By V.P. Hughes. Human nature rejects and despises heroes who engage our admiration and our veneration only to ultimately fail us. The failed hero cannot be redeemed. Like the suicide of old, he is buried outside the consecrated ground of public esteem.
It matters not how heroic his acts, how wondrous his achievements or how noble his character, with his fall from grace his name is forever tainted and his memory universally reviled. But what of that man whose supposed culpability is the result of error or, worse, deliberate lies?
What transpires when his actions are misconstrued and his honest explanations and credible justifications rejected? Where does this victim go when the court of public opinion is a mockery? Sadly, the answer seems to be nowhere—until such time as a comprehensive and effective plea is entered on his behalf. And that is the purpose of this article and the writer’s new book on John Singleton Mosby. [Read the entire article as a PDF.]
Taken from
The Barnes Review, January/February 2017: John S. Mosby, Reclaiming a Vilified Hero
Volume XXIII, Number 1