- Joined
- May 18, 2011
- Location
- Carlisle, PA
He was there to cover that flank. On the afternoon of July 2, between Brinkerhoff's Ridge and Hunterstown, four full brigades of Union cavalry--fully half of the AoP Cavalry Corps--was operating either on Lee's flank (in the case of Brinkerhoff's Ridge) or beyond it (at Hunterstown). Given that fact, is it any real surprise that Lee would send Stuart with a very large force of cavalry out there to guard that flank? Or that Lee called Imboden's brigade to the battlefield on the morning of July 3 and placed it behind his center so he would have a force to react if that Yankee cavalry got around his flank and into his rear?
That was Stuart's primary mission. IF the opportunity presented itself to make some mischief in the Union rear, fine. But that was not his primary mission. Read Stuart's report. Read Lee's. And adopt Occam's Razor when thinking about this: the simplest explanation is the most likely one. Nothing else makes any sense.
IIRC, didnt Stuart's report characterize his fight on July 3rd as being defensive? Something along the lines of, we kept the enemy from moving around the flank.
Ryan