the territory
covered by him. I made a study of his tactics and was preparing to
counteract him. His men were at home in the district; it was, in fact,
their home. They were, or many of them were, farmers, who might be
innocently tilling the soil as our scouting parties passed, but who, at
Colonel Mosby's whistle, if the chance was propitious, would jump on
horse and surprise us before long. Small bodies of troops were taken
unawares. They never offered a front to large bodies; they would swoop
down on a defenceless train, or destroy railroad bridges.

Mosby was a valuable asset to the Confederacy, worth many times Harry
Gilmor's Raiders.

I think, without doubt, it took twenty or thirty thousand of our men to
guard against his intermittent incursions.

Mosby was an educated man. An impression was abroad then that he was a
barbarian; he was not. He was loyally doing for the South what I would
have done for the North. I captured his foraging order, on one occasion
and it opened my eyes for it was evidence of as civilized methods of war
as was ever manifested. In this order he provided for payment for
private property which he took.

I planned to organize a body of men to compete with Mosby, and I asked
for a command to operate independently of district lines, or military
commanders.

I had been locating Mosby's men (their homes), from all sorts of sources
of information, preparing to capture them in detail. I was planning to
take them at their disadvantage, when they were at the plough, and not
when they were in the saddle. Here is part of my list so tabulated:

"Members of Mosby."

Wm. Robinson,
Wend Robinson,
John Robinson--Three miles above Front Royal, on the Culpepper
Pike. Father is a farmer.
Geo. Reger--Black Rock below the Pike, with his brother, John
Reger.
Jack Downing--1/2 mile from Geo. Reger's on Black Rock, in a
fine brick house.
William Wright--Four miles below Front Royal, on the Linden
Road, with his Grandmother, Luanda Wright.
James Fold--Below Flint Hill, six or seven miles from Front
Royal near the Pike. Father is a farmer.
James Hawes--On Culpepper Pike, seven miles from Front Royal,
is a laborer, lives in Mr. Gibson's house.
Bresley Esom--Seven miles from Front Royal, one mile from
Culpepper Pike.
George Esom--Same place as Bresley.
John Clark--Nine miles from Front Royal, to r