ched to the rack, and I was
inside enjoying the hospitalities of an old Virginia home, when one of
the little darkies rushed in and said, "Yankees." They were soon all
around the house, but, before getting there, one of the servants took
the saddle and bridle off my steed, hid them, and turned him loose in
the garden, where he posed as the old family driving nag, while I went
to the back porch, climbed a ladder, and lifting a trap-door, got in
between the ceiling and the roof. The trap-door was so adjusted that it
did not show an opening. The ladder was taken away, and there I stayed
until the enemy departed. I got back home safely, eight miles off, and
had other close calls, but owing to the fidelity of the colored people,
who were always on the watch, and whose loyalty to the Confederate
soldiers, whether they belonged to the family in which they lived or
not, was touching and beautiful beyond comprehension. They always called
the Confederates "Our Soldiers," and the other side "Them Yankees."

About this time a new star appeared upon the field of Mars. John S.
Mosby, a native of Warrenton, Fauquier county, Virginia, serving as
lieutenant in the First Virginia Cavalry, was captured and put in prison
in Washington in the old Capitol. He was not there long before he was
exchanged, but while there his mind was busy. He conceived the idea
that if he had a small body of men well armed and well mounted, and
given an independent command, he could render the Confederacy great
service by operating along the lines of the B. & O., the C. & O., and
the Orange and Alexandria railroads, and also upon the enemy's supply
trains, that were constantly moving to and fro up and down the valley
and other sections. He reported his plan to Gen. Stuart when he got out
of prison. Gen. Stuart favored it, and referred it to Gen. Lee, and Gen.
Lee referred it to the War Department at Richmond, resulting in Mosby's
being commissioned a captain, with ten men detached from his regiment
(the First Virginia Cavalry) with permission to increase the number by
recruiting from the young men in the district where he operated.

Mosby lost no time in getting his little force together at some point in
Loudoun county. His first expedition was to Fairfax Courthouse. His plan
was to get as close to the enemy as he could, hide his men behind a hill
or in a body of timber, and rush pell-mell upon a passing wagon-train,
or a detachment of Union troops, stampede th