Boom! A single cannon shot rang out, breaking the idyllic silence at the beginning. Residents of the small town of Falls Church, Virginia, and surrounding areas could hear the battles from their own homes. They were only miles from many key battle sites, such as the Fairfax Courthouse and the Battle of Vienna, both Confederate victories in June 1861. Located in the infamous Mosby Triangle region, the area was full of Colonel John S.'s marching troops. Mosby's Army.Colonel John Singleton Mosby led the 43rd Battalion of the Virginia Cavalry, known as Mosby's Raiders. Mosby was born into an old Virginia family in Powhatan County, Virginia on December 6, 1833. He attended the University of Virginia and studied law in prison. He said: “My father was a slave owner and I still have a strong affection for the slaves who fed me and played with me as a child. That the prevailing feeling in the South is not peculiar to me but prevails throughout the South with regard to an institution which we now thank Abraham Lincoln for abolishing. in his autobiography The Memoirs of Colonel John S. Mosby. The name “Grey Ghost” doesn’t come from nothing. Northern newspapers called him all kinds of names; “the devil,” “the rebellious assassin,” and “the marauding highwayman” are just a few. However, in the South he was hailed as a hero and many people reportedly named their children after him. A Union general reportedly asked a woman if Mosby was there. She said yes and he returned with troops. When he asked to see Mosby, she showed him her newborn son and said, "It's Mosby, sir." "I believe that all historical doubts about my own existence have been dispelled," Mosby wrote in response to people who claimed he was a myth. Considering how many stories have been written about him, some true and some false, this is not at all surprising. He also said: “It is not necessary for a story to be written; let the storytellers make it all up. » Mosby allegedly once shot a man he was arguing with. Just like him, his area of ​​operation has also been given a variety of nicknames. They ranged from “The Mosby Confederacy” to “The Trap.” We know for a fact that he hanged Union spies from the famous Hangman's Tree after the local Battle of Peach Orchard. Hangman's Tree was an old pin oak located at the intersection of W.