Fabled Confederate ranger (1833–1916) whose guerrilla band specialized in attacking and disrupting Union supply lines. He earned the nickname ‘The Gray Ghost’ for his clandestine and highly effective attack tactics. ALS signed “Jno: S. Mosby,” one page, 8 x 10, Department of Justice letterhead, September 14, 1904. Letter to Lawrence Washington forwarding a letter Mosby received from President Theodore Roosevelt. In full: “I recently rec’d from Judge Roulhac of Alabama—a Confederate Veteran—a letter in wh. He spoke in such a way in regard to the relations between Mr. Roosevelt & The South that I forwarded the letter to Oyster Bay & rec’d the enclosed answer. I do not wish to get it into the newspaper but wd. like for you to show it to Benton Chinn or to anyone you choose. I wd. also like for you to read my letter in yesterday’s Post.” Scattered toning, some stray ink marks, thin mounting remnant along reverse of top edge, and a couple of trivial brushes to text, otherwise fine condition. Accompanied by a photocopy of the text of Roosevelt’s letter to Mosby, dated September 10, 1904, from the book The Letters of John S. Mosby.
Though he had been a devoted member of the Confederate forces, when the war ended Mosby took a practical view of the need for the South to reconcile with the North. In 1872 he began to support and secured a position from President Grant, his first of many contentious friendships with men considered by Southerners to be the enemy. Vigorous and opinionated, he kept up a stream of private correspondence, as well as letters and articles to newspapers, often defending good men who were denounced unjustly. In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt assigned him to the Department of Justice as assistant attorney general, the position he held while writing this letter. At this time there was heavy criticism of Roosevelt from Southerners, often stemming from his relationship with Booker T. Washington, whose advice the president took to heart when appointing judges in the South. One such appointment was that of Thomas Ruffin Roulhac, a Confederate veteran, to the office of U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama.
Though we do not have the text of Roulhac’s letter to Mosby, we must imagine that he spoke in great support of the President. Roosevelt’s reply to reading it said, ‘That is a fine letter of [Judge] Roulhac’s, and I appreciate it. I have always been saddened rather than angered by the attacks upon me in the South. I am half a Southerner myself; and I can say with all possible sincerity that the interests of the South are exactly as dear to me as the interests of the North.’ Mosby forwards this letter to a friend, encouraging him to share it, a wonderfully sly way of exposing the president’s true feelings on his relationship to the South in a manner that demands it be taken seriously: it was written with genuine regard to a friend, not as a public posture. Its sincerity is touching. This is a wonderful letter from a controversial Confederate veteran adamant in his belief that the nation must look forward rather than back, giving good men, especially their President Roosevelt, the respect they deserve. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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