mosby was more or less dropped from the "A List" of the pantheon of Confederate heroes by the late 19th century and, ironically was probably more popular in the North.
His re-elevation to pop culture icon status would come later -- with the publication of Virgil Carrington Jones' Ranger Mosby in 1944 and with the "Gray Ghost" television series in the late 1950's, re-aired in the early 60's during the Civil War Centennial.
Novels and Films About Mosby:
Following the success of the Jones book, Col. Mosby was featured in a 1948 novel, Scarlet Cockerel, by Garald Lagard.
Following the further success of the TV series, he also was featured in a number of novels in the 1960's, including three by Ray Hogan: The Ghost Raider (1960), The Night Raider (1964) and Mosby's Last Ride (1966). In addition, and author named Joseph B. Icenhower wrote another book featuring Mosby, The Scarlet Raider (1961). Mosby also figured in a later novel written by Robert Skimin, Gray Victory (1988)
The Disney studios subsequently made a film about Mosby, focusing on the Stoughton kidnapping / Fairfax Raid, with Kurt Russell and James McArthur. Originally a mini-series on Disney's "Wonderful World of Color" called "Willie and the Yank" which aired in 1968, it was repackaged as a feature film entitled "Mosby's Marauders" in 1972.
In the late 1950's famed director Stanley Kubrick (2001, Barry Lyndon, A Clockwork Orange) developed plans to make a movie about Mosby, but the project never came to fruition.
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However, the FIRST film about Colonel Mosby featured the Colonel himself in a cameo role. "All's Fair in Love and War" a silent film made in 1910 was loosely (VERY loosely) based on the exploits of the partisan band and had Colonel Mosby portraying himself in the first scene. Receiving the news that the war has begun, he dons his uniform and starts or the front. As far as we know, that was the only time that Colonel Mosby had publicly worn his uniform after receiving his pardon in 1866. |
With over 80% of all silent films lost to posterity forever, it is doubtful whether a copy of this film still exists. However, Mosby descendants have in their possession a still shot from the film set, with Colonel Mosby and his young grandchildren, Beverly and Pauline Coleman.
Consumer Products:
Amissville,
Virginia is home of the Gray
Ghost Winery,
one of the many fine vineyards that are securing a good
reputation for Virginia wines beyond the borders of the
Commonwealth. Their logo and wine labels feature a portrait
of Colonel Mosby, based on the photograph taken after his
wounding at "Lakeland" in December, 1864.
Ironically, John Mosby ranks among those historical figures least likely to be candidates to have a winery named after them. He was nearly teetotal, was a heavy disciplinarian if he caught his men drinking on duty, and he actually went all the way to what is now West Virginia to attend a weekend-long temperance conference when he was a student at UVa. On the other hand, he did partake of an occasional glass of wine in a formal dinner setting after the war. Moreover, the owners of Gray Ghost Winery have been extremely helpful to Mosby-related preservation causes.
Much less in character than Mosby-branded wine is tobacconist Cornel and Diehl's naming a blend of tobacco "Gray Ghost Blend" after Colonel Mosby. The marketing pitch on their website says, "Many an evening was spent by members of Mosby's Rangers sitting by the fireside, relaxing with a bowl of this favorite blend as they regaled family and friends with tales of their latest raid." Huh? Many of the Rangers enjoyed a good smoke but Colonel Mosby himself was pretty much an anti-smoking fanatic, dating from from his days as a child with a chronic bronchial cough.
The key question is, when is somebody going to come out with John Singleton Mosby branded coffee! John Mosby's drug of choice was caffeine. He was an incessant coffee drinker and somewhat of a coffee snob and connaisseur. Even at the height of wartime shortages, he insisted on "real" coffee -- his one luxury -- and would not drink the various "Confederate coffee" blends made from sweet potatoes, okra, chickory and the like. He liked his coffee strong, black and full of sugar. If no sugar was available, he'd skip the coffee.
Follow this
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century pop culture icon,
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