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

men of the Fifth New York ride by, with Colonel Wyndham himself in the lead. As soon as they were out
of sight up the road, Mosby and Beattie, who had hastily dressed, dashed downstairs for their horses.

"I'm going to keep an eye on these people," Mosby told Beattie. "Gather up as many men as you can,
and meet me in about half an hour on the hill above Middleburg. But hurry! I'd rather have five men now
than a hundred by noon."

When Beattie with six men rejoined Mosby, he found the latter sitting on a stump, munching an apple and
watching the enemy through his field glasses. Wyndham, who had been searching Middleburg for
"Mosby's headquarters," was just forming his men for a push on to Upperville, where he had been
assured by the canny Middleburgers that Mosby had his camp.

Mosby and his men cantered down the hillside to the road as Wyndham's force moved out of the village
and then broke into a mad gallop to overtake them.




It was always hard to be sure whether jackets were dirty gray or faded blue. As the Union soldier had a
not unfounded belief that the Virginia woods were swarming with bushwhackers (Confederate guerillas),
the haste of a few men left behind to rejoin the column was quite understandable. The rearguard pulled
up and waited for them. Then, at about twenty yards' range, one of the New Yorkers, a sergeant,
realized what was happening and shouted a warning:

"They're Rebs!"
Instantly one of Mosby's men, Ned Hurst, shot him dead. Other revolvers, ready drawn, banged, and
several Union cavalrymen were wounded. Mosby and his followers hastily snatched the bridles of three
others, disarmed them and turned, galloping away with them.

By this time, the main column, which had not halted with the rearguard, was four or five hundred yards
away. There was a brief uproar, a shouting of contradictory orders, and then the whole column turned
and came back at a gallop. Mosby, four of his men, and the three prisoners, got away, but Beattie and
two others were captured when their horses fell on a sheet of ice treacherously hidden under the snow.
There was no possibility of rescuing them. After the capture of Beattie and his companions, the pursuit
stopped. Halting at a distance, Mosby saw Wyndham form his force into a compact body and move off
toward Aldie at a brisk trot. He sent off the prisoners under guard of two of his men and followed
Wyndham's retreat almost to Aldie without opportunity to inflict any more damage.

During his stop at Middleburg, Wyndham had heaped coals on a growing opposition to Mosby, fostered
by pro-Unionists in the neighborhood. Wyndham informed the townspeople that he would burn the town
and imprison the citizens if Mosby continued the attacks on his outposts. A group of citizens, taking the
threat to heart, petitioned Stuart to recall Mosby, but the general sent a stinging rebuke, telling the
Middleburgers that Mosby and his men were risking their lives which were worth considerably more than
a few houses and barns.

Mosby was also worried about the antipathy to the Scott Law and the partisan ranger system which was
growing among some of the general officers of the Confederacy. To counteract such opposition, he
needed to achieve some spectacular feat of arms which would capture the popular imagination, make a
public hero of himself, and place him above criticism.