"General, did you ever hear of Mosby?"
"Yes, have you caught him?"
"He has caught you."
Captain John S. Mosby capturing General E.H. Stoughton, March, 1863

General Stoughton was sleeping soundly when the raiding party entered his room. “There was no time for ceremony, so I drew up the bedclothes, pulled up the general’s shirt, and gave him a spank on his bare back, and told him to get up” Mosby recalled.

Guards on duty were taken by surprise and captured. The telegraph operator was seized, and the telegraph wires were cut. A group went to Colonel Wyndham’s quarters, but he had gone to Washington that evening. Others went to the stables and gathered horses. Mosby took five or six men and went to General Stoughton’s quarters, and knocked on the door.

With Stoughton captured, the raiders prepared to leave. No shots were fired during the raid, and no alarm had been raised, a stroke of luck for the Confederates as they were in the midst of several thousand Union soldiers. 

All the Rangers made it safely back to Confederate lines. In addition to General Stoughton, there were two other officers and 30 enlisted men brought back as prisoners, along with 58 horses.