A Guide to the Scrapbooks of John Singleton Mosby, 1869-1915 Mosby, John Singleton, Scrapbooks 7872-a

A Guide to the Scrapbooks of John Singleton Mosby, 1869-1915

A Collection in
The Special Collections Department
Accession Number 7872-a


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© 2002 By the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia. All rights reserved.

Funding: Web version of the finding aid funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Processed by: Special Collections Department

Repository
Special Collections, University of Virginia Library
Accession number
7872-a
Title
Scrapbooks of John Singleton Mosby, 1869-1915
Physical Characteristics
This collection consists of six bound scrapbooks.
Language
English

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

Copying restricted. Contact Curator for terms.

Preferred Citation

Scrapbooks of John Singleton Mosby, Accession #7872-a , Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

The Mosby Scrapbooks were a gift to the Library from his grandson, Admiral Beverly M. Coleman of McLean, Virginia, on December 2, 1987.

Alternative Form

Available as Manuscripts Dept. Microfilm #2358.

Biographical/Historical Information

Further biographical information on Mosby may be found in Kevin H. Siepel's Rebel: The Life and Times of John Singleton Mosby , 1983, available in Alderman Library.

Scope and Content Information

This collection consists of six bound scrapbooks, 1869-1915, complied by former Confederate colonel and partisan ranger John Singleton Mosby (1833-1916) and his daughter, Mary Virginia (Mosby) Campbell (1859- 1904). The scrapbooks contain newspaper articles relating to Mosby's life and career as well as miscellaneous poetry, correspondence, and related items. Most of the letters are typescript or carbon copies, some of which are signed by the correspondents, including Mosby. The scrapbooks frequently carry several annotations in his handwriting. The clippings and correspondence illustrate Mosby's commentary on contemporary events including the Spanish-American War, World War I, various presidential elections and appointments, editorial letters, the Civil War, and his visits to cities as a private citizen or as a government official. While the scrapbooks possess similar or even duplicate material, each has substantial variations in content which warrants their description as separate entities.

Contents List

Scrapbook I ca. 1872-1913 & 1915

Contains information pertaining to reunions of Mosby's Confederate command, the Forty-third Battalion of Virginia Cavalry, and articles by him in Munsey's Magazine , Illustrated American , and Metropolitan Magazine . The clippings in this volume were taken from: Washington Evening Star ; Warrenton Virginian ; Staunton Morning Call ; Richmond Times and Dispatch ; Bristol Courier ; Alexandria Gazette and Times ; New York Independent and World ; Baltimore Sun ; Omaha Mercury ; and Louisiana Review .

Scrapbook II 1869-1910

Was compiled by Mosby's daughter, Mary Mosby Campbell. Its newsclippings pertain to her father's near-fatal accident at the University of Virginia in 1896 (he was accidentally kicked in the head by a horse and suffered a fractured skull and the loss of his left eye), and the controversy surround his dismissal from the Department of Justice. Correspondents include James Keith, who appeals the dismissal to Attorney General George W. Wickersham, June 13, 1910; a letter, January 6, 1892, from Pierre G. T. Beauregard praising a Mosby Gettysburg article; a Theodore Roosevelt letter in which he claims to be a friend of the South, September 10, 1904; and, a note from Marcus J. Wright who claims that after having reviewed all of Robert E. Lee's papers (as part of his work for The War of the Rebellion ) Lee had praised Mosby more than any other officer. W. H. Forbes, Major N. I. O'Brion, Colonel E. Leroy Sweester, William H. F. Payne, and Joseph Bryan are among the other correspondents. The clippings were removed from issues of: Warrenton True Index and Virginian ; New York Commercial Advertiser , World , and Evening Post ; Baltimore News and American ; Washington Post ; Richmond Times-Dispatch ; Chicago Times-Herald ; Charlottesville Chronicle ; San Francisco Chronicle ; Roanoke News ; New Orleans Picayune ; Hong Kong China Mail ; and Waterbury (Connecticut) Republican .

Scrapbook III 1869, 1872-1876 & 1896-1905

Has press clippings about Aaron Burr, Mosby's bodyservant during the war, a newspaper section of photographs of members of his command, and a genealogical column on the Mosby family. Clippings were taken from the following newspapers: Baltimore American ; Warrenton Virginian and Index ; Lynchburg News ; Madison (Indiana) Courier ; Richmond Times and Dispatch ; Pittsburgh Press ; Chicago Times-Herald ; New York Herald , World , and Sun ; Norfolk Dispatch ; Nashville Banner ; Montgomery (Alabama) Journal ; Washington Post ; Birmingham Ledger ; Mobile Daily Term ; and Uniontown (Pennsylvania) Tribune .

Scrapbook IV 1885-1915

Includes a June 27, 1862 newspaper clipping from the Abingdon Virginian about the activities of Private Mosby; other articles relate to the death of his son, John Mosby, Jr., on August 27, 1915. Correspondents include William Loeb who thanks Mosby on Roosevelt's behalf for supporting an appointment for J. E. B. Stuart, Jr., and sends his condolences on the death of Mosby's daughter, December 23, 1904; a copy of a April 17, 1863 letter which had enclosed his commission as a major from General J. E. B. Stuart; Stuart's recommendation to Confederate Secretary of War George W. Randolph that Mosby be placed in command of a company of sharpshooters, June 20, 1862; and Williams H. D. Cochrane's discussion of Mosby's claims for reimbursement for the seizure of his tobacco by Cochrane when he was a Union quartermaster in 1865 (March 30, 1904). There is also a letter from German General Robert von Massow, to W. Ben Palmer which mentions Mosby (who has scribbled a brief sketch of Von Massow's career at the bottom of the page). Von Massow had served with Mosby's Rangers during the Civil War; in his will he allegedly bequeathed $2,000,000 to be distributed among the command's survivors. A carbon of Ulysses S. Grant's parole of Mosby, February 2, 1866, is included in this volume. Binger Herman, Rockwood Hoar, and Roger A. Pryor are among the other correspondents. Newspapers represented are: Fairfax Herald ; Warrenton Virginian ; Nashville American ; Alexandria Gazette ; Richmond Dispatch ; Hong Kong China Mail ; St. Louis Globe-Democrat ; Spokane Chronicle ; Madison (Indiana) Courier ; and Omaha World-Herald .

Scrapbook V 1877, 1888, 1897-1915

Encloses negatives of Mosby photographs taken in Boston in 1906 and additional articles on the death of his son. Most of the correspondence is in the form of dinner and meeting invitations as well as Mosby's activities on behalf of the Department of Justice and of the Interior. He defends the appointment of J. E. B. Stuart, Jr., as port collector for Newport News, in a letter to Senator William P. Frye, March 14, 1906, and informs U. S. District attorney Thomas R. Roulhac, Birmingham, Alabama, of law violations by government employees, February 2, 1905. Charles Bruce, Middlesex Club, Boston, and Nebraska Senator Charles Henry Dietrich were among the other correspondents. Clippings are from: Fredericksburg Free Lance ; New York Advertiser , Evening Post , and Christian Intelligencer ; Boston Herald ; Warrenton Virginian ; Washington Times and Post ; and Staunton Old Dominion Sun .

Scrapbook VI 1897-1915

Contains information about the presentation of a portrait of Mosby to the University of Virginia's Washington Literary Society, a premature obituary notice from the New York World after his accident at the University of Virginia (bearing annotations in his hand), and newspaper photographs of six of his men who were hanged by Union General George Armstrong Custer. Several letters are affixed in this volume. Mosby and Special Assistant Attorney General Charles W. Russell, consult by telegraph concerning indictments against U. S. Marshal Benjamin H. Colbert, George Mansfield, John F. McMurray, Melvin Cornish, and others for land frauds against the Chickasaw Nation, June 22 & 24, 1905; Mosby's offer to General Nelson A. Miles to raise a battalion for Spanish-American War service (April 22, May 4 & 6, 1898); Henry C. Stuart's praise of his book Stuart's Cavalry In The Gettysburg Campaign , February 25, 1908; and, an invitation to a Boston dinner celebrating the anniversary of Ulysses S. Grant's birthday, April 20, 1897. Additional correspondents are: Edgar N. Champlin, John H. Fimple, William Moody, William Gordon McCabe, and William H. Dyer. Clippings were taken from: Baltimore Sun , American , and Morning Herald ; Philadelphia Times ; New York Evening Post and World ; Denver Post ; Chappell Register ; Atlanta Constitution ; Leslie's Weekly ; Omaha Bell ; Warrenton Virginian and Times ; San Francisco Post ; Richmond Times-Dispatch ; and, New Haven Journal Courier .