 |
Business | Industries | Finance | Tax |
| Index: > A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z |
|
|||||
| First Prev [ 1 2 3 ] Next Last |
Shortly after Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia won a smashing victory over the Federal Army of the Potomac at the Battle of Chancellorsville ( May 1- 3, 1863), Lee decided upon a second invasion of the North. Such a move would upset Federal plans for the summer campaigning season and possibly relieve the besieged Confederate garrison at Vicksburg, and it would allow the Confederates to live off the bounty of the rich northern farms while giving war-ravaged VirginiaVirginia is one of the original 13 states of the United States that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution and is generally classified as part of the South. Its official name is the Commonwealth of Virginia it is one of four Commonwealth a much needed rest. Also Lee's 75,000-man army could threaten PhiladelphiaAlternate meanings: Philadelphia (disambiguation Philadelphia is the fifth-largest city in the United States and the largest city in Pennsylvania, occupying all of Philadelphia County . As of the 2000 census, the population was 1,517,550, but a July 1, 20, BaltimoreThis article is about the city in the US state of Maryland. For other meanings of the word "Baltimore", please see: Baltimore (disambiguation Baltimore is an independent city located in the U. State of Maryland. As of July 1, 2002, the population is 638,6, and WashingtonWashington, DC officially the District of Columbia (also known as DC Washington and, historically, the Federal City is the capital city and administrative district of the United States of America. Residents of the city and its surrounding suburbs refer to and give voice to the growing peace movement in the North.
Thus, on June 3June 3 is the 154th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (155th in leap years), with 211 days remaining. Events 1098 Crusaders take Antioch, Turkey. 1140 French scholar, Peter Abelard found guilty of heresy. 1608 Samuel de Champlain completes his thi Lee's army began to shift northward from Fredericksburg, VirginiaFredericksburg is an independent city in the U. state of Virginia, 50 miles south of Washington, D. and 55 miles north of Richmond, Virginia. As of the 2000 census, the city had a population of 19,279. This city is a part of the Washington-Baltimore Metro. In order to attain more efficiency in his commands, Lee had pared down his two large corps into three new corps. James LongstreetJames Longstreet ( January 8, 1821 January 2, 1904) was one of the foremost generals of the American Civil War, and later enjoyed a successful post-war career working for the government of his former enemies, as a diplomat and administrator. Longstreet wa retained command of his First Corps. However, the old corps of General "Stonewall" JacksonThomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson ( January 21, 1824 May 10, 1863) was a Confederate general in the American Civil War. He was born at Clarksburg, Virginia (now in West Virginia) in 1824, and was orphaned at an early age. He attended West Point, class o was divided into two, with the Second Corps going to Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell and the new Third Corps commanded by Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill. The Gettysburg Confederate Order of Battle lists the units and commanders of the Army of Northern Virginia.
The Federal Army of the Potomac, under Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, consisted of seven corps of infantry and artillery, a cavalry corps under Alfred Pleasonton , and an Artillery Reserve, for a combined strength of more than 90,000 men. However, Hooker would soon be replaced, because as Noah Andre Trudeau states, he was a "deeply flawed individual" and had led the Army to defeat at Chancellorsville. The Gettysburg Union Order of Battle lists the units and commanders of the Army of the Potomac after Meade assumed command.
The first major action of the campaign took place on June 9 between the opposing cavalry forces at Brandy Station, near Culpeper, Virginia. The Confederate cavalry under "J.E.B." Stuart was nearly bested by the Federal horsemen, but Stuart eventually prevailed. However, this battle, the largest cavalry engagement of the war, proved that for the first time, the Union horse soldier was equal to his Southern counterpart.
By mid-June, the Army of Northern Virginia was poised to cross the Potomac River and enter Maryland. After gobbling up the Federal garrisons at Winchester and Martinsburg, Ewell's Second Corps began crossing the river on June 15. Hill's and Longstreet's corps followed on June 24-25. Hooker's army pursued, keeping between the U.S. Capital and Lee's army. The Federals crossed the Potomac on June 25-27.
Meanwhile, in a controversial move, Lee allowed J.E.B. Stuart to take a portion of the army's cavalry and ride around the Union army. However, Lee's orders gave Stuart much latitude, and both generals are to blame for the long absence of Stuart's cavalry, as well as for the failure to assign a more active role to the cavalry left with the army. Also, Confederate raider John S. Mosby was partly to blame; he stated that Stuart would face very little opposition (in fact, he was forced to take an extremely circuitous route to avoid the Union infantry). By June 29, Lee's army was strung out in an arc from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, twenty-eight miles NW of Gettysburg, to Carlisle, thirty miles north of Gettysburg, to near Harrisburg and Wrightsville on the Susquehanna River.
In a dispute over the use of the forces defending the Harpers Ferry garrison, Hooker offered his resignation, and Abraham Lincoln and General-in-Chief Henry W. Halleck, who were looking for an excuse to get rid of Hooker, immediately accepted the resignation. They replaced him on June 27-28 with Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade, commander of the Fifth Corps.
When, on June 29, Lee learned that the Army of the Potomac had crossed its namesake river, he ordered a concentration of his forces around Cashtown, located at the eastern base of South Mountain and eight miles west of Gettysburg.
On June 30, while part of Hill's Third Corps was in Cashtown, one of Hill's brigades, North Carolinians under J. Johnston Pettigrew , ventured toward Gettysburg to look for supplies, including shoes. And thus the myth of the Battle of Gettysburg being caused by shoe-hunting Confederates stumbling upon the Yankees was created. This myth is in fact not true. There was no shoe factory in town, nor was there any sizable supply of shoes. Pettigrew and his superiors should have known that, four days earlier, part of Jubal A. Early's division of the Second Corps had marched through Gettysburg on its way to York and Wrightsville. Any valuable supplies, including shoes, would have been taken by these troops. Even had Early's passage through town on the 26th not been common knowledge, Hill's troops would have no reason to believe that there was a large supply of shoes in Gettysburg.
In his memoirs Henry Heth, whose division started the battle on July 1, claimed that he heard of a large supply of shoes in town. From whom could he have heard this? Likely Heth used the shoe excuse to absolve himself of the blame for prematurely instigating a battle that General Lee wanted to fight only when the army was concentrated.
When Pettigrew's troops approached Gettysburg on June 30, they noticed Federal cavalry under John Buford west of town, and Pettigrew wisely returned to Cashtown. When Pettigrew told Hill and Henry Heth, his division commander, about what he had seen, neither general believed that there was a substantial Federal force in or near the town. In fact, Hill reportedly said that he hoped the Federal army was there, because that's where he wanted it to be. Hill determined to mount a reconnaissance in force the following morning to determine the size and strength of the enemy force in his front. Thus, around 5 a.m. on Wednesday, July 1, Hill's troops advanced to Gettysburg on the Chambersburg Pike looking for a fight, not for shoes.
The terrain of Gettysburg and vicinity is described in Gettysburg Battlefield.
| Politics | Business | Finance |
 |
 |
 |
|