Part II - Between Middleburg and the Blue Ridge
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The roster of the 43rd Virginia Cavalry Battalion, better known as
Mosby's Rangers, eventually over the course of the last two years of the war contained over 1900 men, although at no time were there more than a fraction available for action. Mosby usually conducted his operations with as few as twenty or as many as one or two hundred, but he always preferred smaller numbers for reasons of concealment, speed, and surprise. Above are two extreme examples of the types of men who came to serve with Mosby. At left is William Chapman, who as the caption says ended the war as a lieutenant-colonel and at the time was Mosby's second-in-command; at right is Lewis Powell, better known as Lewis Payne and for his part in the Lincoln Assassination Conspiracy of John Wilkes Booth. As Payne, he attacked and seriously wounded Secretary of State William H. Seward with a knife and was subsequently hanged on July 7, 1865, for his part in Booth's plot.
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7.
Welborne, located a little off the turnpike (U. S. 50) on Welbourne Road, was one of many so-called
safe houses in the area, used by both John Mosby and the men of his command as places of refuge while in between their raids. The estate of Colonel Richard Henry Dulaney of the 7th Virginia Cavalry,
Welbourne often hosted Confederate leaders including Mosby, J. E. B. Stuart, and the commander of
Stuart's Horse Artillery, Maj. John Pelham. For additional photos and information about
Welbourne:
https://civilwartalk.com/threads/welbourne-house-loudon-county-virginia.139476/
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8. The Hathaway House
, also known as
Denton or
Western View, was another "safe house" located southwest from Middleburg and one used by Mosby himself on several occasions. During the night of June 8-9, 1863, the raider was staying here with his wife Pauline in a second-floor bedroom when Union cavalry entered the yard searching for Mosby or his men. Entering the house they found Pauline, the still-warm bed, and a pair of spurs; but Mosby himself was gone. As soon as they left empty-handed, he climbed back in through the open window from his perch in the tree outside! The tree can still be seen at right in the photo above; however, the convenient limb that touched the house has now been lost to time.
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9. The Caleb Rector House at Rector's Crossroads was the scene of many notable exploits relating to both Mosby and Jeb Stuart. Here on June 10, 1863, Mosby formally established the first company, A, of what had formerly been only a loose-knit body but was from then officially known as the 43rd Virginia Cavalry Battalion with Mosby as its Major. Later, during what became the opening moves of the Gettysburg Campaign, Jeb Stuart used the house and its grounds as headquarters; from here, using the outdated intelligence that had been provided to him at Middleburg by Mosby, Stuart embarked on his controversial ride around the Federal army.
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Above, the restored Rector spring house was often used by the raiders in preparation for their sorties. The Rector House is currently used as the headquarters of
The Mosby Heritage Area Association, a non-profit historical and educational organization devoted to promoting and preserving the history and heritage of John S. Mosby and Mosby's Confederacy.
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9. West of Middleburg the turnpike crossed the ca. 1803 bridge over Goose Creek, which still stands though it no longer carries traffic. On June 21, 1863 this was the scene of action between J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry and Union troops commanded by Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton that also included Col. Joshua Chamberlain's 20th Maine and other infantry from the Fifth Corps brigade of Brig. Gen. Patrick O'Rourke. Although they managed to capture the bridge and drive away the Rebel troopers, this was another of the unsuccessful probing actions by the Federals to attempt to penetrate Stuart's cavalry screen and discover the location of the main body of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Mosby's men often crossed here as well over the next two years.
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Nearby
Greengarden was another
safe house and the home of farmer Jessie Richards and his sons Maj. Adolphus "Dolly" Richards, who eventually became Mosby's second-in-command when the battalion was raised to regimental strength, and Capt. Thomas Richards who led company G. Below, a scene of the Virginia Piedmont countryside near
Greengarden.
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10. Vineyard Hill outside Upperville was scene of another battle between the forces of Alfred Pleasonton and Jeb Stuart as they dueled in June, 1863, along the turnpike leading to Ashby's Gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Civil War Trails markers above and below stand side-by-side and describe the action here, the one above for the Battle of Upperville on June 21, 1863, and the one below for an earlier one on November 3, 1862.
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Above, Mosby's friend and mentor Maj. Gen. James Ewell Brown Stuart, center, flanked by Brig. Gen. Hugh Judson Kilpatrick at left, and Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton, right.
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11. The house of Dr. Albin Payne in Paris at the base of Ashby's Gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains was another safe house that at one time sheltered ranger Lewis Thornton Powell, who left here in the winter of 1865, journeying to Washington, D.C., where as Lewis Payne he joined the conspirators led by John Wilkes Booth. Paris is a tiny village notable mainly for the beauty of its location, snugged up against the Blue Ridge.
Next, Part III - From Paris to Warrenton
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