ing this post was no particularly spectacular feat of arms.
Mosby's party dismounted about 200 yards away from it and crept up on
it, to find seven members of the Fifth New York squatting around a
fire, smoking, drinking coffee and trying to keep warm. Their first
intimation of the presence of any enemy nearer than the Rappahannock
River came when Mosby and his men sprang to their feet, leveled
revolvers and demanded their surrender. One cavalryman made a grab for
his carbine and Mosby shot him; the others put up their hands. The
wounded man was given first aid, wrapped in a blanket and placed
beside the fire to wait until the post would be relieved. The others
were mounted on their own horses and taken to Middleburg, where they
were paroled i.e., released after they gave their word not to take up
arms again against the Confederacy. This not entirely satisfactory
handling of prisoners was the only means left open to Mosby with his
small force, behind enemy lines.

The next night, Mosby stayed out of Fairfax County to allow the
excitement to die down a little, but the night after, he and his men,
accompanied by Underwood, raided a post where the Little River
Turnpike crossed Cub Run. Then, after picking up a two-man road patrol
en route, they raided another post near Fryingpan Church. This time
they brought back fourteen prisoners and horses.

In all, he and his sextet had captured nineteen prisoners and twenty
horses. But Mosby still wasn't satisfied. What he wanted was a few
more men and orders to operate behind the Union army on a permanent
basis. So, after paroling the catch of the night before, he told John
Underwood to get busy gathering information and establishing contacts,
and he took his six men back to Culpepper, reporting his activities to
Stuart and claiming that under his existing orders he had not felt
justified in staying away from the army longer. At the same time, he
asked for a larger detail and orders to continue operating in northern
Virginia.

In doing so, he knew he was taking a chance that Stuart would keep him
at Culpepper, but as both armies had gone into winter quarters after
Fredericksburg with only a minimum of outpost activity, he reasoned
that Stuart would be willing to send him back. As it happened, Stuart
was so delighted with the success of Mosby's brief activity that he
gave him fifteen men, all from the First Virginia Cavalry, and orders
to operate until recalled. On January 18, Mos