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Where was Lee going when cross into PA. on his now infamous second campaign into the north?
He must have had a point on the map where he was going. I can't believe he was aimlessly going to roam around PA. until he ran into the union army.
Ewell was going somewhere as the led corp so what was the plan? The place Lee had pick to go to in PA.
We all believe Lee wanted to meet a defeat the AoP in its own backyard. Lee who plans everything must have had a place pick out where he wanted to meet and defeat the AoP. He did not enter PA. without a plan to achieve his aim.
I have never read anything explaining where was was going when he enter PA.
I must admit if he had a plan Gettysburg(was unplanned) ended any hope of achieving it.
He's en route to Harrisburg. He obviously gets to the Susquehanna. From there he has two targets: Philadelphia & Baltimore/Washington DC.
No matter which way Lee decides to go, he's going to have to get through the Army of the Potomac to do it.
If he wins at Gettysburg, I think Lee is going straight to Baltimore to 'liberate' the city which is felt, with good measure, to be a city with strong Southern sympathies, and which cuts off a direct land route to DC.
The whole point of going North is to fight a decisive battle somewhere other than Virginia and to get around strong defenses facing south in front of DC (how would Lee get across the wide Potomac in this area without a Navy?)
Hooker/Meade were operating under the same orders: find and destroy the AoNV but, for god's sake, keep them away from Washington!
So Lee's destination really didn't matter to them.
Seems that Lee was looking to hook up with Ewell somewhere near Harrisburg. He would then decide what to do. I figure he meant to threaten the Baltimore/Washington area. Such a move would double-dog guarantee that Mead would have been compelled to confront him without risky maneuvers.
Just a thought.
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
See Lee to Ewell, 22 Jun 1863, OR, Series I, Vol XXVII, Part 3., p. 914.
For Lee's strategic thoughts on the campaign, see:
Lee to Seddon, 8 Jun 1863, OR Series I, Vol XXVII, Part 3, pp. 868-869.
Lee to Davis, 10 Jun 1863, OR, Ibid., pp. 880-882.
Seddon to Lee, 10 Jun 1863, OR, Ibid., p. 882.
Lee to Davis, 23 Jun 1863, OR, Ibid., pp. 924-925.
Lee to Davis, 25 Jun 1863, OR, Ibid., pp. 931-932.
Lee to Davis, 25 Jun 1863, OR, Ibid., pp. 932-933.
First, Cash were would I go to find those reports you mention on your post.
My impression is that Harrisburg was the point on the map where Lee was going when Lee enter PA. "Yes/No?"
Was there something he wanted in PA other then plundering the general area. Was there a huge military depot or something he wanted to secure maybe before he took on the AoP.
My point is there was a reason more the generally plundering area and picking a fight with the AoP that lee wanted out of PA. What was it?
Why march all the way to Harrisburg then circle back down toward Washington means alot of contentious marching for an army. Would you not think Lee would like to have his army fresh when it engaged the AoP.
The march wasn't all that much. By this time all the soldiers were use to these types of marches, and the distances from VA, to Harrisburg, to DC or Baltimore really are not that great. These men were hardened by that time. Harrisburg was the target, set up operations there and strike out from his fixed base. Use the railroads, factories, whatever. Make Meade force him out.
__________________
"In mortal combat, a man may and will become so infuriated by the din and dangers of a bloody fight that his heart will turn to stone and his every de sire [be] for blood."
John Hadley, 7th Indiana after the battle at Port Republic
Where was Lee going when cross into PA. on his now infamous second campaign into the north?
He must have had a point on the map where he was going. I can't believe he was aimlessly going to roam around PA. until he ran into the union army.
Ewell was going somewhere as the led corp so what was the plan? The place Lee had pick to go to in PA.
We all believe Lee wanted to meet a defeat the AoP in its own backyard. Lee who plans everything must have had a place pick out where he wanted to meet and defeat the AoP. He did not enter PA. without a plan to achieve his aim.
I have never read anything explaining where was was going when he enter PA.
I must admit if he had a plan Gettysburg(was unplanned) ended any hope of achieving it.
His objective was never explicitly disclosed by Lee (unless he talked to Jackson or Stuart and they went to their graves without talking, or some such.) However, there were good reasons and strong indications that his preliminary objective was Harrisburg.
One of them is that in the Winter of 1862-63 he had Jackson's mapmaker and his own preparing a set of maps from the Shenandoah up the Cumberland Valley to Harrisburg -- exactly the route his Army took.
Another is that Harrisburg, in and of itself, is a strategic point the Union would be hard pressed to leave in Lee's hands.
There were only 3 RRs passing East to West between VA and the Great Lakes. The B&O would be cut as Lee passed up the valleys by Harpers Ferry. The New York Central was too far north. The Pennsylvania passed through Harrisburg. But almost all of the western coal production passed over the B&O or the Pennsylvania to reach the Eastern cities. The NY Central line was also not built up to carry the heavier coal trains, even if there was a way to detour to it. So if Lee can cut the B&O and the Pennsylvania for any prolonged period, the Union economy is in a lot of trouble (and Easterners are in for a cold Winter).
Also, Harrisburg was a center of manufacturing for the RRs (locomotives, cars, etc.) Confederate occupation would allow them to destroy that. Plus there were some very big RR bridges there, difficult to replace if destroyed.
A week or so of Confederate occupation of Harrisburg would have been very painful. Anything longer would loom as a major threat. If Lee took Harrisburg, the Union would have to force him out, one way or another.
Of course, Lee's movements were only free as long as the main Union force was far away. On June 30, Meade considered that his AoP was far enough North that Lee would concentrate instead of continuing towards Harrisburg -- and Lee obviously felt the same way.
Tim
__________________ "Let us, then, consider all attempts to weaken this Union, by maintaining that each state is separately and individually independent, as a species of political heresy, which can never benefit us, but may bring on us the most serious distresses."
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina, 1740-1824, Revolutionary War soldier, one of the authors of the US Constitution in 1787, speaking at the South Carolina Ratifying Convention in 1788.
I have always wondered about Lee's time schedule or if he had one?
Without cavalry (or at least, Stuart) Lee seems to have strung his army out pretty far, before he even knew where the AoP was.
It seems that without reliable intelligence, Lee was content to assume that without further confirmation, he would execute his plan(s) as if the AoP would be as slow footed on the march as they always had been before.
Did Lee actually have a plan or was it a general outline of various options, each hinging on the action of the AoP?
Meade's actions effectively countered all of Lee's plans (scenario's) by by forcing Lee to respond to his, Meade's, movements. The only strategic plan of Meade, seems to have been, concetrating at Pipe Creek and hope that by concentrating his army, it would force Lee to concentrate his, and thereby relieve the threatened strategic points; Harrisburg, Washington, Baltimore ec.
Buford's presence alerted Lee that the AoP was probably much closer, not only to the head of his invasion force (ewell) but also, to his LOC through the mountain passes (particulary Cashtown, but also Chambersburg) and not knowing which, was Meade's real intention, Lee decided that he had first, to reconcentrate to defend his LOC before fighting a major battle. But, of course, as we know Meade moved too fast and Lee had to fighjt the battle according to Meade's terms rather than his own.
I wonder if Lee realized that he was, in fact, giving up the initiative to the AoP. Letting its commander decide, when, where or whether to meet Lee's actions?
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Lee-Aimlessly enters PA.?? 
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