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Artist
Unidentified Artist
Sitter
John Singleton Mosby, 6 Dec 1833 - 30 May 1916
Date
c. 1863
Type
Photograph
Medium
Albumen silver print
Dimensions
Image/Sheet: 8.2 × 5.2 cm (3 1/4 × 2 1/16")
Mount: 10.2 × 6.3 cm (4 × 2 1/2")
Topic
Symbols & Motifs\Star
Costume\Dress Accessory\Neckwear\Tie\Bowtie
John Singleton Mosby: Male
John Singleton Mosby: Law and Crime\Lawyer
John Singleton Mosby: Literature\Writer
John Singleton Mosby: Military and Intelligence\Army\Officer\Civil War\Confederate Army
John Singleton Mosby: Business and Finance\Businessperson\Real estate agent
John Singleton Mosby: Politics and Government\Diplomat\Consul\US Consul
Portrait
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
Object number
NPG.2013.127
Exhibition Label
Born Powhatan County, Virginia
Colonel John Singleton Mosby was the commander of the Forty-Third Battalion, Virginia Cavalry, more commonly known as Mosby’s Rangers. At its peak, the command numbered about 400 troopers, but it routinely operated behind enemy lines in bands of twenty to 150 men, mostly at night. Raids were designed to destroy enemy supply trains, disrupt communication lines, and isolate federal troops from their base commands. Mosby’s “Confederacy” was centered in Loudoun and Fauquier counties, where most of the raiders lived. Armed principally with Colt revolvers, the rangers were so effective in their hit-and-run tactics in 1863–64 that the aura of fear they created was itself a weapon. After the war, Mosby philosophized about his personal experience during combat: It is a classical maxim that it is sweet and becoming to die for one’s country; but whoever has seen the horrors of a battlefield feels that it is far sweeter to live for it.
