David Goetz speaks to the Civil War Round Table of the District of Columbia about the "Post-War Relationship of Mosby and Grant" on November 9, 2016, at the Fort McNair Officers' Club in Washington D.C.  

Questions and answers follow the presentation.

About the Topic:  “Hell is Being a Republican in Virginia”: The Postwar Relationship Between John Singleton Mosby and Ulysses S. Grant is essentially the story of Mosby and Grant and their search for peace and reconciliation between North and South in the years following the War Between the States.

Bitter enemies during the war – in 1864, Grant had declared, “Where any of Mosby’s men are caught, hang them without trial” – they met in 1872 as Grant was in a fierce contest with Horace Greeley for his second term.  Mosby gave Grant a strategy that helped him win and the two remained close friends for the rest of their lives.

Mosby and his family were spurned by Southerners who felt betrayed by Mosby’s active support of Grant and, after nearly being assassinated in Warrenton, Va. in the fall of 1877, Mosby contacted Grant who used his influence with President Rutherford Hayes to appoint Mosby as U.S. Consul to Hong Kong, where he served for seven years.

Even with the hand of death on him in the summer of 1885, Grant asked his friend Leland Stanford, president of the Southern Pacific Railroad, to find a job for Mosby upon his return from Hong Kong; he did, and Mosby worked as an attorney for the railroad for the next 16 years, until 1901.

That these two giants of their time first reconciled between themselves before  working toward healing the nation’s post-war wounds is instructive for us in the 21st Century, as the need for peace and reconciliation among citizens is greater than perhaps ever before.

About the Speaker: David Goetz owns Mosby's Confederacy Tours, and leads tours in “Mosby's Confederacy,” including Virginia counties of Fauquier, Loudoun, Warren and Clarke.  

Mr. Goetz is descended from the family of Chaplain Father James M. Graves, S.J., who served with Generals Joe Johnston and Stonewall Jackson in the Army of Virginia in 1861-62.  He is a past commander of the Black Horse Camp #780, Sons of Confederate Veterans in Fauquier County, Virginia, serving from 2009-13.

Mr. Goetz has a professional background in public relations, sales and marketing, primarily with non-profit organizations.  He holds an undergraduate degree in English from Bellarmin University, Louisville, Kentucky, and a Master of Science degree in Community Development from the University of Louisville.  He is a U.S. Army veteran, received an Honorable Discharge, and lives in Culpeper County, Virginia.

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 For information about the Round Table and to apply for membership, visit www.cwrtdc.org/

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