ce, while Mosby was in Richmond conferring with
General Lee, they went into the valley again in force, waylaying a
column of cavalry on the march, killing and wounding about thirty and
bringing off 168 prisoners and horses.

When Mosby came back from Lee's headquarters, a full colonel now, his
brother William was made a lieutenant-colonel, and Richards became a
major. The southern, or Fauquier County, end of Mosby's Confederacy
was still more or less intact, though crowded with refugees. There was
even time, in spite of everything, for the wedding of the
Forty-Third's armorer, Jake Lavender, with John and Jimmy Edmonds'
sister.

While the wedding party was in progress, a report was brought in to
the effect that Union cavalry were in the neighborhood of Salem, a few
miles away. Mosby took one of his men, Tom Love, a relative of one of
the Front Royal victims, and went to investigate, finding that the
enemy had moved in the direction of Rectortown, where they were
making camp for the night. Sending a resident of the neighborhood to
alert Chapman and Richards for an attack at daybreak, Mosby and Love
set out to collect others of his command.

By this time, it was dark, with a freezing rain covering everything
with ice. Mosby and Love decided to stop at the farm of Ludwell Lake
for something to eat before going on; Love wanted to stay outside on
guard, but Mosby told him to get off his horse and come inside. As
they would have been in any house in the neighborhood, Mosby and his
companion were welcomed as honored guests and sat down with the family
to a hearty meal of spareribs.

* * * * *

While they were eating, the house was surrounded by Union cavalry.
Mosby rushed to the back door, to find the backyard full of soldiers.
He started for the front door, but as he did, it burst open and a
number of Yankees, officers and men, entered the house. At the same
time, the soldiers behind, having seen the back door open and shut,
began firing at the rear windows, and one bullet hit Mosby in the
abdomen. In the confusion, with the women of the Lake family
screaming, the soldiers cursing, and bullets coming through the
windows, the kitchen table was overturned and the lights extinguished.
Mosby in the dark, managed to crawl into a first-floor bedroom, where
he got off his tell-tale belt and coat, stuffing them under the bed.
Then he lay down on the floor.

After a while, the shooting outside st