Flames Beyond Gettysburg: The Confederate Expedition to the Susquehanna River, June 1863 - Softcover

Mingus, Scott L., Sr.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1611210720 ISBN 13: 9781611210729

Verlag: Savas Beatie, 2011

Inhaltsangabe

The Gettysburg Campaign has been examined in minute detail from nearly every aspect but one: the key role played by Richard Ewell’s Second Corps during the final days in June. Scott Mingus’s Flames Beyond Gettysburg: The Confederate Expedition to the Susquehanna River, June 1863 is the first in-depth study of these crucial summer days that not only shaped the course of the Gettysburg Campaign, but altered the course of our nation’s history.In two powerful columns, Ewell’s Corps swept toward the strategically important Susquehanna River and the Pennsylvania capital looming beyond. Fear coursed through the local populace while Washington and Harrisburg scrambled to meet the threat. One of Ewell’s columns included a veteran division under Jubal Early, whose objectives included the capture and ransom of towns and the destruction of railroad bridges and the Hanover Junction rail yard. Early’s most vital mission was the seizure of the Columbia Bridge, which spanned the Susquehanna River between Wrightsville and Columbia. To capture the longest covered bridge in the world would allow Early’s Division to cross into prosperous Lancaster County and move against the capital in Harrisburg from its relatively undefended rear. Along the way, one of Early’s brigades under John Gordon occupied Gettysburg and spilled the first blood there days before the bloodiest battle ever fought on American soil began on July 1.Flames Beyond Gettysburg vividly narrates both sides of Ewell’s drama-filled expedition, including key Southern decisions, the response of the Pennsylvania militiamen and civilians who opposed the Confederates, and the burning of the Columbia Bridge. Mingus’s study also features detailed driving tours of the various sites discussed in the book, including the Confederate route of march from Maryland; the June 26 skirmish at Gettysburg and the fight at the Witmer Farm; Lt. Col. Elijah V. White’s cavalry raids on Point-of-Rocks and Hanover Junction; Gordon’s triumphal march through York; the skirmish at Wrightsville; and the bridge burning.Based upon extensive primary source material and featuring original maps by cartographer Steven Stanley, the fast-paced and gracefully written Flames Beyond Gettysburg is a welcomed and important addition to the Gettysburg literature.About the Author: Scott L. Mingus, Sr. is a scientist and executive in the paper and printing industry. He maintains a popular blog on the Civil War history of his home of York County, PA, for the York Daily Record (www.yorkblog.com/cannonball), and is a sanctioned Civil War tour guide for the York County Heritage Trust. Scott is the author of five scenario books on wargaming and together with his wife Debi, publishes CHARGE!, the leading international magazine for Civil War miniature wargaming.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Scott L. Mingus Sr., a scientist in the paper industry, is the award-winning author of more than a dozen Civil War books, including his forthcoming (with Joe Owens) Unceasing Fury: Texans at the Battle of Chickamauga, September 18-20, 1863 (2022) and his two-volume study (with Eric J. Wittenberg) "If We Are Striking for Pennsylvania: " The Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac March to Gettysburg, June 3-22, 1863 (2022). Scott maintains a blog on the Civil War history of York County (www.yorkblog.com/cannonball) and resides in York, Pennsylvania.

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Flames Beyond Gettysburg

The Confederate Expedition to the Susquehanna River, June 1863

By Scott L. Mingus Sr.

Savas Beatie LLC

Copyright © 2011 Scott L. Mingus Sr.
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-61121-072-9

Contents

Acknowledgments, 
Foreword, by Eric J. Wittenberg, 
Chapter 1: Lee Looks North, 
Chapter 2: Pennsylvania's Response, 
Chapter 3: The Rebels are Coming!, 
Chapter 4: Invasion!, 
Chapter 5: Gunfire at Gettysburg, 
Chapter 6: Gordon Reaches York County, 
Chapter 7: White Raids Hanover Junction, 
Chapter 8: Gordon Parades through York, 
Chapter 9: Wrightsville Prepares, 
Chapter 10: Gordon Attacks Wrightsville, 
Chapter 11: A Scene of Confusion and Excitement, 
Chapter 12: The Aftermath, 
Chapter 13: The Impact of Gordon's Expedition, 
Epilogue, 
Appendices, 
Driving Tours, 
Bibliography, 

CHAPTER 1

Lee Looks North

Invasion Plans

It was the humid, rainy late spring of 1863, the third year of the increasingly brutal American Civil War. The military outlook for the Union Army of the Potomac had grown more uncertain as the war dragged on. Following yet another devastating defeat by Confederate General Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia in May at Chancellorsville, this Federal army was in disarray. Leading generals openly sniped at each other in the press and often in front of subordinates. Senior officials in Washington, including President Abraham Lincoln, feuded with the army's commanding general, "Fighting Joe" Hooker, who seemingly refused to fight or make any aggressive moves to keep Lee off-balance. The War Department's policy decisions were being challenged by military officers and disputed by the Northern press.

Disillusioned Federal soldiers questioned the competence and courage of their generals. Morale sank because of Hooker's perceived bungling of repeated chances for victory at Chancellorsville. Discipline began to slip, desertion rates increased, and recruitment declined in many states. As veteran regiments and artillery batteries mustered out when their terms of enlistment expired in the weeks following Chancellorsville, considerably fewer soldiers than expected re-enlisted. In March, the Federal government had approved the Enrollment Act, opening the way for a conscription draft to fulfill the need for additional manpower. As a result, the peace movement gained momentum across a broad spectrum of society, giving anti-war "Copperheads" a wider audience for their rhetoric. The previous September at Antietam, the Army of the Potomac thwarted Lee's invasion of Maryland, but failed to take advantage of its first good opportunity to destroy his army. Two-and-one-half years of killing, suffering, and hardship spawned discouragement and frustration toward the war for many Northerners. Early thoughts of a quick victory had long since vanished. The casualty lists grew numbingly longer, and now, there was no end in sight.

To many Southerners, this was an opportune time for another invasion of the North. It was not a fresh idea. During his Valley Campaign in May 1862, Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson informed a Confederate congressman that if he had forty thousand men, he would "raise the siege of Richmond and transfer this campaign to the banks of the Susquehanna," a broad river flowing southeasterly through central Pennsylvania. Reinforcements were not forthcoming, and Jackson moved his command to the Richmond area to assist Lee during the Peninsula Campaign.

After a series of Confederate victories forced Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac to withdraw, Lee adopted Jackson's general idea and studied an invasion. After bullying John Pope's army at Second Manassas, Lee suddenly turned northward, apparently heading for Pennsylvania. His men had developed a marked attitude of invincibility and were in high spirits as they entered Maryland. Even the ghastly losses at Sharpsburg on September 17 did not dim their confidence. There, they withstood repeated attacks by McClellan's much larger Federal army, retiring from the blood-drenched fields on their own initiative. Just days before that great battle, Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's soldiers marched within ten miles of Pennsylvania before withdrawing toward Sharpsburg.

After their decisive victory at Fredericksburg in December, Lee and Jackson again contemplated an invasion. They would push well beyond Maryland into the lush Pennsylvania farmlands, forcing the Army of the Potomac to come to them. Their eyes were on targets of political and strategic importance, among them Harrisburg. The seizure of the capital of the North's second most populous state could stimulate cries for a negotiated peace and increase European pressure on Washington. Jackson advocated breaking up Pennsylvania's coal mining operations and cutting off fuel supplies vital to Northern war efforts. In late February, he directed topographical engineer Jedediah Hotchkiss to draw a detailed map of the Valley of Virginia up to Harrisburg and beyond to Philadelphia. He warned Hotchkiss to keep the preparations "a profound secret."

The Keystone State was a logical objective. Confederate strategists believed the southern tier of Franklin, Adams, and York counties to be ambivalent to the Union cause. Much of its population was of German or Scotch-Irish ancestry, typically hard-working people with thriving farms and well-stocked larders. Southern sympathizers in the region had openly supported the controversial Fugitive Slave Law. Bounty hunters and slave traders from below the Mason-Dixon Line freely roamed the area before the war. Maps were plentiful and detailed, and the vast road network was conducive to the movements of thousands of soldiers.

This agricultural breadbasket of the North was rich with bountiful orchards and well-cultivated farms brimming with food and much-needed horses and mules. Several prosperous towns invited tributes that could be levied to raise cash, supplies, and other useful goods. Escaped slaves might be recaptured and returned to the South, a political concern not lost on wealthy plantation owners who wielded considerable clout in Richmond. Perhaps the coal industry, so critical to the North's industry and war machine, could be damaged; three-quarters of the country's production came from Pennsylvania mines.

Despite the abortive Maryland Campaign, by the spring of 1863 strong public sentiment in the upper South pressed Lee to move his army into the Northern heartland. That would provide devastated Virginia farmers much needed relief from the rigors of feeding and supporting the soldiers for another summer campaign. Two years of fighting and supply raiding depleted previous harvests, because both Union and Confederate forces repeatedly crisscrossed the upper counties. Fields and orchards had been replanted, and civic officials were eager to allow the farmers a season of uninterrupted agriculture. If Lee remained in the North for an extended period, the Federals would be compelled to follow him, removing their resource-draining presence from the Old Dominion. Let the Yankee farmers feed both armies for a summer, thought many in Richmond. In some circles, there was a growing belief that just one more victory in the East might even end the bitter war. Virginia newspapers were vehement in sounding the trumpet for another invasion to relieve pressure on Richmond, as Jackson had suggested during the Peninsula Campaign. Jackson was mortally wounded at the battle of Chancellorsville and died shortly thereafter, but his invasion...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Savas Beatie
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2011
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1611210720
• ISBN 13: 9781611210729
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 312
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar