December 25, 2024 • 49 mins
The Unvanquished: The Untold Story of Lincoln’s Special Forces, the Manhunt for Mosby’s Rangers, and the Shadow War That Forged America’s Special Operations
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
Good morning and Merry Christmas. I'm Patrick K.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
O'Donnell, and I'm hosting today the Combat History of Christmas
through America's Eyes. It's something that Stephen K. Bann and
I have done for over fifteen years. I've been a
historian for twenty six years, written fourteen books, and been
on dozens of radio TV shows hundreds thousands of them actually,
(00:32):
but this is my favorite show that we do annually.
Steve's traveling today, so I'm hosting the show and we're
going to take you back in time into the most
important inflection points in the combat history of the United
States that happens to be at Christmas time. It's here
that in many cases, history changes in turns on the
(00:53):
actions of individuals. Individual agencies changes history, and I'm going
to take you through several periods of time where this
change was dramatic that changed. These were inflection points in history,
and it will be focused today on the individuals and
the actions that they performed. In many cases, this is
(01:17):
some untold stories or little known stories that we're going
to focus on that you haven't heard on the War Room.
And the first individual that I'd like to talk about
is Henry Harrison Young, who's the leader of Sheridan Scouts,
And I want to take you back in time to
Christmas eighteen sixty four. The lines were stalemated at Petersburg.
(01:42):
Many things weren't moving in the front, but things were
very active and hot in and around Loudun County and
specifically the border area of West Virginia. And it's here
that Mosby's Rangers are very active and Harris inherits what's
left of what's known as the Jesse Scouts. Mosby's Rangers
(02:04):
just demolished an entire hunter killer team that was part
of the Jesse Scouts. These are men that were actively
pursuing John Singleton Mosby and his Rangers. An entire company
of men was annihilated at a place called Myerstown or
Cables town of that old Cablestown. And what was left
were some of the men that Henry Harrison Young had
(02:27):
to put together shared in Scouts with.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
And this is an epic story. Harrison Young.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Henry Harrison Young is really one of the great untold,
unsung heroes of the American Civil War. He begins the
war in eighteen sixty one at bull Run and is
immediately drawn to battle. He's extremely heroic. He actually kind
of has this sense of thrill in battle and craves it.
(02:58):
He is not a man. He's completely fearless in the
saddle and in battle, and.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
He rescues a man.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
For instance, at the battle at Saint Mary's Heights at Fredericksburg,
rides into battle in the middle of a massive maelstrom
of lead and cannon fire and picks up a man
that's gravely wounded and takes him, carries him off the battlefield,
and does this multiple times. But in eighteen sixty four
he finds himself being tapped to be to lead the scouts.
(03:31):
And this guy is extraordinary. He is a chameleon, that
is a shape shifter. He wears a Confederate uniform at
times to go behind the lines, he'll wear civilian clothes.
He'll act as a peddler even And you know, one
of my favorite stories with Young is that he is
(03:52):
able to impersonate anybody. And the Confederates are still in
eighteen sixty four very actively recruiting soldiers because they sperately
need them. And in the Shenandoah Valley, he goes to
a recruiting station and impersonates a young soldier that you know,
wants to join the Confederate Army, and a Confederate sergeant
(04:14):
recruits him into the Confederate Army and he's asked to
show up the next.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Day and join the army.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
And he literally shows up the next day with a
company of his men and captures that Confederate sergeant at
Pistol Point. He goes after high value targets, but he
has to somehow mold his men into a combat fighting force.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
And it's Christmas.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
It's right around Christmas Day that he puts them on
an impossible mission to really to forge unit cohesion. And
he arms his fifty eighty eighty so men who are
in Confederate uniform. These are Jesse Scouts and they are
This story is chronicled in my new best selling book
(05:08):
called The Unvanquished.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
And what he does is the impossible. If you go to.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
The area around Strausburg, there's a place called the Back Road,
and it's it's literally called the back Road.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
It's that's the title of the road.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
And it's here on the back Road, in and around
the trees that Harrison, that Henry Harrison Young knows that
Confederate cavalry always kind of moves into this area and
on a patrol and he positions his men behind a
series of trees to ambush them. And it's not just
(05:45):
a small group of men that he's going after. He
literally takes on an entire Confederate cavalry battalion, hundreds of
men strong.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
He arms his men with the spencer carbing. This a
repeating carvings.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
After you pull the trigger, a bullet will fire, unlike
a regular muzzle loading action. You can fire up to
twenty rounds or more minute with these weapons. They were
kind of the machine gun of the Civil War. And anyways,
they're also armed with Colt pistols to the teeth. They're armed,
and they are behind the trees, and they wait for
(06:22):
that right opportunity right at Christmas time, and they pounce
and they attack and they basically disrupt this entire Confederate
cavalry battalion, which is then set running to the hills.
And it's just one of the actions that Henry Young
(06:43):
and Sheridan's Scouts.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Become kind of renowned for.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
They use this sort of terror psychological warfare against their
enemy to basically show up at any time, this element
of surprise and then stealth and then they kill and
then they disappear or vanish. And this is something that
is a hallmark of today's special operators. Harrison Young, Henry
(07:08):
Young welds these men into a very cohesive unit.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
This is called Lincoln Special.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Forces in the Unvanquished or the Jesse Scouts or otherwise
known as Sheridan Scouts. They literally lead his army in
battle UH at multiple.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Points and it's it's really an extraordinary story.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
They capture multiple high level targets, including Harry Gilmore who
is a partisan alongside John Singleton Mosby, and they capture
him in the Shenandoah Valley in a midnight raid.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
UH.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
And it's extraordinary story.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
I have a great article on Breitbart that's that that
that that that that records that the capture of of Gilmore,
but also the the capture of Captain Stump. And this
guy's nickname was Stump's Arsenal because he was a Confederate
that was so armed to the teeth. He would literally
(08:06):
have five or six pistols and a car being at
all times on his body. And he was rounded up
along with gilmour By Young's men and captured. But what
made Stump. Unique was he had killed in cold blood
a number of the Jesse Scouts and they said, he
to Stump, we will give you an opportunity to to
(08:31):
for your life. And that opportunity was, will give you
fifteen paces or so on your horse, and we will
allow you to put the potential to escape. And that's
exactly what they did. They allowed us Stump, you know,
several seconds to run on his horse, and then the
(08:51):
men were such excellent shots with the.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Pistol that he was taken down. And the men continue.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
To to lead Sheridan's army in battle, and they would
play a very crucial role at the Battle of the
Battle campaign, the final campaign at Appomattox, it would be
the Jesse Scouts under Young that would determine the weak
(09:20):
points in the line at a place called five Force,
which is the most in some ways one of the
most decisive battles.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Of the American Civil War.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
They determined the weak points in the line and Pickets line,
and it would be here that with the Jesse Scouts
at his side, the General Sheridan literally charged the line
single handedly and broke it. And this precipitated General Lee's
retreat by about two or three weeks they were planning
on leaving the lines at Petersburg, but now they were
(09:51):
forced to leave because they had been outflanked. And as
they were being outflanked, it would be the Jesse Scouts
that would pursue them.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
You know.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
The scouts were made up of just really fascinating individuals.
One of them was a guy by the name of
Woodson who was a conformer Confederate that had come into
Young's lines and Sheridan's lines, and he told them that
he was his sister was killed or was I'm sorry,
(10:23):
it was insulted by the Confederates and as a result
he killed his captain. He was by the insult and
he had to flee Confederate lines and then offered his
services as a as a as a Jesse scout, and
he would receive the Medal of Honor near five Forks
for capturing a Confederate battle flag and helping capture General Behringer,
(10:47):
who was a Confederate general at the time. Along with Young,
they pursued Lee's retreating army, and it's here that they
may have played a very decisive role in the entire
war by leading Lee's supply trains in the wrong direction. Uh,
instead of when their first rotting pointed a place called
Amelia Courthouse.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Uh, they they.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Got instead of food and supplies, they received a bunch
of uniforms and caissons for wagons.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
It was exactly what they didn't need.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
And it's it's rumored and possible there's evidence that it
was Young's men that misdirected the right the food trains
to the right source and from there they capture the
supply trains at Appomattox and uh and and this is
a decisive blow because General Lee's army is starving and uh,
(11:42):
they are, you know, very desperate for supplies. The the
key here, though, is that Henry Young then spends another
another winter or another Christmas in Mexico. In Mexico is
really one of the great untold stories of the American
(12:03):
Civil War because at the time it was occupied by
Emperor Maximilian, and there were forty thousand troops down there
at the time, and it would be a regular warfare
special operations that would thwart them, and it would be
General Sheridan and his fifty or so jesse scouts that
were led by Henry Young that were arming the resistance
(12:24):
down there and basically creating what we now see as
a regular warfare today.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
These were these men.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Were really true commandos, and they were working with the
Mexican guerrilla forces that were down there, arming them, blowing
up bridges, destroying French outposts. And it's here that Henry
Young and many of the Jesse Scouts mysteriously disappear and
(12:54):
they are never heard or seen again. And it's unknown
exactly what you know, where where they went. There was
is likely a cover up in terms of his actions
down there, because his duties were unofficial, uh, covert operations
if you will, and you know this is a true
(13:17):
unsung hero along with many of the other men that
were Jesse scaffs. They would receive seven Medals of Honor
during the Civil War for their for their.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Valor and actions.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
But this was a he would never he would never
return home and uh, it was a very solemn time
for his mother. The book actually ends with his mother's
story and every year after his capture, after that Christmas,
(13:51):
she would she would wait for him. He would write
every month to her about just to keep her informed,
to keep her aware of their relationship was that close
and special. But every every every time that a stagecoach
would come into Providence, Rhode Island, she would wait for
(14:15):
her son that never returned home.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
And that is that that those were many long Christmases
without without her son, and many of the Jesse Scouts
UH face the same you know trial and hardship that
you know of that the families faced of missing their
their loved ones, which covert warriors of today, you know,
(14:43):
we've seen that over and over in Vietnam in particular,
we're special operators go behind the lines and.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Never return home for Christmas.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
I'm Patrick k.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
O'Donnell, and I'm hosting the Combat History of Christmas. This
has been an annual tradition that we've had on the
War Room for almost fifteen years. Steve Bannon and I
this is really one of my favorite shows that I've done.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
What I'd like to talk about now.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Is the continuing with the American Civil War. The great
adversary of Henry Young and many other Jesse Scouts was
John Singleton Mosby, and Moseby was a Confederate partisan and
really arguably the many ways the organizer of modern American
(15:51):
modern special operations forces. His ideas and principles begin on Christmas,
and it's Christmas eighteen sixty two, specifically in Middleburg, Virginia,
at a place called Oakham, Manor. And one thing that's
amazing about these stories is you can still visit Oakham,
(16:15):
and visit Middleburg and Loudun County where many of the
actions that I'm talking about, you can go there. You
can visit these places and feel the history and walk
the ground.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
At Oakham.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
That wintery Christmas Day, he approached his boss, Jeff Stewart,
who is the leader of the Confederate Calvary, with a
specific request if he could have a small band of
men to create a partisan group to attack the Union
supply rent lines in and around Middleburg and loud and
(16:51):
Prince William Counties. His request was granted, and he was
given about six men, and that is the origin in
many ways of monern and Special Operations forces. These six
men would then grow into nearly a thousand, and they
would tie down thirty to forty thousand Union troops over
the course of the American Civil War. They would ambush
(17:14):
supply trains, they would blow up bridges, they would capture
Union generals and do in many cases the impossible and
moseby was behind all of this.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
And it was his vision and leadership.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
He was only about five foot seven, kind of a
wiry guy that was a law student that had kind
of a bit of a hothead. Initially, he literally he
was accosted and insulted and pulled a pistol on his
one of his fellow law students and nearly killed him,
which put him in jail.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
For several months.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
But at the beginning of the American Civil War, he
was initially very reticent to secession, didn't really believe in slavery,
but fought for his state like many other members of
the South, and his beginnings are extraordinary. He's a scout
within the Confederate Army leads along one of Stuart's long
(18:15):
cavalry rides around Richmond, which is epic and legendary. He's
known for gathering intelligence. This isn't his first time as
a potential partisan leader. Stuart gives him the opportunity several
months earlier, and he's given him only one man, this
time with a club foot and Jeff's John Singleton. Mosby's
(18:40):
days as a partisan are very numbered. He travels to
a train station and literally a union company of cavalry
surround him and his horse along with the club footed individual,
and he is taken into captivity. In the middle of
eighteen sixty two. He is quickly imprisoned at a federal
(19:02):
prison and languishes there for several months until there's a
prisoner or exchange. And this is where John Singleton Mosby
really shines. He makes lemons out of lemonade, and literally
in the exchange, he's able to create actual strategic level
intelligence out of nothing, basically just his own sources and intuition.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
He's on a riverboat, but he.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Senses that the captain of that river boat is a
Confederate sympathizer, a Southern sympathizer, and indeed he is. He
pumps him for information about Union troop movements who this
captain had had moved around initially, and through that information,
along with his kind of keen eye where he's able
to sort of see some of the units in around
(19:51):
the area, he's able to determine that the Union army
is going to attack and where, which is really extraordinary
and miraculous. After he gets off the boat, he immediately
goes to General Robert E. Lee and he arrives at
Roberty Lee's headquarters in Richmond, this kind of lowly lieutenant,
and they initially kind of are very skeptical of what
(20:15):
Moseby could bring to the table or offer because he's
just a lieutenant. But he remembers sort of the ride
around Richmond with Stewart and some of Mosby's other exploits
and listens to him and this is this actually literally
changes the course of the Battle of Cedar Mountain, which
Mosby provides and furnishes actionable strategic level intelligence to Lee
(20:39):
through his through his efforts going back to eighteen sixty three.
Now Moseby is very active within the sort of the
area in and around Middleburg, and he he pulls off
(21:01):
one of his greatest exploits by capturing General Stowton in
in in Fairfax City itself. And this is one of
the great special operations stories of all time to capture
high value target. The key to it is a deserter
from the fifth New York Calvary Guy the name of
(21:22):
Yankee Ames, who deserts to Mosby into the Mosey Line.
He doesn't like the emancipation Proclamation. He feels he's being
lied to for why he's fighting. He's not fighting for
the Union per se and he joins Mosby shows up unexpectedly,
and Mosby believes that Yankee Ames is telling the truth,
(21:44):
and he's given an opportunity to to then get a horse,
and he has to go back into Union lines to
Centerville where there's a massive Union encampment and steal a
horse with another with another ranger, and they are successful
in that. And it's big Yankee Aimes that is put
in the very front of the vanguard on the raid
(22:07):
to Fairfax to capture Stoteen, and he understands the call
signs and the signals, and they ride in a raging
snowstorm and sleet and hail, and they they're in in
some cases they're in Union uniform or in rain jackets
in most cases with their Confederate uniforms underneath them. And
(22:27):
they ride into Fairfax and they they basically they seize
anybody that they can that that could potentially alert any
of the guards. And then they continue to Stotent's residence
and they knock on the door uh go in, and
the general is sleeping at the time, and Moseby wakes
(22:50):
him up and says, sort of these immortal worlds, do
you know who John Singleton Mosby is, and the General
says back to Mosby, have you captured him yet? No,
it is he who has captured you, and he's brought
into captivity and Moseby's scrolls on the fireplace, I am
Mosby just sort of a psychological bit of terror to
(23:15):
you know, let him.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Know, let people know his calling card who he is.
And they then.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
They go back and to back through the lines and
with the General intew this continues that they have a
number of raids and amazing actions that the Rangers are
part of, and one of them is at in and
around Christmas, and this is the Battle for Louden Heights
(23:44):
as it's called. And right around Christmas, Cole's Cavalry, which
is a Union outfit that is made up of Maryland
or As Pennsylvanians and other loyalists to the Union cause,
form a cavalry unit and they are base in Louden
Heights and it's here that they then conduct forays into
(24:06):
Mosby's confederacy, which is in and around Middleburg and Warranton
in other areas, and they lead an entire unit into
Mosby's confederacy. Moseby has his men shadow them provide kind
of a psychological terror just to let them know that
they're there. And as they shadow them, they pounce and
(24:29):
destroy this entire force of about almost two hundred Union cavalrymen.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
They're surrounded and attacked.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
One man, the leader of the group, is able to
Hunter is able to escape on foot forty miles to
Louden Heights. It's then that Mosby determines that they are
going to destroy the Cole's cavalry on Union Heights and
he organizes over one hundred men to attack this nest
(24:59):
of Union ca cavalry and in the middle of a snowstorm,
they mount up and they move towards towards Louden Heights
and it's, you know, an interesting figure sort of emerges here,
a guy, I think it was Frank Stringfellow, who is
somebody that is in and in through the unvanquished multiple times.
(25:20):
He's ninety four pounds, sometimes dresses in drag to literally
act as a spy to illicit information. And it's here
he finds a weak spot in the Union lines and
they attack. They move through, you know, over forty miles
of territory in the dead of night with you know,
(25:41):
freezing rain, and sleet and snow, and they creep up
to this Union encampment and it's Stringfellow that initially attacks
before he's supposed to, and he lets out a shout
and it alerts the camp and many men are are
are wounded from the attack. This is an article also
wrote in bright Bart History in many ways called Crimson Snow.
(26:05):
And many men are killed, are gravely wounded, and the
rangers Coole's Cavalry has standing orders to shoot anyone on horseback.
One of the men that is gravely wounded as a
guy by the name of Paxton. And Paxton, there's an amazing story.
Paxton his family saved a Union cavalryman and nursed him
(26:30):
back to health and then brought him back to the unionions.
And they had a standing agreement that if Paxton was
ever wounded, they would save him. And he called that
Union cavalryman forward, and they gave him a sustenance even
though he was gravely wounded, and allowed him the dignity
to die with respect. And this is what the unvanquishes about.
(26:53):
It's the hidden war of the American Civil War that
you haven't seen. Good Morning, a Merry Christmas. I'm Patrick
(27:16):
k O'Donnell and I'm hosting our annual Combat.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
History of Christmas, and we.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Are now talking about the American Civil War and many
of the actions of individuals that are in the inflection
points of history. John Singleton Moseby being one of them
who is a great partisan or grilla leader, arguably one
of America's greatest grilla leaders in modern history, that changes
(27:46):
the course of history with only six men and forms
an entire grilla group that ties down thirty to forty
thousand Union troops over the course of the war. He
pioneers the tactics and techniques that we now see in
modern special operations forces. And one of my favorite Christmas
(28:08):
stories of Mosby is his multiple escapes and woundings. He
was a man that was only five foot seven about
one hundred and twenty seven pounds or so, but escaped
death constantly and escaped at Union dragnets. And one of
(28:28):
those actions was in and around Christmas at a place
called Lakeland. And this house, like many of the others
in the Unvanquished, are still there. You can visit these
places and Lakeland. At the time, he was riding back
from a wedding in his finest clothes. He had an
ostrich plumed hat and a cape, and he was coming
(28:51):
back from a wedding in the middle of a snowstorm,
and they stopped at Lakeland for dinner, and it's here
that they're they're eating dinner, and suddenly the house is
surrounded by over one hundred Union caliveri.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
And they storm the house.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Mosby puts his hands up and then all of a sudden,
a shot comes through the window.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
And hits him right in the stomach, right.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Near the heart, and he is pushed down, and then
there's an ensuing melee within the room, and the lights
are kind of put out, and they then the Union
officers that are there then sort of come, you know,
basically are able to sort of sort things out. In
the meantime, Mosby realizes that it's probably he's probably about
(29:46):
to be not only dead or killed from this mortal wound,
but also captured somehow. He has the presence of mind
to take his coat off, which has two stars on
it representing his rank, moves it slightly off to the
left near another room and hides it. He then goes
(30:07):
back on the floor and they capture him, and a
doctor comes and they sense they see where his wound is,
and they say it's in his heart, and it's a
mortal wound. And Mosby is the presence of mind to
almost laugh because he realizes that his heart is up
(30:31):
a little higher. It didn't pierce his heart, but he
still thinks he's mortally wounded, and he slays there. They
take off his pants and his boots and they pronounced
that he is a mortally wounded soldier, and then they
start to ask the room who this guy is, and
the daughter of the room says, we've never seen him before.
(30:51):
He just showed up for dinner, and it's one of
the great lives of the Civil War.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
They literally believe it.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
And they leave this guy on the floor leading to death,
and Mosby is gravely wounded. He recognizes that he somehow
survived this bresci of death and miraculously gets up and
moves to the other room, and his guests are absolutely astounded.
(31:22):
He then they then put him in a number of
blankets and he's moved to a safe house and the
Union cavalry then come back looking for their their query
because they think that they may have they may have
killed Mosby, and he's gone he just disappears. He's the
Gray Ghost, and the Gray Ghost then makes his way
(31:45):
towards Richmond. The newspapers are all ablaze that this guy,
that Mosby was killed. And my favorite, my favorite anecdote
from one of the newspapers is the devil takes care
of his own as Mosby is somehow survives just another
one of these mortal mortal what would have been a
(32:07):
mortal wound for pretty much anybody else, and then gets back.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
On, you know, in his command and leads his.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Men throughout the rest of the American Civil War, where
they do really extraordinary things. The story then is, you know,
it shifts a little bit back in time to where
the Jesse Scouts formed for the one of their first rates,
(32:36):
which is in and around Christmas. But this is eighteen
sixty three and it's West Virginia, which is a cauldron
of partisan activity.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
It's here that gorilla groups are formed.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
On both sides, and it's the Jesse Scouts that are
formed to hunt them. The book is about several Jesse Scouts,
including a group by under the command of Richard Blazer,
who's in Ohio and he's really from my home state,
and one of the great unsung heroes of the American
Civil War. Richard Blazer was a riverboat captain uh in
(33:17):
before the Civil War. He transported supplies up and down
the Ohio River near Galla Police, Ohio.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
That's was his hometown and at the Civil War.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
At the start of the Civil War, he is a
officer in the Indian Army and he's tapped to hunt
Grillis because he's got this like innate sense of finding people.
By the way, I always visit the graves if I can,
of the individuals that I write about, I also walk
the ground of all the individuals that I the stories
(33:50):
and the battles that I that I that I that
I write about, and I spend years in the archives
piecing together the story of these men to give you
an accurate narrative history. It's nonfiction that many that's one
minif of reviewers of said read like fiction. It puts
(34:12):
you there, but it's all based on fact. And one
of the things I did is I went to Richard
Blazer's grave to find him. And I went there assuming
that it would be a small cemetery. And I went
to Mount Hill Cemetery, gal Police, which is a beautiful cemetery.
(34:32):
It overlooks the Ohio River, but it has I got
there and there were literally thousands upon thousands of tombstones
and graves for these people, and I immediately went to
where I thought would be a directory. There wasn't one,
but I knew that I would find him, and I
just prayed, and within maybe ten minutes I found Richard
(34:58):
Blazer's final resting place. Blazer, as I mentioned, was part
of Blazer's Independent Scouts, and he leads these scouts by
leading the army. And one of these raids was in
and around West Virginia where they were trying to take
out the Southern railroad that bordered West Virginia and Virginia.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
This is a main.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Lifelineer artery and Averill's Raid or Christmas Raid, took place
in the winner of eighteen sixty sixty three. Background on
that is the Confederate Army under General Longstreet, who had
been basically loan to to the south near Chattanooga, where
(35:44):
they have an amazing battle at Chickamaugua. He then is
bringing he's been coming back towards Roberty Lee and they
surround Knoxville, Tennessee, and a siege and they need to
relieve pressure on that city from Longstreet's forces, so they
launch a desperate and bold raid behind the lines. And
(36:05):
it's the Jesse Scouts and Blazers scouts that lead General
Averril's army. And this is an epic story behind the
lines where these men have to march and ride four
hundred miles to various depots that are in southern Virginia.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
And they you know, it's through the mountains, it's through
the sleet and rain, it's there they are in many cases,
they're it's so rugged and treacherous that they that they're
wearing out the horses. It's so Uh. The area is
is such difficult terrain and they have to walk in
many cases. But it's also an area that is infested
(36:50):
with the Confederate the Confederate forces and the Confederates. It's
the Jesse Scouts that lead these men. They're able to
do some amazing things. They're able to see some bridges
ahead of time by impersonating Confederates and allowing the Avril's
rating force to cross before they were able to burn
the bridges. But the Confederates know what's going on and
(37:12):
they send out six different commands thousands of Confederates to
annihilate General Avril, and it's the jesse Scouts that have
to somehow weave their way through all of this. One
of my favorite stories is they're deep behind the lines
and it's near Christmas time and they need to find
(37:34):
another crossing point. There's rivers everywhere and they literally enlist.
They try to enlist the services of a doctor that's there,
and Avril puts a pistol to this guy's head. First,
he initially says, we'll hire you for five hundred dollars,
and they said, no, there's no way because my family's
going to be known as a trader. I won't do it,
(37:57):
and then they put a pistol to his head. Avrol
put a pistol in his head and said you need
to lead us.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
Out of here. If you don't, I'll kill you.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
And he gave him one minute to respond and basically
put a stop.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
What is watch out?
Speaker 2 (38:11):
The doctor complied and they were able to thread their
way through Southern lines to.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
Captivity. But there's an epic story.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
Of how one of those one of those commands, the
fourteenth Pennsylvania, is trapped by the bridge by one of
the bridges, which is the Confederates burn and they're they're
stuck on the on the wrong side of the river.
They have to ford the river. Amazing stories of resilience.
(38:42):
And somehow this group has to then trudge another hundreds
of miles through all these Confederates that are following them
and the mountains, and they make they make this epic,
this epic march that is, you know, truly extraordinary. And
(39:05):
as they they make their way back towards the Union camp,
they are they were somehow expected two to pay for
their uniforms and the shoes that they that they utilized.
It's one of the most extraordinary stories that I found.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
In the book.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
They they had done this extraordinary thing. And many of
these men were like the veterans of the Battle of
the Bulge that I interviewed. They had frostbite, their uniforms
are rags after all this traversing all these mountains, and
somehow the Union Army was expecting them to pay for
new uniforms and shoes. And it's here that Averril interceded
(39:49):
and and was able to get that the the government
to not to not do their typical policy. But this
is a this is a Christmas Story for the Ages.
It's about human endurance, it's about individuals that do the impossible.
And in the next segments, we're going to go back
(40:09):
in time to our founding, to our greatest story, the
story of the American Revolution, the story of the Revolutionary War,
where our founders do the impossible.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
They go against the.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
Greatest army and navy in the world at the time,
and they somehow prevail, but they also create the greatest
ideas in world history, our ideas of freedom and liberty,
which resonate today and have changed the course of history,
have changed empires, and are more important.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
Today now than ever. I'm Patrick K.
Speaker 2 (41:04):
O'Donnell and I'm hosting the Combat History of Christmas. It's
our annual tradition that we've done for almost fifteen years.
Speaker 1 (41:10):
Stephen K.
Speaker 2 (41:11):
Bannon and I and we're going to go back in
time to a topic that we've never really done. We've
never discussed on the warrem the Forgotten Christmas of seventeen
seventy five, and this is really an epic story in
many ways. Our first first units within the United States
(41:32):
Army were rifle companies, the American Long Arm, known as
the Pennsylvania long rifle would change history. It was about
nine pounds, but it could shoot farther than any other
rifle in the world at the time, and it was
a weapon that was a circumstance of its environment, and
(41:56):
that would be the American Frontier where Americans in rug
individuals had to fend off Native Americans, had to shoot
wild game in this rifle, which has its origins at
the beginning of the seventeen hundreds, is it's in America,
(42:16):
and it's unique because it can shoot about one hundred
yards more than its European counterparts, which are there have
their origins in Switzerland and Germany. But it's these rifle
companies that are the foundation of the United States Army.
And they answer the call shortly after the Battle of
(42:38):
Lexington and Concord, and they make their way up to Boston.
And it's in and around the siege lines that the
rifle companies have a play a major role in keeping
British heads down and then taking off British heads by
their sniping ability and the British fear of this weapon tremendously.
(43:00):
There's a fascinating story of how one of these Pennsylvania
companies has a mutiny. Because rifle companies are specialized men.
They are able to shoot at a target two hundred
yards away, in many cases the size of a small plate.
Many of these guys could shoot that an eye out.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
On a squirrel.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
They were extremely rugged individuals from the frontier and in
many cases very undisciplined individuals. They didn't have the same
discipline requirements as the regular army or militia in and
around the siege, and they could do what they want.
In one case, they literally win company mutinies, and that
what that does is it leads them with a ticket
(43:42):
to Canada and an epic Christmas and seventeen seventy five,
and that story is incredible. They have to go through
nearly four hundred miles of main wilderness to get to
Quebec and Canada to somehow to take the capital city
(44:06):
of Quebec City. And they are under the command of
Benedict Arnold who leads them through the wilds, the wilds
of Maine and the rivers.
Speaker 1 (44:20):
And to get there they.
Speaker 2 (44:24):
Have to basically go through whitewater rapids. They have to
ford multiple waterfalls, and they have to take all their
provisions with them as they get up to Maine. They
are given these crude rafts which are made out of
in many cases wood that's still green, and when they
(44:46):
hit the water, they expand and many of these rafts
fall apart as they're going through this whitewater or the water.
And it's an epic, epic story of endurance and survival.
Months in the main wilderness, weeks in the main wilderness,
and these men are constantly under the potential attack from
(45:11):
the British as well as hostile Native Americans. But they're
also have to deal with starvation because there's never enough
provisions around and as this journey through these rivers and
mountains train there's snow.
Speaker 1 (45:28):
The men are starving.
Speaker 2 (45:29):
They're literally eating the buckles or the belts that they
have in their cartridge boxes. They're boiling them because they
don't have enough food. And it's an incredible story of survival.
And it's Arnold and Daniel Morgan and the Pennsylvanians and
(45:50):
Virginians and other members of the Continental Army that have
to make this epic trek towards Canada and near the
in the Canadian border area. It's Arnold that is able
to get some a number of cattle and livestock to
his men, and they literally have this kind of orgy
(46:11):
of food, but they literally they eat some of these
uh these these the cattle nearly as as are alive,
and which causes many of these men, which were had
not eaten for days to literally die from from what
they had eaten. They then make their way up to
Quebec city and they are under strength. They don't have
(46:36):
artillery for a proper siege, but they siege Quebec and
they wait for the ultimate opportunity, which is a nor'easter
that occurs right after Christmas, and it's it's a massive snowstorm,
and they attack in that snowstorm to the city gates.
(46:58):
And this story is one for the ages. They literally
they come within a hair's breadth of taking Quebec. There's
two different wings that assault from two different sides, and
on the on the the western side, it's General Montgomery
that's leading the attack, and they make their way towards
(47:20):
a sort of a crude roadblock which is manned by
a number of troops, including a there's a there's a
British sailor that's brought off of a ship who's drunk
at the time and they see the approaching this force
of led by Montgomery, of hundreds of men, and he
says to them their order to retreat. They just decide
(47:42):
to flee the area. He's like, he said to the
people around him, I'm in a flyer of my cannon
one last time, and he touches off the cannon and
it's a lucky shot. The grape shot literally hits General
Montgomery in the forehead and kills him, which has a
tremendously negative effect on the entire attack. That entire wing
(48:04):
then retreats and it's Daniel Morgan and his men that
assault on the opposite side, and they make their way
through various barricades against all odds and are this close
to seizing Quebec and taking Canada for the United States.
(48:25):
It's an incredible story of human endurance, and it's a
story that is important because as Americans, we often like
to look at the victories, but this is a situation
where it was a defeat, but it was a victory
of human endurance and courage.
Speaker 1 (48:48):
That is something that we need we can look back
at now.
Speaker 2 (48:55):
It's so important in today's age, which is one of
the most turbulent times in our history. We are currently
making history as we speak.
Good morning and Merry Christmas. I'm Patrick K.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
O'Donnell, and I'm hosting today the Combat History of Christmas
through America's Eyes. It's something that Stephen K. Bann and
I have done for over fifteen years. I've been a
historian for twenty six years, written fourteen books, and been
on dozens of radio TV shows hundreds thousands of them actually,
(00:32):
but this is my favorite show that we do annually.
Steve's traveling today, so I'm hosting the show and we're
going to take you back in time into the most
important inflection points in the combat history of the United
States that happens to be at Christmas time. It's here
that in many cases, history changes in turns on the
(00:53):
actions of individuals. Individual agencies changes history, and I'm going
to take you through several periods of time where this
change was dramatic that changed. These were inflection points in history,
and it will be focused today on the individuals and
the actions that they performed. In many cases, this is
(01:17):
some untold stories or little known stories that we're going
to focus on that you haven't heard on the War Room.
And the first individual that I'd like to talk about
is Henry Harrison Young, who's the leader of Sheridan Scouts,
And I want to take you back in time to
Christmas eighteen sixty four. The lines were stalemated at Petersburg.
(01:42):
Many things weren't moving in the front, but things were
very active and hot in and around Loudun County and
specifically the border area of West Virginia. And it's here
that Mosby's Rangers are very active and Harris inherits what's
left of what's known as the Jesse Scouts. Mosby's Rangers
(02:04):
just demolished an entire hunter killer team that was part
of the Jesse Scouts. These are men that were actively
pursuing John Singleton Mosby and his Rangers. An entire company
of men was annihilated at a place called Myerstown or
Cables town of that old Cablestown. And what was left
were some of the men that Henry Harrison Young had
(02:27):
to put together shared in Scouts with.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
And this is an epic story. Harrison Young.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Henry Harrison Young is really one of the great untold,
unsung heroes of the American Civil War. He begins the
war in eighteen sixty one at bull Run and is
immediately drawn to battle. He's extremely heroic. He actually kind
of has this sense of thrill in battle and craves it.
(02:58):
He is not a man. He's completely fearless in the
saddle and in battle, and.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
He rescues a man.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
For instance, at the battle at Saint Mary's Heights at Fredericksburg,
rides into battle in the middle of a massive maelstrom
of lead and cannon fire and picks up a man
that's gravely wounded and takes him, carries him off the battlefield,
and does this multiple times. But in eighteen sixty four
he finds himself being tapped to be to lead the scouts.
(03:31):
And this guy is extraordinary. He is a chameleon, that
is a shape shifter. He wears a Confederate uniform at
times to go behind the lines, he'll wear civilian clothes.
He'll act as a peddler even And you know, one
of my favorite stories with Young is that he is
(03:52):
able to impersonate anybody. And the Confederates are still in
eighteen sixty four very actively recruiting soldiers because they sperately
need them. And in the Shenandoah Valley, he goes to
a recruiting station and impersonates a young soldier that you know,
wants to join the Confederate Army, and a Confederate sergeant
(04:14):
recruits him into the Confederate Army and he's asked to
show up the next.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Day and join the army.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
And he literally shows up the next day with a
company of his men and captures that Confederate sergeant at
Pistol Point. He goes after high value targets, but he
has to somehow mold his men into a combat fighting force.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
And it's Christmas.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
It's right around Christmas Day that he puts them on
an impossible mission to really to forge unit cohesion. And
he arms his fifty eighty eighty so men who are
in Confederate uniform. These are Jesse Scouts and they are
This story is chronicled in my new best selling book
(05:08):
called The Unvanquished.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
And what he does is the impossible. If you go to.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
The area around Strausburg, there's a place called the Back Road,
and it's it's literally called the back Road.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
It's that's the title of the road.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
And it's here on the back Road, in and around
the trees that Harrison, that Henry Harrison Young knows that
Confederate cavalry always kind of moves into this area and
on a patrol and he positions his men behind a
series of trees to ambush them. And it's not just
(05:45):
a small group of men that he's going after. He
literally takes on an entire Confederate cavalry battalion, hundreds of
men strong.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
He arms his men with the spencer carbing. This a
repeating carvings.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
After you pull the trigger, a bullet will fire, unlike
a regular muzzle loading action. You can fire up to
twenty rounds or more minute with these weapons. They were
kind of the machine gun of the Civil War. And anyways,
they're also armed with Colt pistols to the teeth. They're armed,
and they are behind the trees, and they wait for
(06:22):
that right opportunity right at Christmas time, and they pounce
and they attack and they basically disrupt this entire Confederate
cavalry battalion, which is then set running to the hills.
And it's just one of the actions that Henry Young
(06:43):
and Sheridan's Scouts.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Become kind of renowned for.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
They use this sort of terror psychological warfare against their
enemy to basically show up at any time, this element
of surprise and then stealth and then they kill and
then they disappear or vanish. And this is something that
is a hallmark of today's special operators. Harrison Young, Henry
(07:08):
Young welds these men into a very cohesive unit.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
This is called Lincoln Special.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Forces in the Unvanquished or the Jesse Scouts or otherwise
known as Sheridan Scouts. They literally lead his army in
battle UH at multiple.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Points and it's it's really an extraordinary story.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
They capture multiple high level targets, including Harry Gilmore who
is a partisan alongside John Singleton Mosby, and they capture
him in the Shenandoah Valley in a midnight raid.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
UH.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
And it's extraordinary story.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
I have a great article on Breitbart that's that that
that that that that records that the capture of of Gilmore,
but also the the capture of Captain Stump. And this
guy's nickname was Stump's Arsenal because he was a Confederate
that was so armed to the teeth. He would literally
(08:06):
have five or six pistols and a car being at
all times on his body. And he was rounded up
along with gilmour By Young's men and captured. But what
made Stump. Unique was he had killed in cold blood
a number of the Jesse Scouts and they said, he
to Stump, we will give you an opportunity to to
(08:31):
for your life. And that opportunity was, will give you
fifteen paces or so on your horse, and we will
allow you to put the potential to escape. And that's
exactly what they did. They allowed us Stump, you know,
several seconds to run on his horse, and then the
(08:51):
men were such excellent shots with the.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Pistol that he was taken down. And the men continue.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
To to lead Sheridan's army in battle, and they would
play a very crucial role at the Battle of the
Battle campaign, the final campaign at Appomattox, it would be
the Jesse Scouts under Young that would determine the weak
(09:20):
points in the line at a place called five Force,
which is the most in some ways one of the
most decisive battles.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Of the American Civil War.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
They determined the weak points in the line and Pickets line,
and it would be here that with the Jesse Scouts
at his side, the General Sheridan literally charged the line
single handedly and broke it. And this precipitated General Lee's
retreat by about two or three weeks they were planning
on leaving the lines at Petersburg, but now they were
(09:51):
forced to leave because they had been outflanked. And as
they were being outflanked, it would be the Jesse Scouts
that would pursue them.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
You know.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
The scouts were made up of just really fascinating individuals.
One of them was a guy by the name of
Woodson who was a conformer Confederate that had come into
Young's lines and Sheridan's lines, and he told them that
he was his sister was killed or was I'm sorry,
(10:23):
it was insulted by the Confederates and as a result
he killed his captain. He was by the insult and
he had to flee Confederate lines and then offered his
services as a as a as a Jesse scout, and
he would receive the Medal of Honor near five Forks
for capturing a Confederate battle flag and helping capture General Behringer,
(10:47):
who was a Confederate general at the time. Along with Young,
they pursued Lee's retreating army, and it's here that they
may have played a very decisive role in the entire
war by leading Lee's supply trains in the wrong direction. Uh,
instead of when their first rotting pointed a place called
Amelia Courthouse.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Uh, they they.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Got instead of food and supplies, they received a bunch
of uniforms and caissons for wagons.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
It was exactly what they didn't need.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
And it's it's rumored and possible there's evidence that it
was Young's men that misdirected the right the food trains
to the right source and from there they capture the
supply trains at Appomattox and uh and and this is
a decisive blow because General Lee's army is starving and uh,
(11:42):
they are, you know, very desperate for supplies. The the
key here, though, is that Henry Young then spends another
another winter or another Christmas in Mexico. In Mexico is
really one of the great untold stories of the American
(12:03):
Civil War because at the time it was occupied by
Emperor Maximilian, and there were forty thousand troops down there
at the time, and it would be a regular warfare
special operations that would thwart them, and it would be
General Sheridan and his fifty or so jesse scouts that
were led by Henry Young that were arming the resistance
(12:24):
down there and basically creating what we now see as
a regular warfare today.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
These were these men.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Were really true commandos, and they were working with the
Mexican guerrilla forces that were down there, arming them, blowing
up bridges, destroying French outposts. And it's here that Henry
Young and many of the Jesse Scouts mysteriously disappear and
(12:54):
they are never heard or seen again. And it's unknown
exactly what you know, where where they went. There was
is likely a cover up in terms of his actions
down there, because his duties were unofficial, uh, covert operations
if you will, and you know this is a true
(13:17):
unsung hero along with many of the other men that
were Jesse scaffs. They would receive seven Medals of Honor
during the Civil War for their for their.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Valor and actions.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
But this was a he would never he would never
return home and uh, it was a very solemn time
for his mother. The book actually ends with his mother's
story and every year after his capture, after that Christmas,
(13:51):
she would she would wait for him. He would write
every month to her about just to keep her informed,
to keep her aware of their relationship was that close
and special. But every every every time that a stagecoach
would come into Providence, Rhode Island, she would wait for
(14:15):
her son that never returned home.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
And that is that that those were many long Christmases
without without her son, and many of the Jesse Scouts
UH face the same you know trial and hardship that
you know of that the families faced of missing their
their loved ones, which covert warriors of today, you know,
(14:43):
we've seen that over and over in Vietnam in particular,
we're special operators go behind the lines and.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Never return home for Christmas.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
I'm Patrick k.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
O'Donnell, and I'm hosting the Combat History of Christmas. This
has been an annual tradition that we've had on the
War Room for almost fifteen years. Steve Bannon and I
this is really one of my favorite shows that I've done.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
What I'd like to talk about now.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Is the continuing with the American Civil War. The great
adversary of Henry Young and many other Jesse Scouts was
John Singleton Mosby, and Moseby was a Confederate partisan and
really arguably the many ways the organizer of modern American
(15:51):
modern special operations forces. His ideas and principles begin on Christmas,
and it's Christmas eighteen sixty two, specifically in Middleburg, Virginia,
at a place called Oakham, Manor. And one thing that's
amazing about these stories is you can still visit Oakham,
(16:15):
and visit Middleburg and Loudun County where many of the
actions that I'm talking about, you can go there. You
can visit these places and feel the history and walk
the ground.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
At Oakham.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
That wintery Christmas Day, he approached his boss, Jeff Stewart,
who is the leader of the Confederate Calvary, with a
specific request if he could have a small band of
men to create a partisan group to attack the Union
supply rent lines in and around Middleburg and loud and
(16:51):
Prince William Counties. His request was granted, and he was
given about six men, and that is the origin in
many ways of monern and Special Operations forces. These six
men would then grow into nearly a thousand, and they
would tie down thirty to forty thousand Union troops over
the course of the American Civil War. They would ambush
(17:14):
supply trains, they would blow up bridges, they would capture
Union generals and do in many cases the impossible and
moseby was behind all of this.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
And it was his vision and leadership.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
He was only about five foot seven, kind of a
wiry guy that was a law student that had kind
of a bit of a hothead. Initially, he literally he
was accosted and insulted and pulled a pistol on his
one of his fellow law students and nearly killed him,
which put him in jail.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
For several months.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
But at the beginning of the American Civil War, he
was initially very reticent to secession, didn't really believe in slavery,
but fought for his state like many other members of
the South, and his beginnings are extraordinary. He's a scout
within the Confederate Army leads along one of Stuart's long
(18:15):
cavalry rides around Richmond, which is epic and legendary. He's
known for gathering intelligence. This isn't his first time as
a potential partisan leader. Stuart gives him the opportunity several
months earlier, and he's given him only one man, this
time with a club foot and Jeff's John Singleton. Mosby's
(18:40):
days as a partisan are very numbered. He travels to
a train station and literally a union company of cavalry
surround him and his horse along with the club footed individual,
and he is taken into captivity. In the middle of
eighteen sixty two. He is quickly imprisoned at a federal
(19:02):
prison and languishes there for several months until there's a
prisoner or exchange. And this is where John Singleton Mosby
really shines. He makes lemons out of lemonade, and literally
in the exchange, he's able to create actual strategic level
intelligence out of nothing, basically just his own sources and intuition.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
He's on a riverboat, but he.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Senses that the captain of that river boat is a
Confederate sympathizer, a Southern sympathizer, and indeed he is. He
pumps him for information about Union troop movements who this
captain had had moved around initially, and through that information,
along with his kind of keen eye where he's able
to sort of see some of the units in around
(19:51):
the area, he's able to determine that the Union army
is going to attack and where, which is really extraordinary
and miraculous. After he gets off the boat, he immediately
goes to General Robert E. Lee and he arrives at
Roberty Lee's headquarters in Richmond, this kind of lowly lieutenant,
and they initially kind of are very skeptical of what
(20:15):
Moseby could bring to the table or offer because he's
just a lieutenant. But he remembers sort of the ride
around Richmond with Stewart and some of Mosby's other exploits
and listens to him and this is this actually literally
changes the course of the Battle of Cedar Mountain, which
Mosby provides and furnishes actionable strategic level intelligence to Lee
(20:39):
through his through his efforts going back to eighteen sixty three.
Now Moseby is very active within the sort of the
area in and around Middleburg, and he he pulls off
(21:01):
one of his greatest exploits by capturing General Stowton in
in in Fairfax City itself. And this is one of
the great special operations stories of all time to capture
high value target. The key to it is a deserter
from the fifth New York Calvary Guy the name of
(21:22):
Yankee Ames, who deserts to Mosby into the Mosey Line.
He doesn't like the emancipation Proclamation. He feels he's being
lied to for why he's fighting. He's not fighting for
the Union per se and he joins Mosby shows up unexpectedly,
and Mosby believes that Yankee Ames is telling the truth,
(21:44):
and he's given an opportunity to to then get a horse,
and he has to go back into Union lines to
Centerville where there's a massive Union encampment and steal a
horse with another with another ranger, and they are successful
in that. And it's big Yankee Aimes that is put
in the very front of the vanguard on the raid
(22:07):
to Fairfax to capture Stoteen, and he understands the call
signs and the signals, and they ride in a raging
snowstorm and sleet and hail, and they they're in in
some cases they're in Union uniform or in rain jackets
in most cases with their Confederate uniforms underneath them. And
(22:27):
they ride into Fairfax and they they basically they seize
anybody that they can that that could potentially alert any
of the guards. And then they continue to Stotent's residence
and they knock on the door uh go in, and
the general is sleeping at the time, and Moseby wakes
(22:50):
him up and says, sort of these immortal worlds, do
you know who John Singleton Mosby is, and the General
says back to Mosby, have you captured him yet? No,
it is he who has captured you, and he's brought
into captivity and Moseby's scrolls on the fireplace, I am
Mosby just sort of a psychological bit of terror to
(23:15):
you know, let him.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Know, let people know his calling card who he is.
And they then.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
They go back and to back through the lines and
with the General intew this continues that they have a
number of raids and amazing actions that the Rangers are
part of, and one of them is at in and
around Christmas, and this is the Battle for Louden Heights
(23:44):
as it's called. And right around Christmas, Cole's Cavalry, which
is a Union outfit that is made up of Maryland
or As Pennsylvanians and other loyalists to the Union cause,
form a cavalry unit and they are base in Louden
Heights and it's here that they then conduct forays into
(24:06):
Mosby's confederacy, which is in and around Middleburg and Warranton
in other areas, and they lead an entire unit into
Mosby's confederacy. Moseby has his men shadow them provide kind
of a psychological terror just to let them know that
they're there. And as they shadow them, they pounce and
(24:29):
destroy this entire force of about almost two hundred Union cavalrymen.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
They're surrounded and attacked.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
One man, the leader of the group, is able to
Hunter is able to escape on foot forty miles to
Louden Heights. It's then that Mosby determines that they are
going to destroy the Cole's cavalry on Union Heights and
he organizes over one hundred men to attack this nest
(24:59):
of Union ca cavalry and in the middle of a snowstorm,
they mount up and they move towards towards Louden Heights
and it's, you know, an interesting figure sort of emerges here,
a guy, I think it was Frank Stringfellow, who is
somebody that is in and in through the unvanquished multiple times.
(25:20):
He's ninety four pounds, sometimes dresses in drag to literally
act as a spy to illicit information. And it's here
he finds a weak spot in the Union lines and
they attack. They move through, you know, over forty miles
of territory in the dead of night with you know,
(25:41):
freezing rain, and sleet and snow, and they creep up
to this Union encampment and it's Stringfellow that initially attacks
before he's supposed to, and he lets out a shout
and it alerts the camp and many men are are
are wounded from the attack. This is an article also
wrote in bright Bart History in many ways called Crimson Snow.
(26:05):
And many men are killed, are gravely wounded, and the
rangers Coole's Cavalry has standing orders to shoot anyone on horseback.
One of the men that is gravely wounded as a
guy by the name of Paxton. And Paxton, there's an amazing story.
Paxton his family saved a Union cavalryman and nursed him
(26:30):
back to health and then brought him back to the unionions.
And they had a standing agreement that if Paxton was
ever wounded, they would save him. And he called that
Union cavalryman forward, and they gave him a sustenance even
though he was gravely wounded, and allowed him the dignity
to die with respect. And this is what the unvanquishes about.
(26:53):
It's the hidden war of the American Civil War that
you haven't seen. Good Morning, a Merry Christmas. I'm Patrick
(27:16):
k O'Donnell and I'm hosting our annual Combat.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
History of Christmas, and we.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Are now talking about the American Civil War and many
of the actions of individuals that are in the inflection
points of history. John Singleton Moseby being one of them
who is a great partisan or grilla leader, arguably one
of America's greatest grilla leaders in modern history, that changes
(27:46):
the course of history with only six men and forms
an entire grilla group that ties down thirty to forty
thousand Union troops over the course of the war. He
pioneers the tactics and techniques that we now see in
modern special operations forces. And one of my favorite Christmas
(28:08):
stories of Mosby is his multiple escapes and woundings. He
was a man that was only five foot seven about
one hundred and twenty seven pounds or so, but escaped
death constantly and escaped at Union dragnets. And one of
(28:28):
those actions was in and around Christmas at a place
called Lakeland. And this house, like many of the others
in the Unvanquished, are still there. You can visit these
places and Lakeland. At the time, he was riding back
from a wedding in his finest clothes. He had an
ostrich plumed hat and a cape, and he was coming
(28:51):
back from a wedding in the middle of a snowstorm,
and they stopped at Lakeland for dinner, and it's here
that they're they're eating dinner, and suddenly the house is
surrounded by over one hundred Union caliveri.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
And they storm the house.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Mosby puts his hands up and then all of a sudden,
a shot comes through the window.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
And hits him right in the stomach, right.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Near the heart, and he is pushed down, and then
there's an ensuing melee within the room, and the lights
are kind of put out, and they then the Union
officers that are there then sort of come, you know,
basically are able to sort of sort things out. In
the meantime, Mosby realizes that it's probably he's probably about
(29:46):
to be not only dead or killed from this mortal wound,
but also captured somehow. He has the presence of mind
to take his coat off, which has two stars on
it representing his rank, moves it slightly off to the
left near another room and hides it. He then goes
(30:07):
back on the floor and they capture him, and a
doctor comes and they sense they see where his wound is,
and they say it's in his heart, and it's a
mortal wound. And Mosby is the presence of mind to
almost laugh because he realizes that his heart is up
(30:31):
a little higher. It didn't pierce his heart, but he
still thinks he's mortally wounded, and he slays there. They
take off his pants and his boots and they pronounced
that he is a mortally wounded soldier, and then they
start to ask the room who this guy is, and
the daughter of the room says, we've never seen him before.
(30:51):
He just showed up for dinner, and it's one of
the great lives of the Civil War.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
They literally believe it.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
And they leave this guy on the floor leading to death,
and Mosby is gravely wounded. He recognizes that he somehow
survived this bresci of death and miraculously gets up and
moves to the other room, and his guests are absolutely astounded.
(31:22):
He then they then put him in a number of
blankets and he's moved to a safe house and the
Union cavalry then come back looking for their their query
because they think that they may have they may have
killed Mosby, and he's gone he just disappears. He's the
Gray Ghost, and the Gray Ghost then makes his way
(31:45):
towards Richmond. The newspapers are all ablaze that this guy,
that Mosby was killed. And my favorite, my favorite anecdote
from one of the newspapers is the devil takes care
of his own as Mosby is somehow survives just another
one of these mortal mortal what would have been a
(32:07):
mortal wound for pretty much anybody else, and then gets back.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
On, you know, in his command and leads his.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Men throughout the rest of the American Civil War, where
they do really extraordinary things. The story then is, you know,
it shifts a little bit back in time to where
the Jesse Scouts formed for the one of their first rates,
(32:36):
which is in and around Christmas. But this is eighteen
sixty three and it's West Virginia, which is a cauldron
of partisan activity.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
It's here that gorilla groups are formed.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
On both sides, and it's the Jesse Scouts that are
formed to hunt them. The book is about several Jesse Scouts,
including a group by under the command of Richard Blazer,
who's in Ohio and he's really from my home state,
and one of the great unsung heroes of the American
Civil War. Richard Blazer was a riverboat captain uh in
(33:17):
before the Civil War. He transported supplies up and down
the Ohio River near Galla Police, Ohio.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
That's was his hometown and at the Civil War.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
At the start of the Civil War, he is a
officer in the Indian Army and he's tapped to hunt
Grillis because he's got this like innate sense of finding people.
By the way, I always visit the graves if I can,
of the individuals that I write about, I also walk
the ground of all the individuals that I the stories
(33:50):
and the battles that I that I that I that
I write about, and I spend years in the archives
piecing together the story of these men to give you
an accurate narrative history. It's nonfiction that many that's one
minif of reviewers of said read like fiction. It puts
(34:12):
you there, but it's all based on fact. And one
of the things I did is I went to Richard
Blazer's grave to find him. And I went there assuming
that it would be a small cemetery. And I went
to Mount Hill Cemetery, gal Police, which is a beautiful cemetery.
(34:32):
It overlooks the Ohio River, but it has I got
there and there were literally thousands upon thousands of tombstones
and graves for these people, and I immediately went to
where I thought would be a directory. There wasn't one,
but I knew that I would find him, and I
just prayed, and within maybe ten minutes I found Richard
(34:58):
Blazer's final resting place. Blazer, as I mentioned, was part
of Blazer's Independent Scouts, and he leads these scouts by
leading the army. And one of these raids was in
and around West Virginia where they were trying to take
out the Southern railroad that bordered West Virginia and Virginia.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
This is a main.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Lifelineer artery and Averill's Raid or Christmas Raid, took place
in the winner of eighteen sixty sixty three. Background on
that is the Confederate Army under General Longstreet, who had
been basically loan to to the south near Chattanooga, where
(35:44):
they have an amazing battle at Chickamaugua. He then is
bringing he's been coming back towards Roberty Lee and they
surround Knoxville, Tennessee, and a siege and they need to
relieve pressure on that city from Longstreet's forces, so they
launch a desperate and bold raid behind the lines. And
(36:05):
it's the Jesse Scouts and Blazers scouts that lead General
Averril's army. And this is an epic story behind the
lines where these men have to march and ride four
hundred miles to various depots that are in southern Virginia.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
And they you know, it's through the mountains, it's through
the sleet and rain, it's there they are in many cases,
they're it's so rugged and treacherous that they that they're
wearing out the horses. It's so Uh. The area is
is such difficult terrain and they have to walk in
many cases. But it's also an area that is infested
(36:50):
with the Confederate the Confederate forces and the Confederates. It's
the Jesse Scouts that lead these men. They're able to
do some amazing things. They're able to see some bridges
ahead of time by impersonating Confederates and allowing the Avril's
rating force to cross before they were able to burn
the bridges. But the Confederates know what's going on and
(37:12):
they send out six different commands thousands of Confederates to
annihilate General Avril, and it's the jesse Scouts that have
to somehow weave their way through all of this. One
of my favorite stories is they're deep behind the lines
and it's near Christmas time and they need to find
(37:34):
another crossing point. There's rivers everywhere and they literally enlist.
They try to enlist the services of a doctor that's there,
and Avril puts a pistol to this guy's head. First,
he initially says, we'll hire you for five hundred dollars,
and they said, no, there's no way because my family's
going to be known as a trader. I won't do it,
(37:57):
and then they put a pistol to his head. Avrol
put a pistol in his head and said you need
to lead us.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
Out of here. If you don't, I'll kill you.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
And he gave him one minute to respond and basically
put a stop.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
What is watch out?
Speaker 2 (38:11):
The doctor complied and they were able to thread their
way through Southern lines to.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
Captivity. But there's an epic story.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
Of how one of those one of those commands, the
fourteenth Pennsylvania, is trapped by the bridge by one of
the bridges, which is the Confederates burn and they're they're
stuck on the on the wrong side of the river.
They have to ford the river. Amazing stories of resilience.
(38:42):
And somehow this group has to then trudge another hundreds
of miles through all these Confederates that are following them
and the mountains, and they make they make this epic,
this epic march that is, you know, truly extraordinary. And
(39:05):
as they they make their way back towards the Union camp,
they are they were somehow expected two to pay for
their uniforms and the shoes that they that they utilized.
It's one of the most extraordinary stories that I found.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
In the book.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
They they had done this extraordinary thing. And many of
these men were like the veterans of the Battle of
the Bulge that I interviewed. They had frostbite, their uniforms
are rags after all this traversing all these mountains, and
somehow the Union Army was expecting them to pay for
new uniforms and shoes. And it's here that Averril interceded
(39:49):
and and was able to get that the the government
to not to not do their typical policy. But this
is a this is a Christmas Story for the Ages.
It's about human endurance, it's about individuals that do the impossible.
And in the next segments, we're going to go back
(40:09):
in time to our founding, to our greatest story, the
story of the American Revolution, the story of the Revolutionary War,
where our founders do the impossible.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
They go against the.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
Greatest army and navy in the world at the time,
and they somehow prevail, but they also create the greatest
ideas in world history, our ideas of freedom and liberty,
which resonate today and have changed the course of history,
have changed empires, and are more important.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
Today now than ever. I'm Patrick K.
Speaker 2 (41:04):
O'Donnell and I'm hosting the Combat History of Christmas. It's
our annual tradition that we've done for almost fifteen years.
Speaker 1 (41:10):
Stephen K.
Speaker 2 (41:11):
Bannon and I and we're going to go back in
time to a topic that we've never really done. We've
never discussed on the warrem the Forgotten Christmas of seventeen
seventy five, and this is really an epic story in
many ways. Our first first units within the United States
(41:32):
Army were rifle companies, the American Long Arm, known as
the Pennsylvania long rifle would change history. It was about
nine pounds, but it could shoot farther than any other
rifle in the world at the time, and it was
a weapon that was a circumstance of its environment, and
(41:56):
that would be the American Frontier where Americans in rug
individuals had to fend off Native Americans, had to shoot
wild game in this rifle, which has its origins at
the beginning of the seventeen hundreds, is it's in America,
(42:16):
and it's unique because it can shoot about one hundred
yards more than its European counterparts, which are there have
their origins in Switzerland and Germany. But it's these rifle
companies that are the foundation of the United States Army.
And they answer the call shortly after the Battle of
(42:38):
Lexington and Concord, and they make their way up to Boston.
And it's in and around the siege lines that the
rifle companies have a play a major role in keeping
British heads down and then taking off British heads by
their sniping ability and the British fear of this weapon tremendously.
(43:00):
There's a fascinating story of how one of these Pennsylvania
companies has a mutiny. Because rifle companies are specialized men.
They are able to shoot at a target two hundred
yards away, in many cases the size of a small plate.
Many of these guys could shoot that an eye out.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
On a squirrel.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
They were extremely rugged individuals from the frontier and in
many cases very undisciplined individuals. They didn't have the same
discipline requirements as the regular army or militia in and
around the siege, and they could do what they want.
In one case, they literally win company mutinies, and that
what that does is it leads them with a ticket
(43:42):
to Canada and an epic Christmas and seventeen seventy five,
and that story is incredible. They have to go through
nearly four hundred miles of main wilderness to get to
Quebec and Canada to somehow to take the capital city
(44:06):
of Quebec City. And they are under the command of
Benedict Arnold who leads them through the wilds, the wilds
of Maine and the rivers.
Speaker 1 (44:20):
And to get there they.
Speaker 2 (44:24):
Have to basically go through whitewater rapids. They have to
ford multiple waterfalls, and they have to take all their
provisions with them as they get up to Maine. They
are given these crude rafts which are made out of
in many cases wood that's still green, and when they
(44:46):
hit the water, they expand and many of these rafts
fall apart as they're going through this whitewater or the water.
And it's an epic, epic story of endurance and survival.
Months in the main wilderness, weeks in the main wilderness,
and these men are constantly under the potential attack from
(45:11):
the British as well as hostile Native Americans. But they're
also have to deal with starvation because there's never enough
provisions around and as this journey through these rivers and
mountains train there's snow.
Speaker 1 (45:28):
The men are starving.
Speaker 2 (45:29):
They're literally eating the buckles or the belts that they
have in their cartridge boxes. They're boiling them because they
don't have enough food. And it's an incredible story of survival.
And it's Arnold and Daniel Morgan and the Pennsylvanians and
(45:50):
Virginians and other members of the Continental Army that have
to make this epic trek towards Canada and near the
in the Canadian border area. It's Arnold that is able
to get some a number of cattle and livestock to
his men, and they literally have this kind of orgy
(46:11):
of food, but they literally they eat some of these
uh these these the cattle nearly as as are alive,
and which causes many of these men, which were had
not eaten for days to literally die from from what
they had eaten. They then make their way up to
Quebec city and they are under strength. They don't have
(46:36):
artillery for a proper siege, but they siege Quebec and
they wait for the ultimate opportunity, which is a nor'easter
that occurs right after Christmas, and it's it's a massive snowstorm,
and they attack in that snowstorm to the city gates.
(46:58):
And this story is one for the ages. They literally
they come within a hair's breadth of taking Quebec. There's
two different wings that assault from two different sides, and
on the on the the western side, it's General Montgomery
that's leading the attack, and they make their way towards
(47:20):
a sort of a crude roadblock which is manned by
a number of troops, including a there's a there's a
British sailor that's brought off of a ship who's drunk
at the time and they see the approaching this force
of led by Montgomery, of hundreds of men, and he
says to them their order to retreat. They just decide
(47:42):
to flee the area. He's like, he said to the
people around him, I'm in a flyer of my cannon
one last time, and he touches off the cannon and
it's a lucky shot. The grape shot literally hits General
Montgomery in the forehead and kills him, which has a
tremendously negative effect on the entire attack. That entire wing
(48:04):
then retreats and it's Daniel Morgan and his men that
assault on the opposite side, and they make their way
through various barricades against all odds and are this close
to seizing Quebec and taking Canada for the United States.
(48:25):
It's an incredible story of human endurance, and it's a
story that is important because as Americans, we often like
to look at the victories, but this is a situation
where it was a defeat, but it was a victory
of human endurance and courage.
Speaker 1 (48:48):
That is something that we need we can look back
at now.
Speaker 2 (48:55):
It's so important in today's age, which is one of
the most turbulent times in our history. We are currently
making history as we speak.
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