A lone roadside sign marks the location beside a winding rural Virginia byway where Jack Sterry, a Union Jesse Scout also known as Lincoln’s Special Forces, spoke his final words. . By his cunning he tried to lead the Confederates down the wrong path and away from where they were crucially needed. I happened to find a placard. Another book found me. The marker turned out to be a gateway to an epic untold story.
“This way, General Hood,” a young Confederate cavalry guide dressed in butternuts said on the fateful morning of August 28, 1862, “graciously saluting and pointing north.” General John Bell Hood “stopped his column and came very close” and questioned his guide, convinced that he had made a mistake. Still, you would think that the guide must be correct. He was intelligent, confident, articulate, sure in his instructions, and quick and clear in his responses. ”
Confederate troops under Hood were marching along the Thrufair Gap road to Manassas to reinforce General Stonewall Jackson at the Second Battle of Bull. “The situation was critical. The urgency of the war could not be more important. It was not just a matter of fighting, but the fate of the campaign.”
The guide urged Hood to leave the battlefield and take the road north, claiming that General Jackson was retreating.
“Did General Jackson himself give you these instructions?” Hood asked.
“Yes, General. It’s Stonewall Jackson’s train, General. He’s pushing them toward Aldi, and I thought you’d join him there,” the guide answered.
“I never heard anything like this!” exclaimed a startled Hood.
“Then I’ll tell you what it is, General Hood. That devilish Jesse Scout is here again! Cutting off Stuart’s courier! Jackson hasn’t heard anything from Longstreet since yesterday morning. I have not heard, and I am afraid that you will follow your old orders and try to meet me at the main road gap.”
“How did you learn all this?” General Hood continued to interrogate the guide, but “there was still little suspicion of treachery. The guide was very bland, free and unfettered. ”
“I’m Frank Lamar of Athens, Georgia. I’m in the cavalry of Hampton’s Corps, but I’m currently working in the courier service at Stonewall Jackson’s headquarters.”
The details of this amazing story are told in my best-selling book. Unvanquished: The untold story of Lincoln’s special forces, the search for Mosby’s Rangers, and the shadow war that shaped American special operations.. This book reveals the drama of the irregular guerrilla warfare that changed the course of the Civil War, They include the never-before-told story of Lincoln’s commandos, who donned Confederate gray to hunt Mosby and his Confederate rangers from 1863 until the end of the war at Appomattox. The story that never happened inspired the creation of modern US special operations in World War II. The book also tells the story of the Confederate Secret Intelligence Service.
When the colonel commanding Hampton’s corps received a message asking him to report to the crossroads immediately, “the guide suddenly remembered that he was not actually in Hampton’s corps,” and made a good impression on the girl. We started talking about ways to give. “He deserted from the infantry and captured his horse. His real name was Harry Brooks.”
Despite intense interrogation, “many of us believed our guide was a real man” until a mortally wounded Confederate scout was found, but the scout’s dying words were, “We… He was shot by one of his men!” ” And his shipment was stolen. Immediately all eyes turned to the guide. Unfazed, Jesse Scout boldly declared:
“Stop! Three more words. I’m not Georgia’s Frank Lamar or Virginia’s Harry Brooks. I’m Jack Sterry, the Jesse Scout. I didn’t kill that rebel, but… , was with the people he killed. His dispatch is safe enough at the moment! Friend that I chatted with your troops for half an hour while General Pope was tearing down your precious old Stonewall. I want you to know, everyone, I’m ready!–and if I ever mention this before we leave, I’m sure Jack Stelly will be the Jesse Scout when he’s captured by the Rebels. I want you to say that you are dead!”
***
Jack Stelly sat astride the crossroads of history. At the right time and the right place, he sought to shape the course of events through his personal representatives, and Sterry was part of an extraordinary group of men. They are often called Jesse Scouts, named after the wife of explorer and politician Major General John Charles Frémont. He was a senator from California and the first Republican presidential candidate in 1856. At the beginning of the Civil War, Frémont was commander of the Western Department. Known as the “Pathfinder” for his pioneering work exploring and mapping the West while fighting off hostile Native Americans, Frémont organized a group of professional operators in St. Louis early in the war and became embroiled in the war. The company employed them in Missouri, where the company was located. Guerrilla warfare.
His wife, Jessie Ann Benton Fremont, was also the daughter of a U.S. senator. The flaxen-haired beauty grew up by his father’s side and shared his father’s political views, including rubbing elbows with politicians and becoming an outspoken advocate against slavery. . Intelligent, strong, charismatic, and a great advocate for her husband, Jessie was one of the most respected journalists of her time and was described as “not only a historic woman, but one of America’s greatest called “Women”. It was known in many circles that Jesse was “the better man of the two.”
She reportedly initially advised her husband’s scouts to wear the enemy’s uniform. “Jesse, who was with her husband until recently, frequently saw these men and was very popular with them. So they are now attached to her. They swear to her and wear her on their coats. In addition to embroidering her initials, they also adopted Jessie as their namesake.
Colt Navy and Army revolvers and 1860 cavalry sabers carried by the men of The Unvanquished.Patrick K. O’Donnell
When John Charles Frémont moved east in the spring of 1862 and assumed command of the mountainous areas located in southwestern Virginia and later West Virginia, he engaged in guerilla warfare with soldiers who understood the rugged terrain. Brought in a skilled enemy. Conflicts with the domesticated American West and Native Americans would have a significant impact on the foundations of American special operations and unconventional warfare, including adaptations of some of their combat tactics. One contemporary said that Pathfinder “continued to follow his concepts gained from his experiences on the western frontier.” He knew that the safety and efficiency of his troops in rugged, forested areas depended on how accurately they received information of the enemy’s plans and movements. He quickly gathered around him Western pioneers who had served him throughout the campaign in Missouri. Some were involved in border conflicts in Kansas. Some spent many years hunting buffalo and Indians on the plains. They were accustomed to all forms of hardship and were thoroughly trained not only in the use of rifles, but also in all cunning methods and devices to discover the intentions, position and strength of the enemy. The best of these men were selected and assigned to a small organization called the Jesse Scouts. ”
From members of the U.S. Army, civilians, and later former Confederate cavalry converts, the Scouts transformed into enemies, taking on uniforms, accents, and mannerisms. “He looks like a Tennessean, a Georgian, an Irishman, a German. There was nothing but his true appearance,” one contemporary recalled. To impersonate a Confederate soldier, Jesse Scout developed false backgrounds for the men he impersonated and learned a convincing cover story to disguise their identity as the enemy. The previously untold story of secret warriors decades ahead of their time who shaped the fate of the Civil War is also the story of the creation of today’s American Special Operations Forces.
Patrick K. O’Donnell is a bestselling and critically acclaimed military historian and expert on elite forces. He is the author of 13 of his books, including a forthcoming book on the Civil War. Unvanquished: The untold story of Lincoln’s special forces, the search for Mosby’s Rangers, and the shadow war that shaped American special operations., Now available at Barnes and Noble Stores nationwide. His other bestsellers include: essential things, unknownand Immortals of Washington. Mr. O’Donnell served as a combat historian for a Marine rifle platoon during the Battle of Fallujah and is a frequent lecturer on espionage, special operations and counterinsurgency. He has provided historical consulting for the award-winning DreamWorks miniseries Band of Brothers, as well as documentaries produced by the BBC, History His Channel, and Discovery. PatrickKODonnell.com
