“The Unvanquished” is the latest offering from military historian and multiple bestselling author Patrick K. O’Donnell.  He is recognized as a leading expert on America’s elite and special operations units. All of his 13 books are based on this subject matter and his book “We Were One; Shoulder to Shoulder with the Marines Who Took Fallujah” is required reading for all Marines.

Patrick says his topics “find him” and his latest is no different. While traveling he found a rusted old sign noting the location of the “Grapewood Farm Engagement”, a battle fought by Mosby’s Rangers. Another encounter was with a marker for the final resting place of Jessie Scout Jack Sterry. These two “discoveries” led him to write this fascinating book.

In “The Unvanquished”, Patrick introduces us to the Special Forces deployed during the US Civil War; The Jessie Scouts, Mosby’s Rangers and the Confederate Secret Service. He states that these groups were 100 years ahead of their time and operated in ways our modern special forces still do.

The Jessie Scouts were union forces that donned Confederate uniforms and conducted commando and deception operations behind enemy lines.  Over twenty five percent of Jessie Scouts never made it home. Its members would be awarded seven Medals of Honor.

John Mosby was a lawyer by trade and not a very imposing figure.  Jeb Stuart gave Mosby six men to begin with and the Rangers would grow to nearly a thousand by the end of the war. Mosby and his Rangers had many close calls but escaped by employing a strategy of “when all else fails, resort to overwhelming violence.” Mosby was never captured and eventually would become one of the campaign managers for Ulysses Grant.

The Confederate Secret Service had a department dedicated to special gadgets much like James Bond. They also engaged in campaigns to control the press and influence northern elections on behalf of those supporting an armistice. Patrick states that the Confederacy was an insurgency and “insurgencies don’t have to win, they just have to survive.”

Patrick volunteered to be embedded with Marine Rifle Company Lima 3/1 and was with them during the Battle of Falllujah. He pulled a mortally wounded Marine to cover while under fire.