Battlefield Dispatches No. 227: 'Elusive Foxes'

Friday, August 13, 2010

A fox, by itsz very nature, is a sly, cunning, clever, crafty, stealthy and wily hunter. It has to possess all of these characteristics in order to survive and avoid pursuing foxhounds, which are very smart dogs. During the Civil War in Missouri and other areas, especially in Missouri, the Confederate guerrillas or partisan rangers were much like foxes who were pursued by the Blue Belly Billy Yanks who resembled the foxhounds. Foxhounds are strong, very smart, very fast and have a keen scent or sense of smell. When a fox is or was cornered, it was and is killed by the hounds. If it managed to escape from the hounds, it lived to hunt another day until another chase began. Such was the essence of the Guerrilla War in Missouri from 1861-1865. More often than not, the elusive Confederate "foxes" managed to elude and frustrate the Yankee "hounds" by escaping to fight another day, those that did not escape died!

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