Lieutenant-General Jubal Early’s Confederate Army of the Valley (actually the detached Second Corps of General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia) reached Staunton in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. Lee had sent Early to the Valley to stop Major-General David Hunter’s Federals from threatening Confederate civilians and supply lines. After driving Hunter into West Virginia, Early implemented the second phase of his strategy by taking the fight to the North.
The Confederates moved from Lynchburg to Staunton and saw the destruction that Hunter’s men had wrought upon the people there. Partly to avenge these depredations, Early planned to raid Washington with just 10,000 men. Early did not expect to either win the war or even capture Washington, but he hoped to capitalize on northern war weariness and perhaps diminish President Abraham Lincoln’s chances for reelection. He also hoped to draw Federal troops away from the siege of Petersburg.
Lee, who was holding off two Federal armies under General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant at Petersburg, approved Early’s plan. Lee wrote to President Jefferson Davis:
“If circumstances favor, I should also recommend his crossing the Potomac. I think I can maintain our lines here against General Grant… I am less uneasy about holding our position than about our ability to procure supplies for the army. I fear the latter difficulty may oblige me to attack General Grant in his entrenchments, which I should not hesitate to do but for the loss it will inevitably entail. A want of success would in my opinion be almost fatal, and this causes me to hesitate in the hope that some relief may be procured without running such great hazard.”
Early gathered supplies at Staunton and reorganized his force into two infantry corps:
- Major-General John C. Breckinridge commanded one corps, with divisions under Major-General John B. Gordon and Brigadier-General John Echols.
- Early commanded the other corps himself, with divisions under Major-Generals Robert Rodes and Stephen D. Ramseur.
- Major General Robert Ransom, Jr. commanded the cavalry.
Pro-Confederate Marylanders also joined the new army and formed their own cavalry battalion.
After procuring five days’ rations, the Confederates left Staunton on June 28. They moved quickly, relying on speed and stealth to thwart the Federals; they destroyed railroad tracks and bridges while collecting supplies along the way. As Early’s men moved north, Federal officials at Washington immediately began expressing concern.
Early’s Confederates passed New Market on the 30th, having covered 50 miles in two days. Early reported to Lee that the troops were “in fine condition and spirits, their health greatly improved… If you can continue to threaten Grant, I hope to be able to do something for your relief and the success of our cause shortly. I shall lose no time.”
Bibliography
- Angle, Paul M., A Pictorial History of the Civil War Years. New York: Doubleday, 1967.
- Catton, Bruce, Grant Takes Command. Open Road Media, Kindle Edition, 2015.
- Davis, Jefferson, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government: All Volumes. Heraklion Press, Kindle Edition 2013, 1889.
- Foote, Shelby, The Civil War, A Narrative: Red River to Appomattox. New York: Vintage Civil War Library, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group (Kindle Edition), 2011.
- Lewis, Thomas A., The Shenandoah in Flames: The Valley Campaign of 1864. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1983.
- Long, E.B. with Long, Barbara, The Civil War Day by Day. New York: Da Capo Press, Inc., 1971.