DK - The American Civil War

Lee Advances North

The Confederate high command approved Lee’s strategy of invading the North for a second time. In

mid-June 1863, the Army of Northern Virginia began its advance toward Pennsylvania. The Union army

was initially wrong-footed, engaging the Rebels unsuccessfully at Brandy Station and Winchester.

THE UNION TIGHTENS ITS GRIP 1863

A

fter the Battle of Chancellorsville,
the South had the advantage.
Now it was the turn of the
Confederacy to decide where it would
strike the Union army next rather than
simply reacting to Northern advances.
For the next few weeks, debates raged
in the capital, Richmond, over what to
do. On his way to rejoin General Robert
E. Lee at Fredericksburg, General James
Longstreet proposed to President Davis
that he and two divisions travel by rail
to Tennessee to assault Major General
William Rosecrans. Longstreet would
thereby relieve pressure on Vicksburg.
Secretary of War James Seddon then

BEFORE

In the wake of Stonewall Jackson’s death,
Lee reorganized his army to prepare for an
offensive thrust. The Union, meanwhile,
was disheartened after repeated failures.

CONFEDERATE PROMOTIONS
Eager to reorganize the Army of Northern
Virginia, Lee abandoned the old system of
two wings led by two corps commanders. He
recommended the promotion of generals
Richard Ewell and A. P. Hill to corps command,
with Ewell taking over most of Jackson’s old
force. Hill was to retain the rest, along with new
troops gathered from other parts of Virginia and
the Carolinas. Longstreet kept command of his
corps, and became Lee’s chief lieutenant.

NORTHERN DESPONDENCY
The North had little to celebrate in May and June of

1863. Grant had yet to take Vicksburg, and the
      first attempt to attack Charleston, South Carolina,
      ended in failure on April 7, when eight monitors
      were repulsed by Rebel guns at Fort Sumter.
      Northern Copperheads 201 ❯❯ lamented that
      Confederate independence was near and the
      time had come for negotiations with the South.

countered with a

wild proposal to send

Longstreet directly to

Mississippi to attack

General Ulysses

S. Grant’s rear at

Vicksburg, but Lee

stepped in at this point,

arguing convincingly for

another thrust north. Lee

proposed that now was the time to deal

the Union a strategic death blow before

conditions in the West deteriorated to a

point of no return. He was also keen to

advance while both the Northern peace

movement and the Army of Northern

Virginia were still strong.

Commander’s strategy

Lee was certain that a Confederate

victory or series of victories in

Pennsylvania or northern Maryland at

this juncture would strengthen the

Copperheads— Northern Democrats

opposed to the Civil War who favored a

peace agreement with the South. Thus,

he reasoned, Lincoln would become

a president without a party in the

next election. Furthermore, farmers

in Virginia would be relieved of the

burdens of conflict for at least a season,

and the Confederate army could live off

the Northerners’ land for a change. The

chance of recognition by foreign powers

might again come back on the table,

not to mention an outright peace with

the North should Lee and his forces

destroy the Army of the Potomac and

capture Washington or Baltimore.

The possibility of achieving Southern

independence was finally within sight,

and when the Confederate cabinet

voted on Lee’s proposal, only one

member, Postmaster General John

Reagan, a Texan, disagreed. Longstreet

also retained some doubts about the

wisdom of the decision, but loyally

followed his commander’s directives.

Lee took off the earlier part of June

DAMAGED MONITOR TURRET

to rest, resupply his Army

of Northern Virginia, and

receive reinforcements

from the Carolinas and

western Virginia. In

mid-June, thousands

of Confederate soldiers

began the long march

northward by swinging

around to the west

and advancing down the

Shenandoah Valley.

Shock for Stuart

Just as the Army of Northern

Virginia was beginning its final

preparations for the movement North,

the flamboyant Major General Jeb

Stuart and his Confederate cavalry

received a nasty shock from their Union

counterparts. On June 9, at Brandy

Station in Culpeper County, Virginia, a

large Union cavalry force under the

command of General Alfred Pleasonton

surprised Stuart’s troopers in their

encampment. Following a hard day’s

fighting in which both sides gained

the upper hand at different times, the

Union cavalry finally yielded the

battlefield to the Southerners and

withdrew. Tactically, the engagement

was the largest horse-mounted combat

of the Civil War and a Confederate

triumph—strategically, it assumed

far greater proportions.

Union horsemen had gained

confidence from it, believing that they

could now stand toe-to-toe against the

Confederate general Ewell

Despite losing a leg at Second Bull Run,

Ewell justified Lee’s confidence in him

at this point in the war by raiding

the Union garrison at Winchester.

Cavalry charge near Brandy Station

On June 9, 1863 more than 19,000 cavalry clashed for

12 hours along the Rappahannock River in a surprise

encounter. It resulted in a Southern victory, but alerted

the Union to Lee’s unexpected advance northward.

Southern cavaliers. Henceforth they

would be more aggressive. Stuart

emerged from the battle physically

unscathed but with a bruised ego. He

asked Lee for permission to ride around

Major General Joseph Hooker’s corps

slowly advancing to the east—Stuart’s

goal was to gain better intelligence on

Union movements, but in the process

he hoped to salvage his reputation.

Testing times for Lee

Having extracted a promise from Stuart

that he would quickly rejoin the main

Confederate force, Lee agreed, and on

June 25 he suddenly found himself

without Stuart and his three best cavalry

brigades. The cavalry chief had left Lee