Something Sniped MOSBY DENIES SNIPING CHARGE American Wrote the London Times Confederates Were Snipers at Night. REFUTED BY AGED RAIDER Mosby Says Baron von Massow, Now German Corps Commander, Was with Him in 1864. The famous Confederate raider, Col. John Singleton Mosby, who is now in his 82d year, wrote to the London Times from Washington, under date of December 19, a remarkable letter on alleged sniping in the American civil war. The Times on November 14 had printed a letter from George Haven Putnam, of New York, in regard to the question of sniping in Belgium. In the course of this letter Mr. Putnam said: “In the Shenandoah Valley, in 1864, the crippled old farmers whom we saw in the day time hobbling around their fields became at night active raiders with Mosby, and rarely troubled themselves to change their garments. I do not believe, however, that any attempt was made either in the Shenandoah Valley or elsewhere (except in the case of a man shown to be a spy) to make the absence of uniform a ground for the execution of the citizen who was using his rifle to defend his home.” Mosby Denies This. In reply to this letter. Col. Mosby wrote: “The homes of a large portion of my command were not in the region where we operated, many of my men were from Maryland. There were some Canadians who joined us for love of adventure. I was never in the Shenandoah Valley before the war; my home was more than 100 miles away. The Union cavalry knew the country as well as I did. When my men were captured they were sent to Fort Warren, near Boston: all who saw them know that they wore gray uniforms.” “His statement shows that the writer was never in the Shenandoah Valley as a soldier: or, if he was, that he was prudent enough to keep out of sight of us. My own uniform can be seen in the National Museum. Confederates Used Pistols. A sniper, I believe, shoots under cover with a long-range gun. The foes we often met by daylight in open combat know that my men always fought with pistols in a mounted charge: and I am sure that our antagonists would not admit that they had ever met defeat from a band of cripples. The published records of our war show the relations of my command to the main Confederate army: and refute the implications of your correspondent’s letter. “An English officer, Capt. Hoskins, who had the Crimean medal, served with us. He had passed through the fire of the Redan and the Malakoff and fell by my side in a skirmish. A German officer, Baron von Massow, was also in my command until he was disabled by a wound and returned home. A few years ago he wrote me that he then commanded the Ninth German Army Corps. If you were to ask Massow if he was ever a sniper in the Shenandoah Valley he would answer from the mouth of a Krupp gun.” (The Washington Herald, April 19, 1915)
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 01:25:10 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015