Mosby and the Lincoln Conspiracies

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I have learned from Dave Goetz that his latest book, Ever the Gray Ghost: Colonel John Singleton Mosby and the Lincoln Conspiracies has just been published. For those who do not know him, Mr. Goetz is a foremost authority on Mosby. Dave said, "I have just under 150 images, more than 600 end-notes and a 6,400-word bibliography in this heavily-annotated work." An overview of the book is pasted below.

Hard-bound copies of the book may be ordered for $35.00 (including tax, shipping and handling). Send your check payble and to: David Goetz, P. O. Box 1240, Warrenton, VA, 20188.

David Goetz presents: Ever the Gray Ghost: Colonel John
Singleton Mosby and the Lincoln Conspiracy

In his presentation of Ever the Gray Ghost: Colonel John Singleton Mosby and the Lincoln Conspiracies, author David Goetz begins by examining the background of individuals and groups from both sides in the War Between the States who wanted to capture or kill Confederate President Jefferson Davis and U. S. President Abraham Lincoln.

From these outlines, Goetz explores Colonel Mosby’s role, as well as that of his Rangers in the war, but especially the Lincoln conspiracies. He further reviews Mosby’s service as a soldier and spy under his commanding officer, Gen. J. E. B. Stuart and, after Stuart’s death, Gen. Robert E. Lee; his perfection of the concept of need to know; his communications system with Richmond and the Northern Neck of Virginia and the importance of cover stories for his various actions and those of his men.

Goetz investigates deep-cover Confederate clandestine operatives in Washington and Baltimore. He also traces how Mosby Ranger Lewis Powell was drawn into clandestine work by the Confederate Secret Service and ultimately introduced to John Wilkes Booth, becoming part of his group. He further explores the wide net cast by Mosby’s men and others who observed Booth and David Herold as they fled Washington after Lincoln’s murder.

Further, Goetz examines how the Confederate underground and some of Mosby’s men shadowed Booth and David Herold as they fled down the Secret Line from Washington through Maryland and over to Virginia and, ultimately, on to Garrett’s farm in Caroline County.

A fresh look is given to Mosby’s forming his last company, Co. H, on April 5, 1865, four days before Lee’s surrender to Grant, and how Confederate munitions expert Sgt. Frank Harney was embedded into it. It is believed his mission was to blow up the White House with Lincoln and his cabinet in it, but Co. H was routed in a fight with federal cavalry in Fairfax County, Va. on April 10; Harney and several of his team were captured miles away near the Potomac River. Some of Mosby’s stay-behind group was also in place in Virginia and Maryland to assist Harney escape had his plan succeeded.

The central question in all of this is how much did Mosby know, and was he complicit in an attempt to murder the president of the United States?
It is a fascinating story and offers new insights and focuses on numerous attempts to capture or kill Abraham Lincoln. Although Colonel Mosby’s and his Rangers’ roles have been discussed in many books and publications, Goetz is the first to write a book considering Mosby as an integral part of the Lincoln conspiracies.

In 2012, Goetz published his first book, “Hell is Being a Republican in Virginia”: The Postwar Relationship Between John Singleton Mosby and Ulysses Grant, which explores the search for peace and reconciliation between two former enemies during Reconstruction. Mr. Goetz spent much of his adult life in public relations, sales and marketing, mostly for non-profit organizations. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Bellarmine University, Louisville, Kentucky and a Master of Science in Community Development from the University of Louisville. He is a U.S. Army veteran and received an Honorable Discharge. Now retired, he lives in Culpeper County, Virginia.