John Singleton Mosby, also known by his nickname "Gray Ghost", was an American military officer who was a Confederate army cavalry battalion commander in the American Civil War. His command, the 43rd Battalion, Virginia Cavalry, known as Mosby's Rangers or Mosby's Raiders, was a partisan ranger unit noted for its lightning-quick raids and its ability to elude Union Army pursuers and disappear, blending in with local farmers and townsmen. The area of northern central Virginia in which Mosby operated with impunity became known as Mosby's Confederacy.
The Battle of Dranesville was a small battle during the American Civil War that took place between Confederate forces under Brigadier General J. E. B. Stuart and Union forces under Brigadier General Edward O. C. Ord on December 20, 1861, in Fairfax County, Virginia, as part of Major General George B. McClellan's operations in northern Virginia. The two forces on similar winter time patrols encountered and engaged one another in the crossroads village of Dranesville. The battle resulted in a Union victory.
The Battle of Middleburg took place from June 17 to June 19, 1863, in Loudoun County, Virginia, as part of the Gettysburg Campaign of the American Civil War.
Bloomfield is an unincorporated community in Loudoun County, Virginia. It is situated at the intersection of Airmont and Bloomfield Roads.
Edwin Henry Stoughton was appointed a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War, but his appointment expired after it was not confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Four days later, on March 8, 1863, he was captured by Confederate partisan ranger John S. Mosby while asleep at his headquarters in the Virginia village of Fairfax Court House. The incident became well known, and Stoughton became an object of ridicule as a result. He was included in a prisoner exchange two months later but resigned his commission after he was not reappointed as a brigadier general.
The 43rd Virginia Cavalry Battalion, also known as 43rd Virginia Rangers, Mosby's Rangers, Mosby's Raiders, or Mosby's Men, was a battalion of partisan cavalry in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. Noted for their lightning strike raids on Union targets and their ability to consistently elude pursuit, the Rangers disrupted Union communications and supply lines.
The Skirmish at Miskel Farm, also known as the Fight at Miskel Farm or Gunfight at Miskel Farm, was a skirmish during the American Civil War. It took place April 1, 1863, near Broad Run in Loudoun County, Virginia, between Mosby's Rangers and the 1st Vermont Cavalry as part of Mosby's operations in Northern Virginia. The 2nd Pennsylvania surprised and attacked the Rangers, who were bivouacked on the farm of Thomas Miskel. The Rangers successfully defended the attack and subsequently routed the 2nd Pennsylvania, inflicting heavy casualties and taking many prisoners.
The Battle of Loudoun Heights was a small cavalry skirmish during the American Civil War between John Mosby's Rangers and Major Henry A. Cole's 1st Potomac Home Brigade Maryland Cavalry on January 10, 1864, in Loudoun County, Virginia. Cole's Cavalry successfully defended a night raid against their camp on Loudoun Heights. The fight was one of the first engagements in which Union forces held their own against Mosby's vaunted partisans.
The action at Mount Zion Church was a cavalry skirmish during the American Civil War that took place on July 6, 1864. The skirmish was fought between Union forces under Major William H. Forbes and Confederate forces under Colonel John S. Mosby near Aldie in Loudoun County, Virginia as part of Mosby's Operations in Northern Virginia. After successfully raiding the Union garrison at Point of Rocks, Maryland, Mosby's Rangers routed Forbes's command, which had been sent into Loudoun County to engage and capture the Rangers. The fight resulted in a Confederate victory.
Antonia Ford Willard was a volunteer civilian spy for the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.
Laura Ratcliffe was a Confederate States of America spy. Laura's home in Herndon was sometimes used as a headquarters by the Confederate raider John Mosby. Mosby gave Laura thousands of Federal Greenbacks to hide in her home. She warned him when Union troops came looking for him, saving his life. Laura Ratcliffe was also a friend of Major General J. E. B. Stuart, who gave her several gifts in "appreciation of her patriotism, admiration of her virtues, and pledge of his lasting esteem.". They had met after Ratcliffe had served as a nurse in Jeb Stuart's Camp Quivive in Fairfax in the winter of 1861.
The Fight at Aldie was a small cavalry skirmish between Confederate forces under Major John S. Mosby and Union forces under Major Joseph Gilmore and Captain Franklin T. Huntoon in Aldie, Virginia, on March 2, 1863, as part of Mosby's Operations in Northern Virginia during the American Civil War. The fight which resulted in a Confederate victory was significant in that it was the first action of Mosby's Rangers within their operating territory in the central Loudoun Valley. In the fight Mosby and his men displayed many characteristics that would become their hallmark including the attack on numerically superior force while inflicting disproportionate casualties to those received.
Hope Park was an 18th and 19th-century plantation in Fairfax County, Virginia, where Dr. David Stuart (1753–1814), an old friend of and correspondent with George Washington lived with his wife, Eleanor Calvert Custis (1758–1811), and family. It was approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) southwest of Fairfax Court House.
The Herndon Depot Museum, also known as the Herndon Historical Society Museum, is located in the town of Herndon in Fairfax County, Virginia. Built in 1857 for the Alexandria, Loudoun & Hampshire Railroad, the depot later served the Richmond and Danville Railroad, the Southern Railway and the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad. In 1875, the original shed was replaced with the current depot.
Timeline of Fauquier County, Virginia in the Civil War
The Bog Wallow Ambush was a small unit action during the American Civil War that took place between Confederate forces under Captain J. Fred. Waring and Union forces under Colonel George W. Taylor on December 4, 1861, in Fairfax County, Virginia, as part of Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's operations in northern Virginia. The Union force set up an ambush for the Confederate force on the Braddock Road. The action resulted in a Union victory.
On March 17, 1863, Captain John Singleton Mosby, nicknamed "The Gray Ghost", raided a Union outpost at Herndon Station in Northern Virginia. The raid was a part of a series of such raids coordinated by Captain Mosby and his raiders in 1863 in areas of Northern Virginia. The raid on Herndon Station was the furthest north into Union lines Mosby and his men ventured. During the raid of Herndon Station 25 Union picket men were captured, and four Union men having lunch at the home of Herndon resident Kitty "Kitchen" Hanna were also found and captured by Mosby's raiders. The Town of Herndon still remembers the raid to this day as an important part of the town's history and participation in the Civil War.
John D. Read, also referred to as John Reed or John Reid, was an American abolitionist and lay preacher in Falls Church, Virginia, in the years prior to and during the American Civil War. Read was taken prisoner by Confederate partisans from Mosby's Rangers during a surprise raid on the town on October 18, 1864, and executed later that day near Vienna, Virginia.
The Warrenton Junction Raid was a surprise attack by Confederate guerrilla warriors on a Union cavalry detachment during the American Civil War. The raid took place near a railroad junction in Virginia's Fauquier County, less than 10 miles (16 km) from the town of Warrenton. Confederate Major John S. Mosby led the attack against about 100 men from the Union's 1st (West) Virginia Cavalry. At first, the raid was very successful, as many of the Union soldiers surrendered to the rebels. The remaining portion of the surprised force was surrounded in a house, and two of their leaders were wounded. The house was set on fire, and the Union soldiers surrendered. As Mosby's men rounded up prisoners and horses, a detachment of the 5th New York Cavalry surprised the rebels and rescued most of the captured Union soldiers. After a short fight, more men from the 5th New York, and the 1st Vermont Cavalry, joined in the pursuit of Mosby's fleeing rebels.
Winifred ("Win") Meiselman was the founder of the media accuracy group CAMERA, a historian of the American Civil War and specifically of Confederate spy Laura Ratcliffe, social worker, art therapist, poet, and artist.
