Qualla: Second Battle of Dranesville

Second Battle of Dranesville: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

A skirmish party rides west on the Leesburg-Alexandria Turnpike at mid-morning on February 22, 1864, looking conspicuous on purpose. They are bait. Two miles east of Dranesville, hidden in the winter woods on both sides of the pike, Mosby's Rangers wait with carbines across their saddles. The plan is simple: lure the Federal column past the dismounted squad blocking the road, then close the jaws of the trap from the flanks. The plan almost fails. What happens instead becomes one of John Singleton Mosby's most lopsided victories - a hand-to-hand brawl that ends with a captain shot dead in retaliation, troopers drowning in the Potomac, and seventy Union prisoners marched south toward Confederate lines.

Second Battle of Dranesville: Mosby's Confederacy

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Loudoun County in early 1864 belonged to a partisan ranger battalion that operated outside the rules other armies followed. John Singleton Mosby commanded the 43rd Battalion Virginia Cavalry, and he ran the territory between the Blue Ridge and the Potomac as his own dominion - Mo...

Second Battle of Dranesville: A Funeral, Then a Ride

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On the morning of February 22, one hundred sixty Rangers gathered near Middleburg to bury Bill McCobb, a partisan thrown from a horse two days earlier when it tried to jump a fence. Funerals in Mosby's Confederacy were brief affairs - the war did not pause for grief. While the Ra...

Second Battle of Dranesville: The Trap Misfires

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

At eleven o'clock the Federal vanguard appeared, chasing the skirmish party. The flanking companies sprang from the trees - too early. The main Federal column was still behind, untouched. Reed saw the mistake and seized it, ordering an immediate counterattack. The two forces coll...

Second Battle of Dranesville: The Cost

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

When the Rangers tallied the day, the numbers were stark: twelve Federals killed, twenty-five wounded, seventy captured, and a hundred horses taken. The Rangers lost five wounded and one killed. By any measure of the American Civil War, this was a complete tactical victory for a ...