.JOURNAL OFTIIE CHURCHILL CKNTER AND ... - Winston Churchill

GETTYSBURGTHE GREATEST AND BLOODIEST BATTLEIN THE NOBLEST AND LEAST AVOIDABLEOF ALL THE GREAT MASS-CONFLICTSOF WHICH TILL THEN THERE WAS RECORDBY WINSTON S. CHURCHILLIN 1863 the initiative in theAmerican Civil War passed toConfederate General Robert E.Lee, who resolved to carry out hislong-planned invasion of Pennsylvania.But Vicksburg, on the Mississippi,was in dire straits, and unlessit could be largely reinforcedits fall was imminent. A proposalwas made to stand on the defensive in Virginia, to sendLee himself with two divisions to the Mississippi, andother troops to Middle Tennessee to defeat the coveringforces south of Nashville and threaten the commercialcities of Louisville and Cincinnati, perhaps forcing UnionGeneral Ulysses S. Grant to abandon his campaign againstVicksburg. Lee refused point-blank to go.Squarely he put the issue before the Council ofWar: the risk had to be taken of losing Mississippi or Virginia.His view prevailed, and on May 26th, three weeksafter the Battle of Chancellorsville, the invasion of Pennsylvaniawas sanctioned. The Army of Northern Virginiawas reorganised in three corps of three divisions each,commanded by James Longstreet, Richard S. Ewell, andA. P. Hill. Lee's object in 1863, as in the previous year, wasto force the Army of the Potomac to fight under conditionsin which defeat would spell annihilation. In this hesaw the sole hope of winning Southern independence.The movement commenced on June 3rd. GeneralLongstreet concentrated his corps at Culpeper, Virginia,and behind it the other two corps passed into theShenandoah Valley, marching straight for the Potomac.Longstreet meanwhile moved up on the east of the BlueRidge with his front and flank screened by General JebStuart's cavalry, eventually entering the valley behind theother two corps through the northern "Gaps." On the9th, before the movement was well under way, there wasan indecisive cavalry battle at Brandy Station, in whichthe Federal cavalry, under their new commander, AlfredPleasanton, regained their morale.At first the campaign wentwell for Lee. Ewell on the 10th leftCulpeper for the valley, and,marching with a speed worthy of"Stonewall" Jackson, cleared theFederal garrisons out of Winchesterand Martinsburg, capturingfour thousand prisoners andtwenty-eight guns, and on the15th was crossing the Potomac. He established his corps atHagerstown where it waited for a week, till the corps in therear was ready to cross, and his cavalry brigade pushed onto Chambersburg, in Pennsylvania, to collect and sendback supplies. On the 22nd he was ordered to advance fartherinto Pennsylvania and capture Harrisburg, a hundredmiles north of Washington, if it "came within his means."On June 27th Ewell reached Carlisle, and hisoutposts next day were within four miles of Harrisburg.The other two Confederate corps were at Chambersburg.As far as Chambersburg Lee had been following the CumberlandValley, with his right flank shielded by the SouthMountain range, and as yet he knew nothing of Hooker'smovements. He accepted Stuart's plan of making a raidthrough the mountains and joining Ewell in Pennsylvania.Stuart, who started on the 25th, believed that Hooker wasstill in his encampments on the east side of the mountains,and expected to be able to ride through his campareas and cross the Potomac near Leesburg. But Hookerhad broken up his camps and was marching that samemorning for the Potomac. Stuart had to make a third rideround the Federal rear, crossed the Potomac within twentymiles of Washington, failed to make contact with Ewell'sright division, and only rejoined Lee with his men andhorses utterly exhausted on the afternoon of July 2nd.Thus for a whole week Lee had been deprived of the"eyes" of his army; and much had happened meanwhile.As soon as Lee began his movement to the northHooker proposed to march on Richmond. But Lincolncontinued overleaf...FINEST HOUR 103 /19