Traveling across the country in a small van

Lee ‘s invasion of Maryland – Following the defeat of Union Gen. John Pope ‘s Army of Virginia at the Second Battle of Bull Run, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee crossed the Potomac and moved into Maryland, occupying Frederick on September 7. Lee’s invasion was carried out partly to “shift the burden of military occupation from Confederate to Federal soil,” but he also held some hope of capturing the Federal capital of Washington to the southeast. Battle of Fort Sumter April 12, 1861 – April 14, 1861 Shenandoah Valley campaigns July 1861 – March 1865 First Battle of Bull Run July 21, 1861 Vicksburg Campaign 1862 – 1863 Mississippi Valley Campaign February 1862 – July 1863 Battle of Fort Henry February 6, 1862 Battle of Fort Donelson February 13, 1862 – February 16, 1862 Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack March 9, 1862 Battle of Shiloh April 6, 1862 – April 7, 1862 Second Battle of Bull Run August 29, 1862 – August 30, 1862 Battle of Antietam September 17, 1862 Battle of Fredericksburg December 13, 1862 Battle of Chancellorsville April 30, 1863 – May 5, 1863 Battle of Gettysburg July 1, 1863 – July 3, 1863 Second Battle of Fort Wagner July 18, 1863 Fort Pillow Massacre April 12, 1864 Atlanta Campaign May 1864 – September 1864 Battle of the Wilderness May 5, 1864 – May 7, 1864 Battle of Spotsylvania Court House May 8, 1864 – May 19, 1864 Battle of Cold Harbor May 31, 1864 – June 12, 1864 Petersburg Campaign June 1864 – April 9, 1865 Battle of Monocacy July 9, 1864 Battle of Atlanta July 22, 1864 Battle of the Crater July 30, 1864 Battle of Mobile Bay August 5, 1864 – August 23, 1864 Battle of Nashville December 15, 1864 – December 16, 1864 Battle of Five Forks April 1, 1865 Battle of Appomattox Court House April 9, 1865 Finding his line of communications up the Shenandoah Valley threatened by a strong Union garrison at Harpers Ferry, on September 9 Lee issued Special Order 191, in which he detailed the division and disposition of forces for the campaign ahead.

Gen. Thomas (“Stonewall”) Jackson would lead one of three columns that were tasked with the capture of Harpers Ferry, while the remainder of Lee’s forces would advance to Boonsboro, Maryland, behind South Mountain, a ridge that ran parallel to Antietam Creek. Once the Union force at Harpers Ferry had been neutralized, Lee proposed to reunite his army and invade Pennsylvania,

Within days of the Union disaster at Second Bull Run, U.S. Pres. Abraham Lincoln sacked Pope and placed Gen. George B. McClellan in command of all Union forces in Washington. McClellan took the field on September 7, and, not knowing what Lee’s next move might be, he advanced with characteristic slowness.

During this time Lee again divided his army, and on September 11 he and Lieut. Gen. James Longstreet occupied Hagerstown, Maryland, a city just 5 miles (8 km) south of the Mason-Dixon Line, The stubborn Federal garrison at Harpers Ferry bought McClellan additional time, however, delaying the bulk of the Army of Northern Virginia for several days longer than had been budgeted in Lee’s timetable.

Already sensing that his invasion plan had gone awry, Lee began to withdraw to the south. Confederate scouts had observed massive columns of Federal infantry on the move, and Lee ordered Maj. Gen.D.H. Hill to guard the passes at South Mountain. If McClellan could drive through these passes before Lee could reunite his army, the Army of Northern Virginia could be destroyed in detail.

1. On September 13 Federal troops moved into Frederick, and members of the 27th Indiana infantry regiment recovered a copy of Lee’s Special Order 191 wrapped around a bundle of cigars.
2. Although the “Lost Orders” were four days old, McClellan felt emboldened enough to remark, “Here is a paper with which, if I cannot whip Bobby Lee, I will be willing to go home.” On September 14 McClellan’s army struck the passes at South Mountain.

The Battle of South Mountain was a convincing Union victory, but the Confederate defenders managed to delay the Union advance long enough for Lee to begin the consolidation of his scattered forces. On the morning of September 15, the 12,000 beleaguered defenders of Harpers Ferry finally capitulated,

At the cost of fewer than 300 Confederate casualties, Jackson had won one of the great unheralded victories of the American Civil War. Leaving Maj. Gen.A.P. Hill to complete the surrender arrangements, Jackson, with two divisions, hastened back to the new Confederate defensive line at Antietam Creek. McClellan’s forces streamed through the South Mountain passes to find Lee’s army, which numbered perhaps 11,000 men on the afternoon of September 15, occupying the heights north of Sharpsburg.

McClellan had estimated that total Confederate strength in the area amounted to “not less than 120,000 men”—an estimate that more than doubled Lee’s actual strength—and he spent September 16 engaging in reconnaissance of the Confederate positions. Jackson, by way of an overnight forced march, reached Sharpsburg on the afternoon of September 16, effectively doubling Lee’s strength.

Why did General Robert Lee invade Maryland?

General Robert E. Lee Library of Congress By September 3rd, Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia numbered some 70,000 troops, but logistically the army was in possibly the worst condition it would be in during the entire war. Most of the men were poorly fed and clothed, which contributed to long sick lists.

Exhaustion combined with chronically short and poor rations encouraged massive straggling, and the army leaked thousands of stragglers as it moved across Maryland. Lee and Confederate President Jefferson Davis chose to invade Maryland, partly based on the belief that the people of the state would support them.

Maryland was a so-called “Border State”: a slave state that remained in the Union. Subject to Federal occupation and the suspension of habeas corpus, Lee hoped that the people would take this opportunity to rally to the Southern Cause. Unfortunately for Lee, his ragged army received a cooler reception than they had hoped for after crossing the Potomac River and the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal and marching into Frederick.

• Only a few Marylanders joined the Confederate ranks.
• Eager to strike a meaningful blow, Lee held a council of war on the 9th of September with Gen.
• Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson at the Best Farm, a few miles south of Frederick.
• There, Lee formulated a plan to divide his army and force the evacuation of Union forces from Martinsburg and Harpers Ferry.

By clearing out the Federals, Lee insured communication and resupply through the Shenandoah Valley. With those goals achieved, he could reconsolidate his army and march further north into Pennsylvania. There, Lee hope he could force a decisive battle with Union Gen.

Why did Robert E Lee invade the Union in 1862?

In June 1863, Confederate general Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia invaded the North in hopes of relieving pressure on war-torn Virginia, defeating the Union Army of the Potomac on Northern soil, and striking a decisive blow to Northern morale.

When did Robert E Lee invade Maryland?

Campaign	Maryland Campaign and Battle of Antietam
Date	Campaign: September 4–20, 1862; Battle: September 17, 1862
Location	Harpers Ferry and Shepherdstown Ford, Virginia; South Mountain and Sharpsburg, Maryland
Combatants
United States	Confederacy

Why was the Battle of Antietam fought in Maryland in September of 1862 significant?

Antietam Antietam, the deadliest one-day battle in American military history, showed that the Union could stand against the Confederate army in the Eastern theater. It also gave President Abraham Lincoln the confidence to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation at a moment of strength rather than desperation.

Where did Lee invade Maryland?

Historical Note: Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia, after his decisive victory over the Union army at the Battle of Second Manassas, stands poised on the Virginia side of the Potomac River. Lee is eager to take the fight into the State of Maryland, a slave holding state. Robert E. Lee Library of Congress _ HEADQUARTERS ALEXANDRIA AND LEESBURG ROAD, Near Dranesville, September 3, 1862. His Excellency President DAVIS, Richmond, Va.: Mr. President: The present seems to be the most propitious time since the commencement of the war for the Confederate Army to enter Maryland.

The two grand armies of the United States that have been operating in Virginia, though now united, are much weakened and demoralized. Their new levies, of which I understand 60,000 men have already been posted in Washington, are not yet organized, and will take some time to prepare for the field. If it is ever desired to give material aid to Maryland and afford her an opportunity of throwing off the oppression to which she is now subject, this would seem the most favorable.

After the enemy had disappeared from the vicinity of Fairfax Court House, and taken the road to Alexandria and Washington, I did not think it would be advantageous to follow him farther. I had no intention of attacking him in his fortifications, and am not prepared to invest them.

• If I possessed the necessary munitions, I should be unable to supply provisions for the troops.
• I therefore determined, while threatening the approaches to Washington, to draw the troops into Loudoun, where forage and some provisions can be obtained, menace their possession of the Shenandoah Valley, and, if found practicable, to cross into Maryland.

The purpose, if discovered, will have the effect of carrying the enemy north of the Potomac, and, if prevented, will not result in much evil. The army is not properly equipped for an invasion of an enemy’s territory. It lacks much of the material of war, is feeble in transportation, the animals being much reduced, and the men are poorly provided with clothes, and in thousands of instances are destitute of shoes.

Still, we cannot afford to be idle, and though weaker than our opponents in men and military equipments, must endeavor to harass if we cannot destroy them. I am aware that the movement is attended with much risk, yet I do not consider success impossible, and shall endeavor to guard it from loss. As long as the army of the enemy are employed on this frontier I have no fears for the safety of Richmond, yet I earnestly recommend that advantage be taken of this period of comparative safety to place its defense, both by land and water, in the most perfect condition.

A respectable force can be collected to defend its approaches by land, and the steamer Richmond, I hope, is now ready to clear the river of hostile vessels. Should General Bragg find it impracticable to operate to advantage on his present frontier, his army, after leaving sufficient garrisons, could be advantageously employed in opposing the overwhelming numbers which it seems to be the intention of the enemy now to concentrate in Virginia.

1. I have already been told by prisoners that some of Buell’s cavalry have been joined to General Pope ‘s army, and have reason to believe that the whole of McClellan’s, the larger portion of Burnside’s and Cox’s, and a portion of Hunter’s, are united to it.
2. What occasions me most concern is the fear of getting out of ammunition.

I beg you will instruct the Ordnance Department to spare no pains in manufacturing a sufficient amount of the best kind, and to be particular, in preparing that for the artillery, to provide three times as much of the long-range ammunition as of that for smooth-bore or short-range guns.

1. The points to which I desire the ammunition to be forwarded will be made known to the Department in time.
2. If the Quartermaster’s Department can furnish any shoes, it would be the greatest relief.
3. We have entered upon September, and the nights are becoming cool.
4. I have the honor to be, with high respect, your obedient servant, R.E.

LEE, General.

Why did Robert Lee lead the Confederate army into Maryland and the Battle of Antietam?

Lee ‘s invasion of Maryland – Following the defeat of Union Gen. John Pope ‘s Army of Virginia at the Second Battle of Bull Run, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee crossed the Potomac and moved into Maryland, occupying Frederick on September 7. Lee’s invasion was carried out partly to “shift the burden of military occupation from Confederate to Federal soil,” but he also held some hope of capturing the Federal capital of Washington to the southeast. Battle of Fort Sumter April 12, 1861 – April 14, 1861 Shenandoah Valley campaigns July 1861 – March 1865 First Battle of Bull Run July 21, 1861 Vicksburg Campaign 1862 – 1863 Mississippi Valley Campaign February 1862 – July 1863 Battle of Fort Henry February 6, 1862 Battle of Fort Donelson February 13, 1862 – February 16, 1862 Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack March 9, 1862 Battle of Shiloh April 6, 1862 – April 7, 1862 Second Battle of Bull Run August 29, 1862 – August 30, 1862 Battle of Antietam September 17, 1862 Battle of Fredericksburg December 13, 1862 Battle of Chancellorsville April 30, 1863 – May 5, 1863 Battle of Gettysburg July 1, 1863 – July 3, 1863 Second Battle of Fort Wagner July 18, 1863 Fort Pillow Massacre April 12, 1864 Atlanta Campaign May 1864 – September 1864 Battle of the Wilderness May 5, 1864 – May 7, 1864 Battle of Spotsylvania Court House May 8, 1864 – May 19, 1864 Battle of Cold Harbor May 31, 1864 – June 12, 1864 Petersburg Campaign June 1864 – April 9, 1865 Battle of Monocacy July 9, 1864 Battle of Atlanta July 22, 1864 Battle of the Crater July 30, 1864 Battle of Mobile Bay August 5, 1864 – August 23, 1864 Battle of Nashville December 15, 1864 – December 16, 1864 Battle of Five Forks April 1, 1865 Battle of Appomattox Court House April 9, 1865 Finding his line of communications up the Shenandoah Valley threatened by a strong Union garrison at Harpers Ferry, on September 9 Lee issued Special Order 191, in which he detailed the division and disposition of forces for the campaign ahead.

• Gen. Thomas (“Stonewall”) Jackson would lead one of three columns that were tasked with the capture of Harpers Ferry, while the remainder of Lee’s forces would advance to Boonsboro, Maryland, behind South Mountain, a ridge that ran parallel to Antietam Creek.
• Once the Union force at Harpers Ferry had been neutralized, Lee proposed to reunite his army and invade Pennsylvania,

Within days of the Union disaster at Second Bull Run, U.S. Pres. Abraham Lincoln sacked Pope and placed Gen. George B. McClellan in command of all Union forces in Washington. McClellan took the field on September 7, and, not knowing what Lee’s next move might be, he advanced with characteristic slowness.

• During this time Lee again divided his army, and on September 11 he and Lieut. Gen.
• James Longstreet occupied Hagerstown, Maryland, a city just 5 miles (8 km) south of the Mason-Dixon Line,
• The stubborn Federal garrison at Harpers Ferry bought McClellan additional time, however, delaying the bulk of the Army of Northern Virginia for several days longer than had been budgeted in Lee’s timetable.

Already sensing that his invasion plan had gone awry, Lee began to withdraw to the south. Confederate scouts had observed massive columns of Federal infantry on the move, and Lee ordered Maj. Gen.D.H. Hill to guard the passes at South Mountain. If McClellan could drive through these passes before Lee could reunite his army, the Army of Northern Virginia could be destroyed in detail.

On September 13 Federal troops moved into Frederick, and members of the 27th Indiana infantry regiment recovered a copy of Lee’s Special Order 191 wrapped around a bundle of cigars. Although the “Lost Orders” were four days old, McClellan felt emboldened enough to remark, “Here is a paper with which, if I cannot whip Bobby Lee, I will be willing to go home.” On September 14 McClellan’s army struck the passes at South Mountain.

The Battle of South Mountain was a convincing Union victory, but the Confederate defenders managed to delay the Union advance long enough for Lee to begin the consolidation of his scattered forces. On the morning of September 15, the 12,000 beleaguered defenders of Harpers Ferry finally capitulated,

1. At the cost of fewer than 300 Confederate casualties, Jackson had won one of the great unheralded victories of the American Civil War.
2. Leaving Maj. Gen.A.P.
3. Hill to complete the surrender arrangements, Jackson, with two divisions, hastened back to the new Confederate defensive line at Antietam Creek.
4. McClellan’s forces streamed through the South Mountain passes to find Lee’s army, which numbered perhaps 11,000 men on the afternoon of September 15, occupying the heights north of Sharpsburg.

McClellan had estimated that total Confederate strength in the area amounted to “not less than 120,000 men”—an estimate that more than doubled Lee’s actual strength—and he spent September 16 engaging in reconnaissance of the Confederate positions. Jackson, by way of an overnight forced march, reached Sharpsburg on the afternoon of September 16, effectively doubling Lee’s strength.

Why did Robert E. Lee chose to fight against the Union?

Biography: General Robert E. Lee – Robert E. Lee at Chancellorsville. Courtesy: Library of Congress No man proved a more worthy opponent to Ulysses S. Grant than Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Lee was born the fourth child of Colonel Henry Lee and Ann Hill Carter on January 19, 1807. Lee’s father, also known as “Light-Horse Harry,” had been a cavalry leader during the Revolutionary War.

1. Henry Lee had also served as governor of Virginia.
2. Despite their position in Virginia’s ruling elite, the Lee family did not enjoy fantastic wealth.
3. Without the money to attend a university, young Robert E.
4. Lee instead entered the United States Military Academy at West Point.
5. There, he quickly rose in the ranks and graduated second in the class of 1829.

Lee first saw battle in the Mexican War, fought in 1846-48. He served as captain under General Winfield Scott. Later, Scott would write about Lee’s remarkable performance in that war, calling him “the very best soldier I ever saw in the field.” In October of 1859, Lee was called upon to stop John Brown’s attempted slave insurrection at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia.

It took Lee only an hour to put an end to Brown’s raid. Such early successes made Lee a leading candidate to command Union forces against the South once it decided to secede. Reluctant to engage in a war against the South, Lee turned down an offer of command of the Union forces. On April 18, 1861, the Virginia Secession Convention, made up of the state’s ruling elite, voted to join the Southern states in secession.

As practical issues, Lee did not oppose either slavery or secession. Although he felt slavery in the abstract was a bad thing, he blamed the national conflict on abolitionists, and accepted the pro-slavery policies of the Confederacy. He chose to fight to defend his homeland.

• He resigned from the army he had served for 36 years, and accepted the command of Virginia’s forces.
• After an initially unsuccessful foray as a field commander in western Virginia in 1861, Lee supervised the preparation of coastal defenses along the South Atlantic seaboard before being called to Richmond to serve as military advisor to President Jefferson Davis.

He assumed command of the Army of Northern Virginia in May 1862, replacing the seriously wounded Joseph E. Johnston, and immediately embarked on a series of skillful offensive operations that repelled the Union forces outside Richmond in the Seven Days Battles in June and July 1862.

Lee followed this with an offensive drive northward that culminated in victory at Second Manassas in August 1862. However, his effort to carry the war across the Potomac nearly led to disaster when he barely fended off Union assaults at Antietam. Retreating back to Virginia, Lee again displayed deft generalship by checking Union offensives at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville; in the latter battle he prevailed, despite being outnumbered two to one, by dividing his army, outflanking the enemy, and delivering a smashing attack.

Lee followed up this triumph with another invasion of the North, this time suffering a major defeat at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, from July 1 through July 3, 1863. Skilled as he was in repelling Union offensives and outfoxing his Northern counterparts, Lee’s preference for battle cost his army dearly.

1. By the time he confronted Ulysses S.
2. Grant in 1864, the drain upon his manpower was noticeable.
3. Despite waging an adroit defensive campaign, he was unable to halt Grant’s drive southward or to prevent him from laying siege to Richmond and Petersburg by the summer of 1864.
4. Efforts to divert Union forces with operations in the Shenandoah Valley, including several strikes northward across the Potomac, forced Lee to contemplate how best to continue the war by abandoning the Confederate capital.

By the beginning of April 1865, Grant’s armies broke through what remained of the Confederate defenses, and Lee evacuated Richmond and Petersburg on the evening of April 2. A week later, he surrendered what remained of his army to Grant at Appomattox Court House.

Why did Robert E. Lee chose to fight against the Union quizlet?

Why did Robert E. Lee choose to fight against the Union? He felt his duty was to defend his home state. What was one of the South’s primary advantages at the outset of the Civil War?

Who invaded Maryland?

Union forces found a copy of the Confederate Army’s battle plans — Special Order 191 — shortly after they invaded Maryland. Become a sponsor? The Confederate army, led by General Robert E. Lee, invaded Maryland after a string of stunning successes against larger northern forces.

What was the significance of the Battle of Antietam Creek in September 1862 quizlet?

What was the significance of the Battle of Antietam Creek in September 1862? Abraham Lincoln used it as the occasion to announce the emancipation policy. Because Robert E. Lee and his Confederate army were forced to retreat after the battle, Lincoln claimed Antietam as a great victory.

What was the objective of the Battle of Antietam?

The Maryland Campaign – In early September, Robert E. Lee decided to capitalize on his new momentum. On September 5, he began moving his army, the Army of Northern Virginia, across the Potomac River into Maryland. His primary goal was to defeat Union forces on loyal soil, thereby possibly bringing an end to the war and sealing Confederate independence.

A battlefield victory in Maryland could also convince England and France to recognize the Confederacy as an independent nation, a move that both countries were hesitant to make unless the Confederacy proved itself on the battlefield. Additionally, much of the war had been fought on Virginia soil thus far, and moving into Maryland would both allow Lee to feed his men from Maryland farms and harness support for the Confederate cause in that state.

Maryland was a ‘Border State’ in the Civil War (a slave-holding state that stayed in the Union), and ultimately, the Confederacy wanted Maryland to secede and join their cause. By September 9, all of Lee’s army was concentrated at Frederick, where he issued orders to split up his forces to capture the small town of Harpers Ferry, where a Union garrison of 12,000 soldiers was threatening the Confederate army. While Lee’s army was invading Maryland, George McClellan was tasked with putting together a Union force to protect Washington and stop Lee. On September 7, after quickly reorganizing a defeated and demoralized army, McClellan began moving into Maryland to stop the Confederate invasion.

What happened in Maryland at the Antietam Battlefield?

23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing after twelve hours of savage combat on September 17, 1862. The Battle of Antietam ended the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia’s first invasion into the North and led Abraham Lincoln to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.

When did Maryland join the Confederacy?

To secede or not to secede – Despite some popular support for the cause of the Confederate States of America, Maryland did not secede during the Civil War. However, a number of leading citizens, including physician and slaveholder Richard Sprigg Steuart, placed considerable pressure on Governor Hicks to summon the state Legislature to vote on secession, following Hicks to Annapolis with a number of fellow citizens: to insist on his issuing his proclamation for the Legislature to convene, believing that this body (and not himself and his party) should decide the fate of our state.if the Governor and his party continued to refuse this demand that it would be necessary to depose him.

• Responding to pressure, on April 22 Governor Hicks finally announced that the state legislature would meet in a special session in Frederick, a strongly pro-Union town, rather than the state capital of Annapolis,
• The Maryland General Assembly convened in Frederick and unanimously adopted a measure stating that they would not commit the state to secession, explaining that they had “no constitutional authority to take such action,” whatever their own personal feelings might have been.

On April 29, the Legislature voted decisively 53–13 against secession, though they also voted not to reopen rail links with the North, and they requested that Lincoln remove Union troops from Maryland. At this time the legislature seems to have wanted to avoid involvement in a war against its southern neighbors.

What was Lee’s proclamation to the people of Maryland?

Lee’s Proclamation to the People of Maryland

The following is a proclamation delivered to the people of Maryland as the Army of Northern Virginia began its first invasion of the North, which culminated in the battle of Antietam. To the People of Maryland: Headquarters, Army N. Virginia Fredericktown, 8th September, 1862 It is right that you should know the purpose that brought the Army under my command within the limits of your State, so far as that purpose concerns yourselves.The People of the Confederate States have long watched with the deepest sympathy the wrongs and outrages that have been inflicted upon the citizens of a Commonwealth, allied to the States of the South by the strongest social, political and commercial ties.They have seen with profound indignation their sister State deprived of every right, and reduced to the condition of a conquered Province.Under the pretense of supporting the Constitution, but in violation of its most valuable provisions, your citizens have been arrested and imprisoned upon no charge, and contrary to all forms of law; the faithful and manly protest against this outrage made by the venerable and illustrious Marylanders to whom in better days, no citizens appealed for right vain, was treated with scorn and contempt; the government of your chief city has been usurped by armed strangers; your legislature has been dissolved by the unlawful arrest of its members; freedom of the press and of speech, of the Federal Executive, and citizens ordered to be tried by a military commission for what they may dare to speak.Believing that the People of Maryland possessed a spirit too lofty to submit to such a government, the people of the south have long wished to aid you in throwing off this foreign yoke, to enable you to again enjoy the inalienable rights of free men, and restore independence and sovereignty to your State.In obedience to this wish, our Army has come among you, and is prepared to assist you with the power of its arms in regaining the rights of which you have been despoiled.This, Citizens of Maryland, is our mission, so far as you are concerned.No constraint upon your free will is intended, no intimidation is allowed.Within the limits of this Army, at least, Marylanders shall once more enjoy their ancient freedom of thought and speech.We know no enemies among you, and will protect all of every opinion.It is for you to decide your destiny, freely and without constraint.This army will respect your choice whatever it may be, and while the Southern people will rejoice to welcome you to your natural position among them, they will only welcome you when you come of your own free will.

R.E. Lee, General Commanding. : Lee’s Proclamation to the People of Maryland

Where did Robert E Lee invade?

June 2, 1863: Lee ready to invade Pennsylvania – Final plans are in place for Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s daring invasion of Pennsylvania. His veteran Army of Northern Virginia is positioned at Fredericksburg, fresh from its victory at Chancellorsville barely a month before.

1. Twice the Yankees have tried to cross the Rappahannock since the war began and twice Lee has thrown them back.
2. But the cost these last two years has been terrible for both sides and Lee decides he must move his army north to make the enemy feel the hard hand of war.
3. His reasons for the risky invasion are varied, and their wisdom debated ever since.

While the Confederates have been victorious in the east, the Union has done better in the west, and Gen.U.S. Grant’s armies relentlessly tighten their grip on Vicksburg. If the Mississippi River town falls, the Confederacy will be cut in half. Lee wants to relieve the pressure in the west by threatening Washington.