John S. Mosby was Unionist and Douglas Democrat- before his state of Virginia seceded.
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Mr. J. A. Sperry, editor of the Bristol Courier, wrote of Mosby
"Mosby pursued the even tenor of his way until the memorable Presidential Campaign of 1860. So guarded had been his political utterances that but few of the villagers knew with which of the parties to class him, when he suddenly bloomed out as an elector on the Douglas ticket. This seemed to fix his status as a Union Democrat. I say seemed, for I am now inclined to think his politics was like his subsequent fighting, — independent and irregular.
"We saw little of him in the stirring times immediately succeeding the election. One morning about the middle of January, 1861, I met him in the street, when he abruptly accosted me, 'I believe you are a secessionist per se.'
"' What has led you to that conclusion ?'
"'The editorial in your paper to-day.'
"'You have not read it carefully,' said I. 'There is nothing in it to justify your inference. In summing up the events of the week, I find that several sovereign States have formally severed their connection with the Union. We are confronted with the accomplished fact of secession. I have expressed no opinion either of the right or the expediency of the movement. I am not a secessionist per se, if I understand the term; but a secessionist by the logic of events."
"'I am glad to hear it,' he rejoined. 'I have never coveted the office of Jack Ketch, but I would cheerfully fill it for one day for the pleasure of hanging a disunionist per se. Do you know what secession means ? It means bloody war, followed by feuds between the border States, which a century may not see the end of.'
"'I do not agree with you,' I said. 'I see no reason why secession should not be peaceable. But in the event of the dreadful war you predict, which side will you take?"
"' I shall fight for the Union, Sir,—for the Union, of course, and you ?'
"'Oh, I don't apprehend any such extremity, but if I am forced into the struggle, I shall fight for my mother section. Should we meet upon the field of battle, as Yancey said to Brownlow the other day, I would run a bayonet through you.'
'"Very well, — we'll meet at Philippi,' retorted Mosby and stalked away.
sitting in my office writing, one day in the latter part of April, when my attention was attracted by the quick step of some one entering and the exclamation,' How do you like my uniform ?'
"It was a moment before I could recognize the figure pirouetting before me in the bob-tail coat of a cavalry private.
'"Why, Mosby!' I exclaimed, 'This isn't Philippi, nor is that a Federal uniform.'
"'No more of that,' said he, with a twinkle of the eye. 'When I talked that way, Virginia had not passed the ordinance of secession. She is out of the Union now. Virginia is my mother, God bless her! I can't fight against my mother, can I ?'"
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Writing at Fort Mason, Texas, on January 23, 1861 —after seven States had passed ordinances of secession — Lee said :
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'The framers of our Constitution would never have exhausted so much labor, wisdom, and forbearance in its formation, and surrounded it with so many safeguards and securities, if it was intended to be broken by every member of the confederacy at will. It was intended for "perpetual union", so expressed in the preamble, and for the establishment of a government, not a compact, which can only be dissolved by revolution, or by the consent of all the people in convention assembled. It is idle to talk of secession. Anarchy would have been established, and not a government, by Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison, and all the other patriots of the Revolution...Still a Union that can only be maintained by swords and bayonets, and in which strife and civil war are to take the place of brotherly love and kindness, has no charm for me...If the Union is dissolved and the government dispersed, I shall return to my native State and share the miseries of my people and save in defence will draw my sword no more.'
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David Upton