Gus Kotka and Johnny Reb Thereat 1833 VII of XIII
“Reb?”
“Yeah.”
“Remember talking about Mosby?”
“Sure.”
“You said his book was published in 1917.”
“Mosby’s Memoirs.”
“And that he died in 1916.”
“Mosby was 82.”
“Was he born in 1833?”
“Yes.”
“So was I.”
“So was Jeb Stuart.”
“Didn’t think of them as my age.”
“Why?”
“Well, something like me and General Stuart, both passing in our early 30s, just hadn’t had that thought.”
“Stuart was a soldier, West Pointer.”
“I hear ya.”
“You were a Private.”
Gus Kotka and Johnny Reb Thereat Private “Yes.”
“So was Mosby.”
“Mosby was a Private?”
“That’s where he started.”
“Reached?”
“Colonel; what happened to you Yank?”
“Not known.”
“There’s no evidence of you getting in trouble.”
“No evidence.”
“Maybe you just wanted to stay a Private?”
“Perhaps.”
“Volunteer right?”
“Yes – and you Reb?”
“Well, Mosby was a volunteer.”
“A lot of Johnny Rebs were conscripted.”
“That began in ‘62.”
“Forced to fight, so to speak.”
“It’s different than volunteering.”
Gus Kotka and Johnny Reb Thereat Higher “Did Mosby know Lee?”
“He did.”
“And?”
“They got along; Mosby said Lee had only one complaint about him.”
“What was that?”
“That he kept getting shot.”
“Ouch.”
“Mosby thought highly of Lee Gus, and, even higher of Grant.”
“Higher?”
“Yes, higher.”
“Interesting. Didn’t they call Mosby’s partisan area of operations a special name?”
“Mosby’s Confederacy.”
“Did that include Berryville?”
“I would say so Yank.”
“Say more Reb.”
“Well, around Berryville …”
*Next Up: Sunday 19 November and Thereat part VIII, Gus Kotka and Johnny Reb On Our Way Around.
Posted by Bryan W. Brickner
RSS Feed
