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

Mosby decided to abandon his customary tactics of dismounting at a distance and approaching on foot.
On a night like this, the enemy would not be expecting him, so the raiders advanced boldly along the
road, Mosby telling Ames to make whatever answer he thought would be believed in case they were
challenged. However, a couple of trigger-happy vedettes let off their carbines at them, yelled, "The Rebs
are coming!" and galloped for the schoolhouse.

There was nothing to do but gallop after them, and Mosby and his band came pelting in on the heels of
the vedettes. Hitherto, his raids had been more or less bloodless, but this time he had a fight on his hands,
and if the men in the schoolhouse had stayed inside and defended themselves with carbine fire, they
would have driven off the attack. Instead, however, they rushed outside, each man trying to mount his
horse. A lieutenant and seven men were killed, about twice that number wounded, and five prisoners
were taken. The rest, believing themselves attacked by about twice their own strength, scattered into the
woods and got away.

Ames, who had ridden unarmed, flung himself upon a Union cavalryman at the first collision and disarmed
him, then threw himself into the fight with the captured saber. His conduct during the brief battle at the
schoolhouse was such as to remove from everybody's mind the suspicion that his conversion to the
Confederate cause was anything but genuine. Thereafter, he was accepted as a Mosby man.
He was accepted by Mosby himself as a veritable godsend, since he was acquainted with the location of
every Union force in Fairfax County, and knew of a corridor by which it would be possible to penetrate
Wyndham's entire system of cavalry posts as far as Fairfax Courthouse itself. Here, then, was the making
of the spectacular coup which Mosby needed to answer his critics and enemies, both at Middleburg and
at army headquarters. He decided to attempt nothing less than a raid upon Fairfax Courthouse, with the
capture of Wyndham as its purpose.

This last would entail something of a sacrifice, for he had come to esteem Sir Percy highly as an opponent
whose mind was an open book and whose every move could be predicted in advance. With Wyndham
eliminated, he would have to go to the trouble of learning the mental processes of his successor.

However, Wyndham would be the ideal captive to grace a Mosby triumph, and a successful raid on
Fairfax Courthouse, garrisoned as it was by between five and ten thousand Union troops, would not only
secure Mosby's position in his own army but would start just the sort of a panic which would result in
demands that the Union rear be re-enforced at the expense of the front.

So, on Sunday, March 8, Mosby led thirty-nine men through the gap at Aldie, the largest force that had
followed him to date. It was the sort of a foul night that he liked for raiding, with a drizzling rain falling
upon melting snow. It was pitch dark before they found the road between Centreville and Fairfax, along
which a telegraph line had been strung to connect the main cavalry camp with General Stoughton's
headquarters. Mosby sent one of his men, Harry Hatcher, up a pole to cut the wire. They cut another
telegraph line at Fairfax Station and left the road, moving through the woods toward Fairfax Courthouse.
At this time, only Mosby and Yank Ames knew the purpose of the expedition.

It was therefore with surprise and some consternation that the others realized where they were as they
rode into the courthouse square and halted. A buzz of excited whispers rose from the men.

"That's right," Mosby assured them calmly. "We're in Fairfax Courthouse, right in the middle of ten
thousand Yankees, but don't let that worry you. All but about a dozen of them are asleep. Now, if you all
keep your heads and do what you're told, we'll be as safe as though we were in Jeff Davis' front parlor."

He then began giving instructions, detailing parties to round up horses and capture any soldiers they found