Rebel: The Life and Times of John Singleton Mosby

by Kevin H. Siepel

Book Overview

Rebel is the first complete biography of the Confederacy's best-known partisan commander, John Singleton Mosby, the "Gray Ghost." A practicing attorney in Virginia and at first a reluctant soldier, in 1861 Mosby took to soldiering with a vengeance, becoming one of the Confederate army's highest-profile officers, known especially for his cavalry battalion's continued and effective harassment of Union armies in northern Virginia. Although hunted...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0803216092
• ISBN13: 9780803216099
• Release Date: July 2008
• Publisher: Bison Books
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.6" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

More than military

Mosby's Memoirs was the first book I read on John S Mosby, at least in my adult life. I grew up in northern Virginia at a place where his exploits took place and he was a legend and my idol as we played boys games of war. I was always Mosby. About that time there was a black and white TV show called the "Gray Ghost." This fueled my fire for Mosby. But boys become men and I forgot about my hero till many years later, now in my 60s. Only now as a veteran Army Infantry Captain and Vietnam war helicopter pilot do I realize what a great impact the life of this man has had on me and so much I have done. Siepel's book gives us a look at much more than just the exploits, if you can say the words, "just the exploits" about Mosby. For as a student of history and military history it is hard to find a comparison to what this man did. I carefully studied to try to find the key. How do you routinely route and defeat 200 of the best equipped and trained cavalry the Union army has to offer with 30 men? And this is not just a single incident, this was routine! What was the key? In Siebel's book I thought I could find it in Mosby's later life. As he bloomed in years perhaps the flowers essence would at last reveal itself. And, subtly it does. I don't want to spoil the book for you, but in it you will find the story of a man who shoots a bully in college and goes to jail, starts Confederate army life as a private and ends it as a Lt. Colonel, and is commended by none other than Robert E. Lee more than any other officer. (For those who do not know, generals do not often take notice of Lt. Colonels, must less commend them). After the war this "god" of war has a checkered and interesting career. Just as in army life, he never puts himself or his gain first. Just as in the Army when he allowed his me to pillage captured military stock and equipment for themselves but scrupulously avoids doing so himself, the same mannerism occur, much to his fiscal harm, in his many government jobs where he has opportunity to reap the illegal profits all around him seem to enjoy. Simple, black and white, right and wrong, the best friend you could ever have and the most skilled advisary, as Union General Stoughton finds out when Mosby kidnaps him from his bed in the middle of his sleeping army. The equal of Alexander the Great on miniature or the young biblical David fighting the Philistines, such are the verified exploits of this one in a thousand years warrior.

A must read of a man whose life, despite not having the renown it deserves, is fine and excellent re

The Lawyer is never seen as a figure who could become a fierce and zealous warrior. "Rebel: The Life and Times of John Singleton Mosby" is the life story of an unsung hero. When the civil war kicked off, Mosby was a simple attorney in Virginia, but soon rose through the ranks of the army as the war raged on. When the Confederacy fell apart, his loyalty was devout, and he is often promoted as the last confederate officer to surrender. The legend that his life doesn't end there, as the following half century is filled with interest, even serving for President Theodore Roosevelt. "Rebel" is a must read of a man whose life, despite not having the renown it deserves, is fine and excellent reading indeed.

Maybe not so hard to understand

Author Siepel, like all of those who cover Mosby's post-war career, seems to find the fact that the former Confederate became a Republican something so unusual as to be indicative of his natural proclivity for rebellion. The fact is, however, that it was anything but an unusual manifestation of Mosby's political philosophy. Very few of those who have written about the man give much ink to Mosby's PRE-war politics save only in passing. If they had, they would have made considerably less of his POST-war politics. For John Singleton Mosby was NEVER a Democrat. He had very little use for that party and still less use for it after the war. Mosby was a "Henry Clay Whig", a member of the political party that gave rise to the Republicans. Among other prominent "Northern" policies, Mosby believed in public education. Indeed, after the war he stated that slavery would never have lasted as an institution had education been available to the average Southerner instead of just those with enough money to afford it. As well, Mosby saw the internecine fighting in the Democrat party as the reason for Lincoln's election (it was) and at the time of secession, backed the Democrat-Unionist candidate rather than the Democrat-secessionist. After the war, it is true that Mosby supported Democrats, but that was locally for to do otherwise was to support the Radicals and their party of occupation. He was a conservative white Southerner, a man who wished to see Southern whites back in charge of their local and state governments and blacks back in their place. But it is well to remember that the concept of white supremacy was universal those days. Even the most vocal white supporter of emancipation did not believe that the Negro was his equal or deserved to govern (except, of course, in the South as a means of punishing former rebels). Lincoln was very clear on this matter and advocated relocating freed slaves either to Africa or to colonies in the Caribbean. Mosby first went from supporting Democrats both locally and nationally to supporting Democrats locally and Republicans nationally in the presidential election of 1872 when the Democrats ran a sort of "fusion" candidate, the well known, newspaper editor Horace Greeley. Greeley had been an outspoken enemy of the South for years although he did reject any attempt to keep the region in the Union by force. Mosby stated that he preferred Grant, then running for his second term, whom the South only fought for four years to Greeley whom it had fought for forty and that the man to whom Lee had surrendered his sword was the "lesser of two evils". Of course, Mosby's support of Grant was also personal for he felt that he was indebted to Grant for removing his status as an outlaw and granting him a parole, thus saving him from the penitentiary or the gallows. But it wasn't until the election of 1876 that Mosby decided to "cross the Rubicon" and actually register as a Republican, thus beginning his odyssey from hero to pariah.

The Story of a True Confederate Hero!

Had John Singleton Mosby fought on the winning side in the American Civil War then I'm sure his exploits would now be the stuff of legend, committed a long time ago to celluloid. As it is he fought on the wrong side and was branded a "bandit" for his disruptive activities in Northern Virginia.This book is a marvellous account of the life of a great man. Small in physical stature, he was nevertheless a giant of a man in all other respects and was both feared and respected by those who fought against him in the war between the States. Kevin Siepel's book tells the story of the man behind the myths; his childhood, wartime exploits and controversial post-war views which saw him shunned by the same 'South' who had worshipped during the conflict.I enjoyed every last page and was almost sad to get to the end. There was so much to Mosby that I feel the book could have been double the size it actually is - and that's where I draw my only criticism. I felt there should have been more details of his war time exploits. There's plenty there but I feel there could and should have been more. Overall though I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was always inclined to like it because Mosby is a hero of mine, but it does do justice to the telling of the story of his incredible life. Kevin Siepel is to be congratulated for his magnificent efforts and I would heartily recommend this book not only to any American Civil War enthusiasts but to anybody who would like to read about an extraordinary man and his equally extraordinary life.