The Daring Raid: John S. Mosby Captures Union General Edwin Stoughton During the American Civil War, Confederate guerrilla leader John Singleton Mosby—nicknamed the “Gray Ghost” for his elusive tactics—led one of the most audacious raids in history. On the night of March 8, 1863, Mosby and a small band of 29 Rangers slipped through Union picket lines near Fairfax Court House, Virginia (now Fairfax, Virginia), deep behind enemy lines. Their original target was Union cavalry commander Colonel Perc