Colonel Mosby's men on courthouse steps, Warrenton, Virginia

Share

Men who had ridden with Colonel John S. Mosby, the Confederate partisan commander whose raiders harassed Union forces across northern Virginia, gathered on the steps of the Warrenton courthouse for this group portrait. Mosby died in 1916, so the photograph shows surviving members of his command at a later reunion, when the former cavalrymen were well into middle age or older. Underwood & Underwood, a firm known for commercial views of American towns and events, made the picture during a decade when Confederate veterans' gatherings drew crowds and press attention across the South. The courthouse setting ties the reunion to the town's public life.

More from the Courthouses collection

Snapshots of the Past helps heritage brands, museums, historians and storytellers tell stories with history: historic prints, image licensing and historical storytelling drawn from more than 25 years of research and curation.