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The Fairfax Courthouse Incident

www.findagrave.com

Originally aired on March 07, 1997 - In part 132 of our Civil War series, Virginia Tech history professor James Robertson profiles the life and career of John Singleton Mosby. He relates the events of March 8, 1863, the date on which Mosby made his biggest catch of the war.

#132 – A Rude Awakening

John Singleton Mosby was a small wisp of a man, always restless and absolutely fearless. Raised on a large farm near Charlottesville, he entered Confederate service in 1861 as a private in Colonel “Jeb” Stuarts’s cavalry regiment. Mosby was such a daring horseman that in January, 1863, Stuart sent him on detached service to wage guerrilla warfare in Union-held northern Virginia.

The 29-year-old Mosby gathered two dozen equally dedicated horsemen and crossed into enemy lines. Employing hit-and-run tactics, they struck Federal outposts, stole horses, captured soldiers, and destroyed equipment. Then, on the dark, rainy night of March 8, 1863, Mosby made his biggest catch of the war.

Edwin Stoughton was a native of Vermont and a 1859 graduate of West Point. He had led a Union cavalry regiment with such distinction that in November, 1862, he was promoted and, at twenty-four, became the youngest brigadier general in the Union armies. Stoughton took command of the forward units defending Washington on the south side of the Potomac River. He quickly acquired a reputation as a heavy drinker and womanizer. The base for all of his activities was the strongly garrisoned town of Fairfax Courthouse.

A late winter downpour pelted the countryside on the night of March 7. There was a party at brigade headquarters. Champagne flowed freely. Near midnight, a slightly unsteady Stoughton donned his nightshirt and collapsed in bed.

Near 2 a.m., someone lifted the general’s bed covers, raised his nightshirt, and whacked him soundly on the behind. Stoughton sat up in bed, outraged at such a liberty. In the dim light he saw a slightly-built, sandy-haired figure attired in a wet oil slicker standing by the bed. “What is the meaning of this?” Stoughton roared. “Do you know who I am, sir?”

The unperturbed figure answered calmly: “I reckon I do, General. Did you ever hear of Mosby?”

Understanding and relief quickly took the place of anger with Stoughton. “You’ve caught him!” he shouted with delight.

“No”, the intruder said, “but he had caught you.”

Mosby and his 29 rangers withdrew into the wet night, skirted enemy outposts, and made their way safely through Union lines to Confederate headquarters at Culpeper. They had bagged a Federal general, two captains, 30 enlisted men, and 58 horses by riding into and out of a fortified village without firing a shot or losing a man. A cold-eyed Mosby and his youthful daredevils had accomplished one of the major feats of the war.

Northern newspapers gave a characteristic howl of indignation. For example, the Washington Star declared: “There is a screw loose somewhere. It is about time that our brigadier-generals at exposed points brightened up their spectacles a bit.” Meanwhile, a happy Jeb Stuart hailed Mosby’s accomplishment as “a feat unparalleled in the war”.

Mosby eventually became colonel of the 43rd Virginia Battalion of Partisan Rangers. His feats became legendary. By the end of the Civil War, so complete was his control over the land lying between the Blue Ridge and Bull Run mountains that the region was known to friend and foe alike as “Mosby’s Confederacy”.

After the war, Mosby angered his neighbors by joining the Republican Party. He held a number of Federal posts, including consul at Hong Kong. Mosby died in 1916 in the nation’s capital and was buried in Warrenton, Virginia.

As for the hapless Stoughton, he was exchanged in May, 1863, but found no new assignment awaiting him. Stoughton left the army in disgrace and thereafter practiced law in New York City. He died on Christmas Day, 1868. Understandably, Stoughton never spoke of the Fairfax Courthouse incident.