This book can be obtained at the library via interlibrary loan! Rhonda Houston Format: Paperback, 319pp. ISBN: 0671747452 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Trade Paperbacks Pub. Date: August 1991 Synopsis This is a study of the Forty-third Battalion of Virginia Cavalry (formed in 1863), and its commander, John Singleton Mosby. Bibliography. Index. I examined this book at the bookstore today and found that there was an appendix at the back where there is a list of names of those men that had been associated with and rode with Mosby; their first and last names appear! Annotation No single battalion was more feared during the Civil War than the 43rd Battalion of Virginia Cavalry, better known as "Mosby's Rangers." Here, in vivid and fascinating detail, is the most authoritative account of the Rangers' infamous adventures, written by a prize-winning historian. ". . . recommended for nearly any Civil War collection."--Booklist. 16 pages of photographs. (Perhaps you'll find the photo you are looking for! ) >From the Publisher No single battalion was more feared during the Civil War than the 43rd Battalion of Virginia Cavalry. As one contemporary said, "They had...all the glamour of Robin Hood...all the courage and bravery of the ancient crusaders." Better known as Mosby's Rangers, they were an elite guerilla unit that operated with stunning success in northern Virginia and Maryland from 1863 to the last days of the war. In this vivid account of the famous command of John Singleton Mosby, Jeffrey D. Wert explores the personality of this iron-will commander and brilliant tactician and gives us colorful profiles of the officers who served under him. Drawing on contemporary documents, including letters and diaries, this is the most complete and vivid account to date of the fighting unit that was so hated by General Ulysses S. Grant that he ordered any captured Ranger to be summarily executed without trial. From the Critics: >From Library Journal Perhaps no figures of the Civil War have been surrounded with more romanticism than John S. Mosby and his band of rebel rangers. Formed in mid-1863, Mosby's partisans confounded all Union attempts to destroy them, and for 28 months supplied Lee with priceless intelligence while wreaking havoc behind federal lines in northern Virginia. In telling anew Mosby's story, Wert has drawn extensively on previously neglected primary sources and provided a balanced history of the famous battalion. Although acknowledging that Mosby and the rangers were ``among some of the finest guerrillas in history,'' Wert avoids attributing monumental importance to them. They did not prolong the war nor siphon off thousands of Union troops. In the long run they simply increased the harshness and cost of the conflict. This book sets new standards for such studies; it is essential for scholars but great for general readers too. History Book Club main selection.-- Thomas E. Schott, Office of History, 17th Air Force, Sembach AB, Germany >From Mark E. Neely - The Journal of American History The reader follows Mosby's Rangers, as they were generally known, from skirmish to skirmish and raid to raid in a carefully delineated narrative. It includes interesting glimpses of the civilians in the countryside. . . . {Wert}describes the organization and reorganization of the Virginians from fifteen partisans to eight companies. The result may be useful for specialists, but it makes slow reading. . . . Analysis is not this book's strength. . . . Although several theoretical works on guerrilla warfare are cited in the bibliography, their insights are not much in evidence in the text, which does not offer the reader a real framework for understanding the Rangers' terrifying deeds. Instead, Wert supplies a reliably detailed narrative of one unit's many actionsin the Civil War. It remains for others to make them fully understandable tothe modern age. >From Publisher's Weekly - Publishers Weekly In 1863, John Singleton Mosby and his band of irregulars, recruited in Union-occupied northern Virginia, began raiding Yankee outposts, wagon trains, troop detachments, headquarters and railroad lines. Their most celebrated exploit: capturing a Union general behind enemy lines without firing a shot. After each sortie, the Confederate guerrillas would hide in ``safe houses'' provided by the citizens of two northern Virginia counties. Mosby was captured once (and exchanged) and wounded several times, but continued to plan and personally lead guerrilla raids throughout the final two years of the war. Wert ( From Winchester to Cedar Creek ) has written the first comprehensive study of Mosby's Rangers and offers new material about its organization, membership and tactics, plus biographical information about Mosby himself. He reveals that the partisan band rarely exceeded 200, that a large percentage of them were teenagers, that the civilians who sheltered them paid a high price in Yankee retribution. Well-researched, objectively written, this is a first-class history. Photos. First serial to Civil War Times Illustrated; History Book Club main selection. (Oct.)