Mosbys Louden Heights Raid In the early hours of a frigid Sunday, January 10, 1864, a column of Mosby’s Rangers stealthily made their way over the snowy roads Between the Hills, stopping to collect themselves at St. Paul’s Church, then headed off the Hillsborough-Harpers Ferry Turnpike onto side lanes toward Short Hill, then headed north toward the river. Another smaller column on the other side of Short Hill made its way to the Old River Road along the Virginia bank of the Potomac and headed west. These two columns would attack a large Union cavalry encampment—Cole’s Cavalry–on a plateau overlooking the Potomac near Loudoun Heights. The two-pronged attack became a Confederate disaster, with heavy casualties for Mosby’s 43rd Virginia Cavalry as friendly fire became the enemy. Sleepy Union cavalrymen looked on or opened fire on those on horseback silhouetted against the snow. The Loudoun Heights Raid is remembered as Mosby’s biggest disaster and one of his last nocturnal raids–two of the Rangers’ most prominent officers were killed and there were many casualties on both sides. It is a classic example of Loudoun’s painful sectional division, as Loudouners served both in Major Henry A. Cole’s Union First Potomac Home Brigade from Maryland or in John Singleton Mosby’s 43rd Virginia Cavalry.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 03:43:04 +0000
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