"The Colonel and the Grey Ghost"

DATELINE: 5/09/2011
"The Colonel and the Grey Ghost"
I was sittin out on the back porch with my dog Buddyroe, watchin the squirrels chase one another as they always do in the spring, when I noticed a brand new crop of wrens flittin around in the bushes by the back fence. You can sure tell its spring, when all of the critters start producing their young. It reminded me of the spring of 1861 right before all Hell broke loose, and the country became engulfed by the violence of the Civil War.

Spring always seems so peaceful with new life bustin out all around, just like back in 1861. There were clouds of war, but you know how folks are, they never really expect something bad to happen until it does. Well that time was a true test of this country, just like times today seem to be. It does seem that when times get tough, someone always appears to lead us with strength. One of my favorites during the Civil War era was a man known as "The Grey Ghost".

The Grey Ghost (from Mosby biography)

"John S. Mosby was a successful attorney, and with the outbreak of the Civil War he enlisted in the 1st Virginia Cavalry. He quickly moved up through the ranks, and eventually raised his own partisan unit. At first a battalion, his prowess and charisma allowed him to recruit it up to a regiment. The regiment became known as the famed "Mosby Raiders".

John Mosby was a key innovator in the tactics of Guerilla warfare. By 1863 his exploits were becoming legendary in the South, and viewed as a less than honorable way to fight by the North. Regardless of perspective he devised a new way of fighting by which a small agile force could harass and defeat a much larger force. In lightning fast raids, his raiders would move in and cut telegraph lines, ambush couriers or small parties, start fires, harass rail transport, and then disappear into the night. His quickness and stealth led to his now famous nickname, "The Grey Ghost".

Mosby’s exploits included a daring raid far inside Union lines at the Fairfax County courthouse in 1863, where his raiders captured some key Union officers, including General Stoughton, whom Mosby found in bed, waking him with a slap to his rear. Upon being so roused, the general exclaimed, "Do you know who I am?" Mosby quickly replied, "Do you know Mosby, general?" "Yes! Have you got the rascal?" "No but he has got you!"

Now inventin new ways to fight has always been the American way, and we are good at it too. Just ask the Redcoats how they felt back in 1776 when they stood in a straight line while we blasted at them from behind rocks and trees! The same is true today, Americans don't sit down and quit, they find new ways to fight. Me and Buddyroe are sittin out here on the back porch, waitin to see who is gonna come along and show us the way, like the Grey Ghost did back in 1861. Of course we don't hold nothin against John Mosby just because he was a lawyer. It just goes to show that some of them are good for something other than suing folks and writin crazy laws!

"Now, that's the way I see it, and you can tell'um I said so!"

Bascomb Biggers