B00EF19YY8 EBOK, page 26
There are many real characters I have used in the book. Colonel White did indeed have a falling out with Stuart and seemed to have led General Walker on a long roundabout route to get to Loudoun Heights. The result was that the assault on the town was delayed by two days. Although it did not adversely affect the course of the battle it could have and was one of the many examples in the war of the effects of politics within the two armies. Sandie Pendleton was an aide to Jackson in the Valley and it was he who alerted Stonewall to the dangers from their left flank.
Thanks to Wikipedia for these public domain maps made by Hal Jespersen. I used “Civil War: The Maps of Jedediah Hotchkiss” by Chester G. Hearn and Mike Marino for the detailed maps of the valley. (Thanks to Rich for loaning me his copy!”)
The Valley campaign was a complex one and the frontier was very fluid. This was exacerbated by the movements of the Rangers and the forces who tried to capture them. The raid on Dranesville did not happen but Mosby did try to raid it in 1863 but he found that they had fled. He and his 70 men rested at Miskel’s farm. They were betrayed by a local Leesburg woman and the Second Pennsylvania surrounded the building. Despite being outnumbered two to one, with only one exit to the building, thanks to Captain Flint of the Vermont Cavalry making a sabre charge, the Rangers were victorious. Mosby lost one dead and three wounded. The Union forces lost 9 dead, 125 wounded, 82 captured as well as 95 horses. As you can see I have not exaggerated the effect of the Rangers.
The events such as the capture of a colonel, the routing of larger numbers were all well documented and Mosby’s Rangers had an effect which was disproportionate to their unit size. They did profit from their raids and others, further west such as Quantrell could be considered as bandits. The Rangers did wear uniform but they were adept at deception. Having seen the Blues and the Greys on a battlefield and at dusk I can tell you that there is sometimes little to be seen to differentiate them. The main indicator was that the Union had identical uniforms whereas the Confederacy tended to be a little more idiosyncratic. I do not know if there was a prison for officers in Gettysburg but, as officers were frequently exchanged then I assume that there must have been somewhere for that purpose. Bearing in mind its later significance I chose Gettysburg. I apologise to the purists especially as this is a Brit trying to write about American history!
I used the terms darkie, negro and nigra rather than the more offensive words which would have been used at the time. The words I have used would have been the words used to describe the Afro-Americans in the period and I hope that none of my readers are offended. I used darkie rather the others more often because, if you listen to the songs such as Swannee River you will see that they were used by the song writers at the time. We may question their use but this is a novel of the time and I have tried to make it as accurate as I can. Any mistakes I have made are honest ones.
I plan on another two books in this series and the third one should reference Gettysburg.
Griff Hosker August 2013
Other books by
Griff Hosker
If you enjoyed reading this book then why not read another one by the author?
The Sword of Cartimandua Series (Germania and Britannia 50A.D. – 128 A.D.)
Ulpius Felix- Roman Warrior
Book 1 The Sword of Cartimandua
Book 2 The Horse Warriors
Book 3 Invasion Caledonia
Book 4 Roman Retreat
Book 5 Revolt of the Red Witch
Book 6 Druid’s Gold
Book 7 Trajan’s Hunters
Book 8 The Last Frontier
Book 9 Hero of Rome
Book 10 Roman Hawk
Book 11 Roman Treachery
They are all available in the Kindle format.
The Aelfraed Series (Britain and Byzantium 1050 A.D.- 1085 A.D.)
Book 1 Housecarl
Book 2 Outlaw
Book 3 Varangian
These are available in the Kindle format.
The Wolf Warrior series (Britain in the late 6th Century)
Book 1 Saxon Dawn
Book 2 Saxon Revenge
Book 3 Saxon England
Also available in paperback and Kindle is the book aimed at 12-15 years olds, Great Granny’s Ghost
Carnage at Cannes is a modern thriller and is available in the Kindle format.
Travel
Adventure at 63-Backpacking to Istanbul
Coming in Autumn 2013
The Lucky Jack Civil War series
Book 1 The Rebel Raider
For more information on all of the books then please visit the author’s web site at http://www.griffhosker.com where there is a link to contact him.
All the books are now published by Sword Books Ltd.
Coming in September 2013
the next in the series
Partisan Rangers
Here is an extract from the draft of Book 2
Chapter 1
Leesburg October 1862
My hands suddenly felt clammy and I didn’t know why. It was no hotter than it always was in northern Virginia. IN fact, if anything, it was slightly cooler. It was not the first time I had slit someone’s throat. I had done it many times. I never enjoyed the experience but I had learned that delay cost men their lives. I was a sergeant now and I had the responsibility of having others follow me. I knew I needed had to do it quickly for Dago and Cecil were waiting for me to do the deed and then they could join me and we could kidnap Colonel Nathan Black, the officer sent by Lincoln to stop the threat of the Partisan Rangers. He was a threat, not only to Boswell’s Wildcats, our company, but also the more famous Mosby’s Rangers. Every second I waited increased the chance of discovery. I suddenly realised what it was; he was little more than a boy. He was barely sixteen. I wondered if I should just hit him with my Army Colt. I knew that was risky, sometimes they called out before they blacked out. I felt my knees stiffen and I shifted position. He must have sensed the movement for he gave a half turn and I froze.
Suddenly I heard a mew and a small ginger cat came out of the bushes and walked over to the sentry. It began entwining itself around his legs. His face changed and became a mask of hatred as slowly reached down to pick it up. He stroked its purring head and the, suddenly, twisted and broke its tiny neck “Damned mangy bag of fleas, good riddance!” And he spat at it.
All thoughts of mercy disappeared and I began to slip along the wall. He whirled around and pointed the, now bloody bayonet, at me. “Where do you think you are going?”
In the Rangers we learn to think on our feet. I was wearing my deer hide jacket over my shell jacket and, in the dim light could be mistaken for a scout. He obviously had not seen me as the rebel I was or he would have shot me out of hand. I had a blank piece of folded paper in my pocket and I pulled it out. “Jeb Hawkins, the Colonel’s scout. I have a message for him.”
The sentry relaxed and lowered his gun. “A little late for delivering messages ain’t it?”
I surreptitiously slipped my nine inch knife from my sheath and held it behind my back as I covered the five feet to the sentry. I held the paper up to attract and hold his attention. “The thing is this is a list of the names of Mosby’s spies here in Frederick.”
His eyes lit up. “Really? Can I see?”
I furtively looked around and said, “Just a quick look.”
As his face came down to read the non-existent names my blade entered his right eye and went through his brain to emerge at the rear of his skull. It was an instant and silent kill. More importantly there was little mess. I caught his gun in my left hand and lowered his body on to the swing on the porch. There was little blood and I covered his face with his kepi and laid his gun next to him. Anyone passing would think him asleep.
I pumped my arm twice and Dago and Cecil raced up, the rest of the company were guarding the two ends of the quiet street and I needed two men I could trust.
“You sure took your time Sarge!”
“Listen Cecil, it is better to take your time and get the job done rather than rush and fail!”
“Yeah Irish, you listen to the Sarge but watch me eh?”
We had watched the house all day and knew that there were just servants, the Colonel and his aide, a lieutenant. Three of us should be able to handle them. As soon as we entered the clapboard house we used only hand signals. I gestured for Cecil to get the servants whilst Dago and I headed for the room which had lights on; that was where the two officers would be. Of course we could be unlucky and one could have made a visit to the outhouse but those things happened. As we approached the door we heard them talking and knew that both of them were within. Dago had his Navy Colt drawn and I took out my Army Colt. They were both excellent weapons but Dago would have had one such as mine it he could.
The door was slightly ajar which made it easier for us to launch ourselves into the room. I nodded to Dago and he pushed the door open and I sprang inside. The colonel and the lieutenant were standing over a desk examining a map. They turned, expecting I think, a servant or the sentry. When they saw the business ends of two Colts they were stunned. The colonel had an expensive looking cigar in his mouth and it dropped to the floor. Dago dropped to one knee and picked it up with his free hand, never taking his gun off the colonel. “It seems a shame to waste such a fine cigar. I think I will finish that off later on.” He nipped the end and put it in his pocket.
“Gentlemen, if you would like to come with me. You are now prisoners of the Confederacy.”
The colonel appeared to regain some of his composure. “You boys won’t get away with this. There is a company of cavalry bivouacked in this town and there are sentries patrolling. You’ll never escape.”
“Well colonel, as the cavalry are at the other end of town and your one sentry is taken care of, I guess we’ll just have to take our chances.”
Dago grinned at the disappointed face of the Yankee Colonel. “I sure would like to play poker with you colonel; you can’t bluff worth a damn.” The staff lieutenant looked as though he might make a move. Dago cocked the pistol and held it to the young officer’s head. “Now son, we need the colonel here but you are just dead weight so any trouble and you get it first.”
Cecil popped his head around the door. “I locked them in the cellar and locked the cellar from the outside.”
Dago nodded his approval. “Well done Irish, we’ll make a ranger of you yet.”
I waved my gun. “Head for the front door. Cecil, get their horses and whistle up the boys. I don’t want to outstay our welcome in this fine burg.”
Dago went first, walking backwards. As we left the house the colonel glanced down at the sentry. “I’ll have him punished! Sleeping on the job.”
I shook my head, “Sleeping with the angels more like colonel and a warning to your boy here that we ain’t playing at soldiers. We are Rangers and the real deal.”
They both paled at those words. “Mosby’s men?”
“We’ll let our captain tell you that.”
I heard a distinctive whistle and then Cecil came round with the two cavalry horses for the officers and a further two in his other hand. He was grinning and when he reached me he said, cheerfully, “It seemed a shame to leave them in the stables. Pity there were no saddles for them.”
The hooves of the rest of our men meant we could allow our prisoners to mount. “Now we could tie your hands but then, if you fell off you would break your necks so how about this? I will have a man behind each of you. You so much as lean the wrong way and you’ll lose a leg. My boys can shoot the wings off a horsefly and a knee or two will be no problem. You understand?”
“I understand that you are a bandit and a brigand and not a soldier.”
“Well colonel looks like we just had our first difference of opinion and I had high hopes for some interesting discussions on the way home.”
We knew Leesburg very well having raided it on numerous occasions. They had taken to keeping just one company in Leesburg while another four were spread out covering the roads. It would have been an effective way of controlling us, if we had used roads but we preferred fields and lanes. We also had our base in the Blue Ridge Mountains which we now knew like the back of our hands. Our leader, Captain James Boswell had been a native of the area and we had soon picked up much of his knowledge. One trick we had learned was to behave s though we were not the enemy. We found that it we rode through a town, especially at night, then a cheery wave from us would make the locals think that we were union cavalry. Of course when that went wrong we would ride as hard and fast as we could. It helped having the best grain fed mounts in Virginia.
Davy brought the rest of the men and they formed around our two prisoners. There were two men to each horse. We still had six men who could shoot if it came to that but we hoped it would not. “A patrol left the barracks ten minutes ago and headed south.”
“Good.” That suited us for we would head west and then cut through Mulligan’s farm. He was a secret Confederate supporter but we only used his land to pass through knowing that his silence was guaranteed. We rode through the quiet street at a leisurely pace. Dago was behind the two Union officers. “Now if you gentlemen were thinking of shouting for help then a powerful number of people would die, you two, being the first. Let’s just get back to our camp. That way you two will still be alive.”
I smiled to myself knowing how much it must have galled them but they were being led by some of the most terrifying enemies that there were. We were the Rangers and Yankee mothers frightened their children with tales of us coming in the night to take them away if they were bad. I saw a knot of men on a street corner. I said, quietly, “Give them a wave Colonel and smile.”
The wave brought waves from the men and secured our exit from the town. As we reached the crossroads we kicked on a little and disappeared from sight. Of course the hardest part was yet to come. There would be night patrols and vedettes on the roads ahead. We had scouted and we estimated that they would not be patrolling where we would leave the road but we had learned by our own ingenuity not to ignore it in others. “Davy and Jimmy, you two, ride ahead to the trail and make sure it is clear.”
The wall which ran along the turnpike had a gap about a mile and a half from where we were. It made an easy way to enter the land close to Mulligan’s fields. Suddenly there was the sound of rapidly approaching horses and Davy and Jimmy reined in. “Union Cavalry, about thirty of them up ahead.”
“Dago, you take the Union officers with John and Bill here. We’ll lead them away. See you back at the rendezvous on the other side of the farm.”
Dago grinned. “Right Yankees, let’s see if you can jump this wall without falling off!”
“The rest of you, over the wall and pull both your Colts!”
I could now hear the thunder of hooves as the Union cavalry raced down the turnpike. The wall was no obstacle to us and I sighed with relief when I saw Dago wave as he led his prisoners towards the trees. There were just five of us but I was counting on surprise. The cavalry had only seen Davy and Jimmy in the distance and had no way of knowing where they had gone. They must have thought that they would hightail it down the road to the crossroads. They were in for a shock. I waited until the first of the riders was level with Cecil and then shouted, “Fire!” Ten bullets at four yards distance can do terrible damage. The officer and sergeant were leading and they both fell to the ground as did the bugler. “Keep firing!” The cavalry had not bothered to draw their weapons and we fire another two rounds before they could fire back. By then they were demoralised. Two put their hands up to surrender while the rest carried on towards Leesburg.
We had little time to waste. “Jimmy, disarm and secure the prisoners. Tie their hands. These boys are cavalry they should be able to manage. Cecil and Davy get the horses. You two collect any weapons and make it quick.” As soon as we had cleared the road we headed along the turnpike to take the turn off we had intended. Dago and his charges would have a longer route to get to the rendezvous point and we might just beat them.
The rendezvous point was a small track leading over the Blue Ridge. It looked as though it went north but in fact it looped back on itself and we had found a perfect place to keep a sentry who could watch anyone following the trail and be in the camp warning the rest before an intruder could get close. We reined in and I loosened the ropes on the two prisoners. “Boys you better have a drink.”
They took out their canteens and drank. “You Mosby’s Ghosts?”
Cecil snorted his derision, “Dumb ass! We are Boswell’s Wildcats!”
“Riders coming.”
When we heard Jimmy’s warning we all drew and cocked our weapons. We realised that it would probably be Dago but we didn’t like to take chances. As soon as we recognised him we lowered our guns. “Colonel, you better have a drink. You won’t be getting another for quite a while.” After they had drunk I nodded to the men. “Cover their eyes. Sorry gentlemen but we ain’t gonna show you the way into our palatial little home. You will be blindfolded and one of my boys will lead you. Best keep your hands on the reins as the track is a mite steep in places.”
None of the four were happy but with our guns aimed at their chests they had little choice. I sent Dago and the prisoners up first and then I followed with the horses and the rest of the boys. It would be dawn before we reached the rest of our company. The sentry did not speak as we passed him half an hour later. He saw the prisoners and knew he had to remain silent. I just waved to let him know that I was the last man in the line.
