The Gray Ghost: John Singleton Mosby
- Episode aired Oct 16, 1993
- TV-G
- 40m
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Confederate raider John Singleton Mosby.Confederate raider John Singleton Mosby.Confederate raider John Singleton Mosby.
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Asymmetrical Warfare.
John Singleton Mosby joined the Confederate cavalry early in the war and was singled out by J.E.B. Stuart for his superior bravery, intelligence, and horsemanship.
Mosby began with only a small band, a few dozen men, who excelled at insinuating themselves into Union camps and gathering information. He was adept at harassing the Union lines and disrupting their supply trains. In one raid, Mosby found the Union commanding officer asleep in his bed, still a little drunk from a champagne party. The officer groggily asked if we'd capture Mosby. "No, but he has captured YOU." There were battle of course and men died but Mosby was never captured. On the whole Mosby seems to have been a man of fair principle. He treated his captives according to their condition. But in the Shenendoah Valley, when Sherman's troops hanged seven of Mosby's men, Mosby ordered the execution of the same number of Union captives, but he did so reluctantly.
He was devoted to the cause of what he considered "a free country" and never did surrender, just disbanded his battalion. His Rangers held many reunions over the years but Mosby attended only one. He became a lawyer and died in 1916.
Mosby is a good illustration of asymmetric warfare. His small group would organize, execute a commando-like raid, and then return to their own area and melt into the population that supported them. The U.S. Army had the same problem in 1916 when Pancho Villa's Mexican guerrillas crossed into American territory at Palomas, New Mexico, killing 17 unprepared soldiers and citizens. The U.S. Army marched en masse into Mexico seeking revenge but found no one to punish. Villa's men had just gone back home and disappeared. Early in the Vietnam War, American Marines and Soldiers faced a similar problem. Asymmetrical warfare will never win a war by itself but it can leave the enemy dispirited and exhausted.
Mosby began with only a small band, a few dozen men, who excelled at insinuating themselves into Union camps and gathering information. He was adept at harassing the Union lines and disrupting their supply trains. In one raid, Mosby found the Union commanding officer asleep in his bed, still a little drunk from a champagne party. The officer groggily asked if we'd capture Mosby. "No, but he has captured YOU." There were battle of course and men died but Mosby was never captured. On the whole Mosby seems to have been a man of fair principle. He treated his captives according to their condition. But in the Shenendoah Valley, when Sherman's troops hanged seven of Mosby's men, Mosby ordered the execution of the same number of Union captives, but he did so reluctantly.
He was devoted to the cause of what he considered "a free country" and never did surrender, just disbanded his battalion. His Rangers held many reunions over the years but Mosby attended only one. He became a lawyer and died in 1916.
Mosby is a good illustration of asymmetric warfare. His small group would organize, execute a commando-like raid, and then return to their own area and melt into the population that supported them. The U.S. Army had the same problem in 1916 when Pancho Villa's Mexican guerrillas crossed into American territory at Palomas, New Mexico, killing 17 unprepared soldiers and citizens. The U.S. Army marched en masse into Mexico seeking revenge but found no one to punish. Villa's men had just gone back home and disappeared. Early in the Vietnam War, American Marines and Soldiers faced a similar problem. Asymmetrical warfare will never win a war by itself but it can leave the enemy dispirited and exhausted.
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- rmax304823
- Jun 21, 2017
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- Runtime40 minutes
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