S8 Ep1090: Patrick K. O'Donnell, guest author, details the final confrontation between Richard Blazer and Mosby's Rangers at Cabletown (or M

Patrick K. O'Donnell, guest author, details the final confrontation between Richard Blazer and Mosby's Rangers at Cabletown (or Meyerstown). After Blazer's scouts had embarrassed the Rangers twice, Mosby orchestrated a massive 300-man ambush. During a running gun battle across farmland, Lewis Powell, a Ranger known as "Terrible Powell," personally captured Blazer. The significance of Powell's role extends far beyond the battlefield; he was an operative for the Confederate Secret Service who had previously escaped Union custody in Baltimore. After delivering Blazer to a Richmond prison—likely a cover for meeting his handlers—Powell returned to "Mosby's Confederacy" briefly before "deserting" to Union lines to pose as a civilian. In reality, Powell had joined John Wilkes Booth's conspiracy to kidnap President Lincoln. The plot was a well-funded, large-scale operation involving hundreds of people and a network of safe houses. Evidence suggests that Mosby's command was aware of the kidnapping plan, as Mosby moved hundreds of men 80 miles away from his usual territory to secure the exact area of the Potomac River where the kidnappers intended to cross. This indicates that the kidnapping plot was not merely the work of a few actors but a coordinated special operation supported by the Confederate military infrastructure. Powell eventually became one of the primary Lincoln conspirators, transitioning from a feared scout to a pivotal figure in the war's final, tragic act. The Unvanquished (6)