I drove over to Charlie’s Truck Stop this past week to pick up a few groceries and to fill up with gas. As I was driving past the Soagie Post Office, I saw Miss Evelyn Jaggers’ VW bug in the parking space and I whipped in and parked a couple spaces over. Up until recently, the Soagie Post Office has been locked up except during official business hours so, if you had a box inside for your mail, you had to check it while the lady who takes care of business is on duty. That is all changed now and the front door is supposed to be open 24/7 so you can check after mail any time you like. I hopped out of my car and went into the building and tried the door to the business desk area. That door was locked as I expected as the time was past official business hours. I tapped lightly on the glass anyway and presently Miss Jaggers opened the door to the mail room and peered out. Her face lit up when she saw me and I asked how she was getting on. As it happened, it was her first day back at work. She was staying over because the mail drop box out front has a new lock and Miss Jaggers was having problems getting it open. She had decided to await the people who come by to pick up the mail and let them open it for her as opening the box was something they had been doing on a regular basis since the new lock had been installed. Miss Jaggers looked in my box and said it was empty as I expected. The box in Soagie is not my regular box. My official box for business mail is in Corinth. I keep the box in Soagie because it is required for some of my personal mail. I explained I had not stopped in for mail, but just to visit with Miss Jaggers a minute. We talked for a while and Miss Jaggers said she was getting on much better. She has sworn off giving chase to dogs and cats, which is the activity that contributed to her fall that messed up her shoulder and caused her to be off from work. After a brief chat, I said I had to be going and I would be seeing her when I pick up mail on Saturdays.

I parked in front of Charlie’s and, when Jake did not come out to put the gas in, I filled up myself. I don’t mind putting in my own gas, but I enjoy having Jake do it when he is not too busy. When I went inside, Jake was busy with Gracie Havershold, ringing up the pile of groceries she had gathered. I said “Hello” to Gracie and asked how Cheriee was coming with helping gather props for the play at the Corinth Playhouse. Gracie said all the props had been acquired and put in place, or they best had better as the play was running this weekend. Cheriee was not confining herself to helping with getting props. She was all over the theatre helping out where ever she could every chance she had. The child appears to have found her calling, at least for this point of her life.

I paid Jake for the gas I had put into my car and wandered over toward the pot belly stove where the Reverend Johnson sat with Ronnie Clayton and Arnold Suggs. Arnold is in law enforcement in the county. He doesn’t get over to Charlie’s much as his official duties keep him pretty busy. At the moment he was telling about the Civil War Battle of Corinth he was involved with the weekend past. I had heard about the show and had made plans to go see what all the fuss was about, but it happened I had to go over to Memphis on Saturday to see a client who wanted his web site reworked. I passed most of the day and late into the night with him. I finally fell into bed a bit after four thirty Sunday morning and did not feel like facing a bunch of people when I crawled out of bed near noon, by which time the event was about closing down in any case. I had not been aware Arnold was a Civil War enthusiast. As it happens, he has been in on the recreation of Civil War events for most of his life.

Arnold said he first sparked interest in the War Between The States when he read a book concerning the life of John Mosby who operated under JEB Stuart in Northern Virginia. It turns out, Arnold was born in Virginia and moved to our area with his parents when he was in his early teens. John Singleton Mosby is famous as the Gray Ghost, a name given him by none other than Abraham Lincoln. Mosby commanded a partisan band of guerrillas who operated behind enemy lines in the Loudoun Valley of Northern Virginia. Mosby’s job was to cause the disruption of Union communications and supply lines, a duty he executed with considerable skill and effectiveness. It was said Union Commander Grant let it be known he would have preferred that Mosby be caught and hung over any other Southern commander of the time. One of Mosby’s most spectacular successes came in early 1863 when, with 29 men, Mosby rode into the Fairfax Court House and roused Union General Edwin H. Stoughton from bed with a slap on the fanny. The General is said to have wakened with the words, “Do you have Mosby?” on his lips, to which Mosby replied, “No, General. He has you!”

Many a Southerner held a low opinion of the partisan units as many of them were nothing more than gangs of looters preying on both sides in the war, but Mosby held his Rangers to a high standard of moral conduct through his campaigns. In 1864, George A. Custer of later Little Big Horn fame executed six of Mosby’s Rangers as common criminals. Mosby retaliated by executing seven of Custer’s. A note attached to one of the bodies stated Mosby would treat all further captives as prisoners of war unless Custer committed some new act of cruelty. The executions stopped.

John Mosby never officially surrendered. With the surrender of Lee to the Union forces, Mosby simply disbanded his command and returned ti civilian life. He was officially pardoned in 1866. Mosby practices law and befriended Grant, an act that won him the enmity of many Southerners. He received an appointment as U. S, Consul in Hong Kong and served in other government posts. He died in 1916. John Singleton Mosby is certainly outstanding among the many remarkable men of the War Between The States.

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