"H. Beam Piper - Rebel Raider" - читать интересную книгу автора (Piper H Beam)

inflicted upon the enemy. Mosby, however, had a well-conceived strategic theory. He knew, in view of
the magnitude of the war, that the tactical effects of his operations would simply be lost in the over-all
picture. But, if he could create enough uproar in the Union rear, he believed that he could force the
withdrawal from the front of a regiment or even a brigade to guard against his attacks and, in some future
battle, the absence of that regiment or brigade might tip the scale of battle or, at least, make some future
Confederate victory more complete or some defeat less crushing.

As soon as Stuart's column started southward, Mosby took his six men across Bull Run Mountain to
Middleburg, where he ordered them to scatter out, billet themselves at outlying farms, and meet him at
the Middleburg hotel on the night of January 10. Meanwhile he returned alone to Fairfax County,
spending the next week making contacts with the people and gathering information.

On the night of Saturday, January 10, he took his men through the gap at Aldie and into Fairfax County.
His first stop was at a farmhouse near Herndon Station, where he had friends, and there he met a
woodsman, trapper and market hunter named John Underwood, who, with his two brothers, had been
carrying on a private resistance movement against the Union occupation ever since the Confederate
Army had moved out of the region. Overjoyed at the presence of regular Confederate troops, even as
few as a half-dozen, Underwood offered to guide Mosby to a nearby Union picket post.

Capturing this post was no particularly spectacular feat of arms. Mosby's party dismounted about 200
yards away from it and crept up on it, to find seven members of the Fifth New York squatting around a
fire, smoking, drinking coffee and trying to keep warm. Their first intimation of the presence of any enemy
nearer than the Rappahannock River came when Mosby and his men sprang to their feet, leveled
revolvers and demanded their surrender. One cavalryman made a grab for his carbine and Mosby shot
him; the others put up their hands. The wounded man was given first aid, wrapped in a blanket and
placed beside the fire to wait until the post would be relieved. The others were mounted on their own
horses and taken to Middleburg, where they were paroled i.e., released after they gave their word not to
take up arms again against the Confederacy. This not entirely satisfactory handling of prisoners was the
only means left open to Mosby with his small force, behind enemy lines.

The next night, Mosby stayed out of Fairfax County to allow the excitement to die down a little, but the
night after, he and his men, accompanied by Underwood, raided a post where the Little River Turnpike
crossed Cub Run. Then, after picking up a two-man road patrol en route, they raided another post near
Fryingpan Church. This time they brought back fourteen prisoners and horses.

In all, he and his sextet had captured nineteen prisoners and twenty horses. But Mosby still wasn't
satisfied. What he wanted was a few more men and orders to operate behind the Union army on a
permanent basis. So, after paroling the catch of the night before, he told John Underwood to get busy
gathering information and establishing contacts, and he took his six men back to Culpepper, reporting his
activities to Stuart and claiming that under his existing orders he had not felt justified in staying away from
the army longer. At the same time, he asked for a larger detail and orders to continue operating in
northern Virginia.

In doing so, he knew he was taking a chance that Stuart would keep him at Culpepper, but as both
armies had gone into winter quarters after Fredericksburg with only a minimum of outpost activity, he
reasoned that Stuart would be willing to send him back. As it happened, Stuart was so delighted with the
success of Mosby's brief activity that he gave him fifteen men, all from the First Virginia Cavalry, and
orders to operate until recalled. On January 18, Mosby was back at Middleburg, ready to go to work in
earnest.