CDV featuring a vignetted portrait of a young John Singleton Mosby wearing a civilian jacket with Confederate major's insignia, with "Jno. S. Mosby" penciled on mount and verso credit to E. & H.T. Anthony. Verso also bears a penciled verse reading, "If ever a passing / Glance you spare / This pictured face / Of an absent friend / His thought will meet / Your own thought there / And thought with them / Harmoniously blend."

John Singleton Mosby (1833-1916), also known by the nickname "The Gray Ghost," was a Confederate  cavalry battalion commander in the Civil War. Mosby began his military career as a private in the Virginia Volunteers, participating in the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861. Mosby was captured in July of 1862 by Union forces and was confined in the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, DC. Mosby impressed superiors by scouting and leading raids behind Union lines, even forming "Mosby's Rangers" with other horsemen from Middleburg, Virginia. In 1863, Mosby was authorized to form and command the 43rd Battalion Virginia Cavalry. Promoted to the rank of colonel in 1864, Mosby continued his operations against the Union through the end of the Civil War, after which he was forced to go into hiding in Lynchburg until he was pardoned by Ulysses S. Grant. Mosby went on to become a Republican and a campaigner for Grant, which many southerners saw as a complete betrayal of their cause. He went on to serve as US consul to Hong Kong under Rutherford B. Hayes, and later, as assistant Attorney General.