The author does not state what I concluded above and I withdraw that critique. He is indeed correct about Mosby and Custer (or at least Mosby THOUGHT it was Custer – others have concluded differently). I apologize for the confusion – but given the text I had to go by, I was confused!

You have confused Confederate "LIEUTENANT"* John Mosby's capture of young Union Brigadier General Edwin Stoughton sleeping in the middle of the night in the middle of his army at Fairfax Courthouse on March 8th and 9th, 1863 (no one was killed or even a shot fired, but there were 38 prisoners and some 68 horses taken by Mosby and his 29 men) with the retaliation LT. COLONEL John Mosby took against the commands of Gen. Custer and Col Powell for the hanging and shooting of seven of his men at Front Royal (and elsewhere) in 1864! (*Mosby actually had no rank at the time though he wore a Captain's uniform when he captured Stoughton and had for several months held the rank of lieutenant in the First Virginia Cavalry under Col. William "Grumble" Jones.)

By the time Mosby had three men hanged and four shot (the three hanged men died, but the four others did not – one escaped and the others survived their wounds), Edwin Stoughton had long since left the army in disgrace for being taken prisoner in his nightshirt. After the retaliation, Mosby sent a letter to General Philip Sheridan and told him that after his men had been murdered, over SEVEN HUNDRED Union prisoners had passed through his hands, but he had singled out men from the commands of the officers that he held responsible for the murders. He also told Sheridan that there would be no more hangings and shootings unless the Yankees continued to treat his men as outlaws; the murder of Mosby's men ceased from that day.

Really, this information is well known and EXTREMELY well publicized. There is no excuse for confusing these two incidents which took place over a year apart and under very different circumstances. Please correct your present posting. Thank you.