Portrait of General Mosby, Confederate guerrilla leader, c 1863

Portrait of General Mosby, Confederate guerrilla leader, c 1863. Albumen print from the album assembled by John Downes Rochfort, who visited American Civil War sites in 1867. Colonel John S Mosby (1833-1916) organised the 43rd Battalion, Partisan Rangers, in late 1862. Using guerrilla tactics, Mosby's Rangers harrassed the Union army in northern Virginia until the end of the war. Although the unit never numbered more than 800 men, their tactics were highly effective, and so enraged Union General Ulysses S Grant that he ordered captured Rangers to be hanged without trial. This order was later rescinded after Mosby retaliated by doing the same to Union prisoners. As the war drew to a close and the Union victory was inevitable, Mosby chose to disband the Rangers on 21st April 1865 rather than surrender his men. ©SSPL/National Media Museum