would be some lucky or skillful
gambler who would have a fairly sizeable roll of greenbacks. And, of
course, there was the sutler, the real prize catch; any Mosby man
would pass up a general in order to capture a sutler.

And Northern-manufactured goods filtered south by the wagonload. Many
of the Mosby men wore Confederate uniforms that had been tailored for
them in Baltimore and even in Washington and run through the Union
lines.

By mid-June, Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania had begun and the
countryside along Bull Run Mountain and the Blue Ridge exploded into a
series of cavalry actions as the Confederate Army moved north along
the Union right. Mosby kept his little force out of the main fighting,
hacking away at the Union troops from behind and confusing their
combat intelligence with reports of Rebel cavalry appearing where none
ought to be. In the midst of this work, he took time out to dash
across into Fairfax County with sixty men, shooting up a wagon train,
burning wagons, and carrying off prisoners and mules, the latter being
turned over to haul Lee's invasion transport. After the two armies had
passed over the Potomac, he gathered his force and launched an
invasion of Pennsylvania on his own, getting as far as Mercersburg and
bringing home a drove of over 200 beef cattle.

He got back to Mosby's Confederacy in time to learn of Lee's defeat at
Gettysburg. Realizing that Lee's retreat would be followed by a
pursuing Union army, he began making preparations to withstand the
coming deluge. For one thing, he decided to do something he had not
done before--concentrate his force in a single camp on the top of Bull
Run Mountain. In the days while Lee's army was trudging southward,
Mosby gathered every horse and mule and cow he could find and drove
them into the mountains, putting boys and slaves to work herding them.
He commandeered wagons, and hauled grain and hay to his temporary
camp. His men erected huts, and built corrals for horses and a
stockade for prisoners. They even moved a blacksmith shop to the
hidden camp. Then Mosby sat down and waited.

A few days later, Meade's army began coming through. The Forty-Third
Partisan Ranger Battalion went to work immediately. For two weeks,
they galloped in and out among the Union columns, returning to their
hidden camp only long enough to change horses and leave the prisoners
they had taken. They cut into wagon trains, scattering cavalry
escorts, burning wagons, dest