Transcripts For CSPAN3 Leadership Of Confederate Colonel Joh

And took command of his own ranger battalion. In the unit gained notoriety for its raids behind union lines. This talk was part of a daylong seminar on civil war leadership posted by Longwood University in farmville, virginia, at Appomattox Court House National historical park. It is just under one hour. The first speaker today is mr. Eric buckland, the author of five books about the men who rode with john mosby during the civil war, his first one is mosbys rangers, which deal with the men from bmi who served with mosby, and who has subsequently done four more books, which tell the story of 110 more men who served with mosby and i am told there is a fifth volume at press right now with will probably be the final volume in that series. Hes received the Jefferson Davis historical gold medal. Mr. Buckland is a graduate of the university of kansas and had a 22 year career in the u. S. Army in which he rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, slightly higher than i got to when i was in the army. And he has many awards and served much of his career in special forces. If youve seen some of the awards he received her in that time, we certainly thank him for his service. He currently works for the United States government and lives with his wife, maureen, in centreville, virginia with three sons in the title of his presentation today is john s. Mosby, the perfect man in the Perfect Place. Please help me welcome mr. Eric buckland. [applause] mr. Buckland good morning. In keeping with the theme on leadership, patrick and asked me to talk about john mosby so we could address a leader at the unit level, the tactical and operational level. There is no doubt that john mosby was a singularly outstanding combat commander, i think he is one of the few, if not the only commander during the civil war to actually put together a unit and commanded it all the way until the very end of the war when he disbanded the unit. I cant think of another regiment was formed where that commander, if you lived, continue to command. In many cases, they would have been promoted out of the job. He was a remarkable man, but i will make the case, its with my title, i believe of the perfect man in the Perfect Place at the stars aligned for John Singleton mosby. He had some luck in his success, a great deal of it had to do with his abilities. But i also think that the stars aligned to a certain extent in what he was able to do and you might say get away with over 26 months. To understand john mosby and who he became, i think you have to understand or know a little bit about his youth. He was a sickly child born december 6, 1833 and the family did not expect him to live far into adulthood. He, in fact, when he was fullgrown, was perhaps 57, probably closer to 56, 125 pounds, not a big man. Because of his illness, and because he was frail, he was doted on at home by his mother. He didnt have to do chores around the house, he spent a great deal of his time reading. He became a highly educated and very intelligent young man who would become a very intelligent older gentleman as well. That opened his world, but again, he was doted on at home. And once he began to go to school, i think he had a certain amount of selfconfidence that bubbled over into a little but of arrogance and probably rubbed a lot of his schoolmates the wrong way. Plus, he was a smaller boy and he tended to be picked on. And he himself said he had a fight almost every day when he was in public school. And he lost every fight. But he would go back the next day and get right back at it. He would not back down. You see that later on in his partisan ranger career, that this was not a man who backed down from a fight. He was courageous. I often claim that he had ice water in his veins. I know thats a cliche, but this was a man who was about as close to fearless as i have ever seen or read about. I think he exhibited that even as a youth. I think he was ambitious to a certain extent. Im not certain if he always knew what direction he wanted that to take that with being so much spoiled home and being told he was the apple of his mothers eye and that he was very intelligent, again, he was bubbling with selfconfidence. When you read his memoirs and other things he writes, hes very selfdeprecating to a certain point. Then you realize that maybe just attend a tad disingenuous. I think from the very start of mosbys life, and later as you grow older, it was John Singleton mosbys way, or it was the highway. He did not broker people disputing with him, especially as a commander later, as an older man, he challenged people at least 2, 3, 4 times to duels after the war. This was an ornery man, and had great selfconfidence, that translated well into his ranger career. But not someone, even though johnson John Singleton mosby did not drink, he was not someone i would have wanted to sit down and have a bourbon with. Most of the stories would have been about him, and any on i have told about him, probably would have been wrong and he would have corrected be. I think one of the things that encapsulates his personality is an incident that occurred at the university of virginia when he was a student there. He wanted to have a party, he had invited to young two young gentleman to come to his party, they were known as musicians. There doesnt seem to be any thought that there was subterfuge in mosbys inviting them. They were friends of his. But they were musicians. George sterman, who was the town bully, a big brutish kind of man. He caved in students heading with a rock or a brick, not someone you would go in and just for fun poke in the eye. He wanted to have a party as well any he wanted these two musicians to come to his party. He began a rumor or stories that mosby had only invited these two men to come to play music, as sort of an insult to the two men. Mosby heard about it and in the way they did things back then, he sent a note saying what do you mean about these comments . His response for all practical purposes was, i will eat you blood raw. Mosby took that seriously, this was a dangerous, violent man. So he armed himself with a pepper box pistol. I think you can say at that time, mosby realized that even at 56 or 57, your size or weight didnt much matter if you had a pistol in your hand. The armed himself so he armed himself with a pepper box pistol and eventually, George Turpin came to the boardinghouse where mosby was staying. Some movement was made after turpin came to the front door, whether or not he lurched at mosby, whether or not he began to move up the stairs, mosby was a few stairs up in the stairs by the front door. Once he moved, he found himself shot in the neck and lying on the floor in a pool of blood. I think it that point, mosby did two things he would later make almost Standard Operating Procedure for himself, and that was one, to be armed with a pistol, something you control for a close and very personal work and the second thing was once an enemy once an enemy attacks, you dont sit back and wait for the attack to hit you, you go into the attack mode itself. And he did that with his command later when he began his partisan ranger career. As well as the fact that he was fearless. He was not intimidated by turpin. He took care of business, he would do that later on. I think at that point, it shows that bridge between the young boy who had to fight every day and lost in school to the young man who armed himself and was not going to back down when he got into a confrontation that possibly required some sort of violence. He was arrested for shooting turpin, he was tried and convicted and put in jail. And it was while he was in jail that he began to study the law. In fact, his prosecutors the man who lent him his law books and mosby would eventually become a lawyer. There were some twists and turns with his case, in the end, he was exonerated. The record expunged and he was released from jail. He would become a lawyer in the bristol, virginia area. And then, of course, war clouds again to loom in virginia. Up until the time of virginias secession, mosby was a unionist. He did not believe that the country should be torn apart. But when virginia seceded, he made the comments that he had to go with his mother. Meaning the state of virginia, and he enlisted in the unit called the First Washington mounted rifles. That was a Calvary Company formed out of southwestern virginia that would eventually be rolled into the first virginia calvary. His Company Commander was william e grumble jones. Jones took mosby under his wing and it was there that mosby discovered that he hated camp life. He did not like the regimen of the army. He found he would much rather be out on ticket duty or out on outpost duty, but he did like to be in camp. That would show up later in his partisan career. After the battle bull run or manassas, the federal Confederate Army began to go through some transformation. Jones had become the Regimental Commander of the first virginia and he would make john mosby his adjutant. Jones took mosby under his wing, and mosby said a great deal of time with him learning about training and how to take care of the men. Jones as you might imagine by his nickname, grumble, was not the most affable man, but he took good care of the men. He looked out for their welfare as mosby would you later on. Secondincommand was fitzhugh lee, and mosby and lee did not like each other at all. And when elections were held in 1862, once the confederate soldiers were given the right or the privilege of electing their commanders, fitzhugh lee was voted in. Mosby did not want to work for lee and he knew that lee would not want him as his accident so mosby resigned his position. At that point, he had been a First Lieutenant. Luckily for him, he had done some errands, some small missions for jeb stuart prior to that alastair knew of him and thought he was intelligent and trusted him and stuart, hearing of mosbys plight now back from the ranks from First Lieutenant to a private at best and stuart asked mosby to, on his staff as a scout. The stars began to align for mosby, and that he had opportunities to truly prove his worth to jeb stuart. One was the ride around mcclellan, it was mosby who founded the collins mcclellans flank was in the air and mosby was one of the men who led stewarts ride around mcclellan during the peninsula campaign. He did a couple of other things for stuart the game to stewarts trust in mosby. He knew that mosby reported something, it was accurate and true. He could count on him to get the job done. And somewhere along this time is mosby, a scout for stuart began to prove his worth, mosby began to espouse this idea of going behind union lines with a small group of men and annoying the union forces. Disrupting their lines of communication. Stuart would continually stiff arm of mosby saying i dont have the people, i cant give you any men to go off and do this. But eventually, very late december 1862 after what was known as the christmas raid, when stewart was up in northern loudoun county, mosby with him as a scout, stuart told mosby im going to leave you behind. The quote here for mosby says six, but it was actually nine men and stuart left with mosby. He told mosby you can go ahead and try this idea that you have. Lets see how it works out. The area of operation was to be in loudoun county. Now, mosby almost immediately began to display his ability to pick targets and be successful in what he was doing. So about two weeks after stuart had left with the remainder of the confederate Calvary England and gone down to fredericksburg to the winter enchantments, about two weeks later, mosby rode down to report to stuart and bring these nine men back who had been on loan. But with them were about 30 captured union horses, all the tack that in men with the Union Troopers who were captured, and all the Union Troopers have been paroled. He had 30 complete sets of greatness. Without thats pretty good. And going to give you 15 men now, not for a total of 24, but 15 or set of nine, you go back and see if you can continue to do what you were doing. Mosby expresses these ideas later on in what he wanted to do as far as his mission as a partisan ranger. A great deal is made by some that wanted to do as far as his mosby studied Francis Marion as a child. He did in fact even refers to it in his memoirs about reading about Francis Marion, the swamp fox, and whooping with delight when he would hear these wonderful tales of him tricking the british soldiers. Mosby took his tactics and his ideas directly from Francis Marion. Ive read some of the books. To equate mosby becoming a partisan ranger he was, from reading those books about Francis Marion would be like many of us taking the owner manual of our car and disassembling the engine, and then putting it back together. There just wasnt that much information in the books. Mosby just understood Unconventional Warfare. He understood what needed to be done. And how he should be operating while he was out with his men. You see this very clearly, i believe, and these two comments that he made. I told stuart that i would, by incessant attacks, compelled the enemy either greatly the contract these lines were to reinforce them. Either of which would be a great advantage to the southern cause. It was an economy of force mission. Never, never did mosby envisioned taking his force en masse and attacking a Union Calvary unit in the conventional manner. It was hit and run, continue to cause trouble, disrupt them, make them concerned, make them worried, make them pull forces back to protect areas. Mosby said he thought the greatest thing he had accomplished as a partisan ranger was to deprive Union Soldiers of sleep. Anybody who has been in the military knows how precious sleep is. If for no other reason just to escape the drudgery that you are involved in. But often times, if youve been out on operation, you have been out on patrol, sleep is wonderful. Mosby really felt that by his operating at night and coming into places where he was least expected, he caused worry and angst amongst the Union Troopers, the calvary especially. Again, another statement of what he wanted to do. His idea more than anything else was twofold, that was two to either push back the Union Pickets or outposts that rained washington city, to push them back so he could have a little more room to maneuver, or, to force those outposts to be reinforced. And at to have them be reinforced, they would have to draw from the main battle area, down where the main union army was confronting robert e. Lee. When all was said and done, he was successful on both levels. He pushed the outposts back tighter into washington city, and they were reinforced. He tied up a good number of union forces, because you worry about problems within washington city. I dont believe anyone ever felt that mosby would go in and capture washington, but he certainly would get close enough that he began to worry them as far as what things he might do. And so he was actually successful on both levels. But from start to finish, i truly believe that mosby did things his way. Initially, his chain of command, he would report to jon jeb stewart. He had a direct shot to stuart. Once stuart was mortally wounded at yellow tavern, he reported directly to robert e. Lee. Its the only instance i can think of where a colonel reported directly without anybody in between. To robert e. Lee, as far as his operations. But mosby did it his way. What do i mean by that . When mosby had enough men to go from being what he called mosbys conglomerates, that would have in january 1863 to the ninth of june, 1863, when he operated not as a formal unit with no other blessing from anyone other than the fact that he was in charge of this group of people until the 10th of june, 1863, when he formalized his command my forming company a, the 43rd battalion virginia calvary. And when he was about to form that unit, jeb stuart told him dont call them partisan rangers, dont call yourself rangers. Thats a word that is kind of fallen into the repute at this point. Call yourself mosbys regulars. Mosby did not listen to that guidance. Stuart also told him you will have elections. You form your new companies, you will have elections. Mosby would have elections, but he did it his way, which i will talk about in a few moments. Also from robert e. Lee, as audacious as he was, i think when all is said and done, robert e lee never fully understood what it was that john mosby was doing. I dont think it is any different than a number of conventional officers. In todays military. They dont understand conventional warfare, they just dont get it or they dont want to get it. Lee was audacious, absolutely. Did he push the envelope . Absolutely. But i believe when all was said and done, he was a conventional officer and he was also i think to a certain extent a gentleman of the old school, who really mosby didnt fight fair. A lot of Union Officers complained. He doesnt fight fair. He fought to win. Did he fight dirty . I dont know, i guess that depends on what side of the cold colt. 45 you were on. When all was said and done, lee didnt understand what mosley was about. A couple of different times, generally complained to stuart that mosby was fighting with too many small groups. This decentralized way that he operated didnt make sense. He needed to mass his forces. And pick one big target. That went completely against everything that mosby was doing. His effectiveness was the fact that he could have 3, 4, 5, 6 different combat patrols out on any given night, especially as the unit increased in size. 10, 15, 20, 30 miles apart and disrupt the union lines of communication at several different points at the same time. If he were to mass his unit, and only once, remedy remember he started with nine men at the end of the war, 800 men were officially mustered into the 43rd battalion virginia cavalry, and almost 2000 men had ridden with him at one time