As a family historian with an interest in the U.S. Civil War, I was spurred to spend some months researching a collateral line of our maternal Graysons after reading a single line in a 19th century family history. It reads, “Alexander and Richard Grayson of this branch of the family, were officers in the Confederate States Army and died in battle.“1 The details of their deaths were of special interest, as was exactly how they were related to us – 3rd cousins, 4 generations removed. I discovered these facts, and so much more.
The Graysons of Loudoun and Fauquier Counties, Virginia
Benjamin Grayson III (1763-1835) and Nancy Bronaugh Grayson (1763-1838) had six children. Five settled in Northern and Central Virginia: George M. (1795-1858), Robert O. Sr. (1789-1841), Elizabeth O. (1797-1885), Mary (1801-1887), and Richard Sr. (1804-1842). Mary Grayson married Upperville farmer William Stephenson in 1833. Once-widowed and childless Elizabeth O. Grayson of Bellefield married older bachelor George T. Carter of Oatlands in 1835. By the mid-19th century Loudoun and Fauquier counties, bordered to the west by the rugged Blue Ridge Mountains, were already considered Virginia horse country.
The Civil War Diary of Elizabeth O. Carter
The preserved Civil War-era diary (1860-1872) of twice-widowed Elizabeth Carter2 concisely portrays day to day life in Loudoun and Fauquier. Within the diary her two sons George and Ben Carter and eighteen Grayson nieces and nephews – including Confederate officers Alexander (son of George M.), killed at Gettysburg in July 1863 and Richard Grayson (Jr.), killed at Gaines’ Mill in June 1862 – appear many times, along with extended family and neighbors. During the war Confederate and Yankee soldiers both notable and obscure alternately appear and disappear in the household and neighborhood.
Mosby’s Men
“The four counties of Virginia nearest Washington became known as ‘Mosby’s Confederacy.’ Here his blows were almost incessant, followed always by the dispersing of his band or bands among the farmhouses of the sympathetic inhabitants.”
THE MEMOIRS OF COLONEL JOHN S. MOSBY (1917, Little, Brown, and Co. Boston) pg. ix
Among the notable visitors was John Singleton Mosby. Early in the war Mosby rode with Confederate horseman J.E.B. Stuart, who also makes an appearance in the diary. In December 1862 Mosby’s temporary assignment in Loudoun County to harass Federal outposts was so successful that he was encouraged to return there to recruit men for what officially became the 43rd Virginia Cavalry Battalion, more often called Mosby’s Partisan Rangers, Mosby’s Raiders, or simply Mosby’s Men.
Union sympathizers called them guerrillas, land pirates, and horse thieves. Ordinary Confederate infantrymen inwardly cursed them too, because when Mosby’s Men weren’t participating in raids they were usually sleeping in beds and eating home cooking.
“Seldom or never was an attack made with more than two hundred and fifty men. Usually from thirty to sixty would be collected at a rendezvous, such as Rectortown, Aldie, or Upperville, and after discharging, as it were, a lightning flash, be swallowed up in impenetrable darkness, leaving behind only a threat of some future raid, to fall no one could foresee where.”
THE MEMOIRS OF COLONEL JOHN S. MOSBY pg. ix
Elizabeth Carter’s 22-year old son Ben, a Confederate combat veteran, was once again living at home when the February 10, 1863 diary entry names four male neighbors who called at the house. “Yankees in [Upperville]! + all set off to the mountain. In [evening] 300 Yankees rode up here and resolved to stay all night…. The house was not searched + thus Ben + Mr. Hall escaped… It was a “reconnoissance” [sic] from Heintzleman’s command in search of our Scouts.” This is the first indication that Elizabeth was hosting “Scouts,” i.e. Mosby’s Men.
April 27, 1863 “Very heavy firing heard towards Winchester [VA]. Hear that 5 of Mosby’s men are captured.” This is the first diary mention of Mosby by name. May 6, 1863 “Geo. G. came by to say the Yankees were coming. just as they got in sight Boys + horses off to the Mountain.”
December 3, 1863 “John Gillespie at work in the garden,” and the very next day, “Mr. G. went on a raid.” This is first mention of a cavalry raid involving Elizabeth’s house guests. These quick-strike hit and run tactics were undoubtedly effective, but neighbor Ida Powell Dulany, whose younger sister Kate would marry 24-year old George Carter in September, wrote in her diary on May 1, 1863 “The impression is… that we are protected by [Mosby’s men] but I fear it is just the reverse, as every raid Mosby has made has produced a retaliatory raid from the Yankees in which the citizens suffer severely.”3
March 1864 brought an Interesting string of parties, dinners, dancing, and serenades by Col. Mosby and his regimental band to celebrate the marriage of Ben Carter, all in the midst of war. On April 26, 1864 Ben’s new wife Susan reportedly “wrote Colonel M. to dismiss Ben from the Service.” Then on April 28, “Yanks search the House + took off my best horses. Took dear ROG in trying to get to the Mountain.”
Elizabeth’s nephew Robert O. Grayson Jr. initially served as a private in the 13th Virginia Infantry Regiment, then later the 9th VA Cavalry Regiment. Robert was in Loudoun County in early 1864 as a private in Mosby’s Cavalry. After his capture Robert was imprisoned first at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, and ultimately released from Fort Warren in Boston Harbor after signing an oath of Allegiance on June 12, 1865.
Elizabeth’s son Ben Carter participated in combat at 1st Manassas and Balls Bluff, where he was wounded in the finger. He briefly returned to the regiment, but by late May 1862 he is back in Loudoun County. Ben suffered numerous bouts of sickness over the next three years, and one wonders how that was connected to his combat experiences. He agreed to join Mosby’s Cavalry Battalion in January 1864, and promptly left to get married. The camaraderie indicated by the wedding parties possibly had more to do with Mosby’s respect for Elizabeth, as it is not clear if Ben ever participated in any raids.
Historian David Boyce points out that Elizabeth’s diary records numerous incidents of Mosby’s officers visiting and sleeping at Bellefield. “Names such as Captain Montjoy, Capt Bowie, Lieutenant Briscoe and others are listed. On many occasions numerous non-commissioned officers simply referred to as a company of men were dining at Bellefield. Meanwhile, Capt. Montjoy was riding a horse from Oatlands as were Capt. Bowie, Lt. Grogan and Lt. Briscoe. All of these men are listed as Mosby’s company commanders. But the most famous Oatlands horse was Croquette which was bought for Mosby after the [October 1864] Greenback raid.”4
1 Grayson, John Breckenridge Jr., The Grayson Family (unpublished manuscript, 1877) pg 4
2 The Diary of Elizabeth O. Carter, Loudoun County, Virginia, 1860-1872. Lori H. Kimball, ed., © 2021 Oatlands, Inc., Leesburg, VA
3 In the Shadow of the Enemy: The Civil War Diary of Ida Powell Dulany, © 2009 University of Tennessee Press
4 Boyce, David Y. “The Secret Role of Oatlands During the Civil War,” The Thomas Balch Chronicle Vol. 14 Issue 1 (Spring 2010)
Feature Image: Library of Congress, “Col. John Singleton Mosby and some members of Mosby’s Rangers, 43rd Virginia Cavalry Battalion” Bendann Bros., photographers ca. 1861-1865
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