A Trip Through "Mosby's Confederacy"

[Iron Brigade]

Excellent presentation as always, thank you.

 

[Bruce Vail]

View attachment 165518



That photo was taken from a small park on the north (Maryland) shore of the Potomac and is marked by a highway sign right before crossing the bridge, which I deliberately left out of my camera angle; it's a little west of the rapids caused by the "rocks". The spot is along a trail leading from the parking area. There are a few other interesting sites and a couple of Civil War Trails markers in what's left of the village here, as well as this wonderful 1890's RR depot;

View attachment 165514

Oh, so this just under the modern bridge facing north?

I don't know this area, but I canoed down there a couple years ago.

It was a great trip.

 

[James N.]

Oh, so this just under the modern bridge facing north?...

I had a good bit of trouble getting a decent camera angle here because of a reflection of the sun rather low in the western sky so it's looking pretty much directly across the Potomac; the bridge was to the right (west or northwest) a distance out of frame.

 

[Bruce Vail]

I had a good bit of trouble getting a decent camera angle here because of a reflection of the sun rather low in the western sky so it's looking pretty much directly across the Potomac; the bridge was to the right (west or northwest) a distance out of frame.

Great, now I know just where to look. The original bridge must have been right near there.....

 

[James N.]

Great, now I now just where to look. The original bridge must have been right near there.....

View attachment 165871

Oddly enough - or maybe not, considering just how much occurred in the vicinity - I don't recall either of the Civil War Trails signs there mentioning that at the Point of Rocks RR Station was a Union cavalry camp that was successfully attacked by Mosby, a fact I unfortunately didn't realize until reading Wert's Mosby's Rangers after returning from my trip.

 

[ami]

this thread has been nominated for golden thread, but needs more posts to be eligible, so this is just a little bump to see if any more conversation sparks.

Any posts not pertaining to the topic will be deleted. Please do not discuss the nomination.

 

[James N.]

I'm almost finished now with Jeffrey Wert's excellent Mosby's Rangers and he devotes a good bit of attention to the incident...

I recently finished Wert's very useful Mosby's Rangers; here's a link to my review of it posted here:

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/mosbys-rangers-by-jeffrey-d-wert.140418/

 

[James N.]

Plus, another link to a more complete discussion about the man and his images in photos and the press:

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/john-singleton-mosby-in-photographs-and-portraits.139942/

 

[USS ALASKA]

Seemed like a good place to park this...

"RAISED FROM OBSCURITY": A DRIVING TOUR OF THE CAVALRY BATTLES OF ALDIE, MIDDLEBURG, AND UPPERVILLE, JUNE 17-21, 1863
Published By The Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area

All told, the five days of fighting in the Loudoun Valley produced nearly 1,400 human casualties (killed, wounded, missing, or captured) and an untold number of horses. Approximately 21,000 soldiers fought over the stone walls, roadways, and fields you have traversed. Could any one of those soldiers return to these battlefields today, they might still recognize much of the 1863 landscape. Ultimately, Alfred Pleasonton's Union troopers fell short of solving the riddle, "Where was Lee's army?" Some Federals did manage to ascend the Blue Ridge Mountains, but whatever they saw remains debatable. Regardless, Pleasonton moved his cavalrymen back east the next day, trotting through the recently fought over land. "All along the wounded and dead and the horses scattered on the road attest the severity of the conflict and that the ground was hotly contested," wrote one Pennsylvanian. For the Confederates, the march of Lee's army north continued unimpeded. In fact, by the time these Loudoun Valley cavalry battles began, some of the Confederates had already crossed the Potomac River. J.E.B. Stuart embarked on his ride north shortly after the Union troopers vacated the Loudoun Valley. Now separated, the campaign continued and the disparate portions of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac collided once more over the first three days in July at the crossroads town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/560b12b7e4b0b03fb6fb1623/t/62c8759938e7bc4a83f4f309/1657304489416/AMU+Book+2021+Edit.pdf

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[connecticut yankee]

Seemed like a good place to park this...

"RAISED FROM OBSCURITY": A DRIVING TOUR OF THE CAVALRY BATTLES OF ALDIE, MIDDLEBURG, AND UPPERVILLE, JUNE 17-21, 1863
Published By The Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area

All told, the five days of fighting in the Loudoun Valley produced nearly 1,400 human casualties (killed, wounded, missing, or captured) and an untold number of horses. Approximately 21,000 soldiers fought over the stone walls, roadways, and fields you have traversed. Could any one of those soldiers return to these battlefields today, they might still recognize much of the 1863 landscape. Ultimately, Alfred Pleasonton's Union troopers fell short of solving the riddle, "Where was Lee's army?" Some Federals did manage to ascend the Blue Ridge Mountains, but whatever they saw remains debatable. Regardless, Pleasonton moved his cavalrymen back east the next day, trotting through the recently fought over land. "All along the wounded and dead and the horses scattered on the road attest the severity of the conflict and that the ground was hotly contested," wrote one Pennsylvanian. For the Confederates, the march of Lee's army north continued unimpeded. In fact, by the time these Loudoun Valley cavalry battles began, some of the Confederates had already crossed the Potomac River. J.E.B. Stuart embarked on his ride north shortly after the Union troopers vacated the Loudoun Valley. Now separated, the campaign continued and the disparate portions of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac collided once more over the first three days in July at the crossroads town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/560b12b7e4b0b03fb6fb1623/t/62c8759938e7bc4a83f4f309/1657304489416/AMU+Book+2021+Edit.pdf

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

This is an excellent resource; I can't thank you enough. This area of Mosby's operations is little discussed by historians. But oh, how important the action turned out to be in the Gettysburg Campaign. When I roamed these fields in the 1970's there was nary a guidebook to inform the visitor of what took place nor of what to see..