John Singleton Mosby was born on December 6, 1833 and became a lawyer before the war in Virginia after studying the subject while in jail for shooting a fellow student. When the war broke out he enlisted as a private in the 1st Virginia Cavalry but after trouble with the 1st's Colonel "Grumble" Jones, he went to work as a scout for the legendary cavalry General J.E.B. Stuart. He soon proved an excellent and invaluable soldier to General Stuart, earning promotion to Captain, Major, Lt. Colonel and finally Colonel. He was captured in 1862 but soon managed to rejoin Stuart who authorized him to raise a partisan ranger unit for service in the Loudoun Valley. His unit, first a battalion, later raised to a regiment, was to wreak havoc on Union forces and supply lines for the rest of the war.
Colonel Mosby was beloved by his men for his skill and personal courage. Before mounting a raid, Mosby would often scout out the enemy position himself, in disguise, which would have meant certain death if he was captured. He was a constant plague on Union operations in Virginia, but all efforts to find and destroy his band of partisans proved utterly fruitless. His most daring moment came on March 9, 1836 when he and his men raided Fairfax Court House, Virginia with only 29 men. He captured 2 captains, 30 privates, 58 horses and personally surprised a sleeping Brigadier General Edwin Stoughton (Mosby is pictured above with the general's overcoat). President Lincoln was more concerned for the animals saying, "For that, I am sorry, for I can make brigadier generals, but I can't make horses". He once came close to capturing General Grant and caused utter frustration in the Union camp by his constant raiding of supply lines, intercepting messages and destroying rail lines. However, every group that was ever sent to capture the elusive Confederate either came back empty handed, or did not come back at all.
Finally, General George Custer became so infuriated at Mosby's activities that he branded them guerillas and stated any he captured would be summarily executed. In 1864, Custer managed to bag six men from Mosby's command, who were immediately hanged. Mosby, who despite operating entirely behind enemy lines always behaved quite gallantly, was outraged by this action and in return captured and executed seven of Custer's men. He left the bodies where Custer would find them and attached a note that he was perfectly willing to take prisoners of war so long as his men were extended the same courtesy, but if Custer insisted on killing all those who surrendered, he would be obliged to take no prisoners either. General Custer wisely backed down and started playing by the rules again. When the fearsome Union General Philip Sheridan sent out 100 men to hunt down Mosby, armed with the new Spencer repeating rifles, all but two were killed or taken prisoner by the Grey Ghost, who then sold their high-tech weapons to the Confederacy.
After so many failed attempts to subdue the Grey Ghost, Union commanders finally gave up and issued orders that his area of operations was to simply be avoided at all cost. This area behind Union lines then came to be known by locals as "Mosby's Confederacy". He remained undefeated throughout the war and when Lee surrendered in 1865 Mosby simply disbanded his unit and went home on April 20. However, due to Union anger over how much he had embarrassed their big, fine military, he was not given a pardon until 1866. Like many of the other Catholic Confederates mentioned here, Mosby was quick to put the war behind him and try to make friends with his fellow Americans. He went back to being a lawyer and became good friends with his war-time enemy Ulysses S. Grant. When Grant became President of the United States, Mosby was given the post of U.S. consul to Hong Kong. As with many others, his government posts, Republican Party membership and support of Grant earned him the wrath of many of his fellow southerners, but none of it could tarnish his reputation. He died on May 30, 1916.