Old Va. :confederateflag: (@rebelgrey57)

Sept. 4, 1862- General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia began crossing the Potomac River near White's Ford, marking the start of the first Confederate invasion of the North. In taking his army across the Potomac River in early September, Lee had in mind strategic, logistical, and political factors. He believed that the soldiers of McClellan and Pope “lay weakened and demoralized” in the vicinity of Washington, D.C., and he sought to maintain aggressive momentum rather than assume a defensive position and allow the Federals to muster their superior strength to mount another offensive. If he remained in Virginia, Lee would be forced to react to Union movements, whereas in Maryland or Pennsylvania he would hold the initiative. Lee believed he could easily flank the enemy by crossing the Potomac upriver from Washington and marching the Army of Northern Virginia through Maryland. A short thrust into Union territory would not be enough; a protracted stay would be the key to Confederate success. Lee hoped to keep his army on United States soil through much of the autumn, not with the intention of capturing and holding territory but with an eye toward accomplishing several goals before returning to Virginia as winter approached. The most important of those goals focused on logistics. Facing critical shortages of food, Lee knew that a movement into the untouched agricultural regions of Maryland and Pennsylvania’s Cumberland Valley held significant promise. If positioned northwest of Washington, Lee could force the Federals to remain between him and their capital, thus liberating war-exhausted northern and north-central Virginia, as well as the Shenandoah Valley, from the presence of the contending armies. Southern farms that had suffered from the presence of scores of thousands of troops could recover, crops could be harvested safely, and civilians could enjoy a respite from the stress of constant uncertainty about their persons and property. Meanwhile, Lee’s army would gather vital food, fodder, and other supplies from Maryland and perhaps from southern Pennsylvania. This double-sided logistical bonus, by itself, would be sufficient to render the Maryland campaign a success. Beyond maintaining the strategic offensive and improving his logistical situation, Lee sensed an opportunity to affect political events in the United States. He read Northern newspapers carefully and knew that bitter debates raged between Northern Republicans and Democrats about civil liberties, the conduct of the war, and emancipation. If the campaign north of the Potomac went as Lee hoped, the North’s fall elections would take place while the Army of Northern Virginia maneuvered in Maryland or Pennsylvania. The presence of the premier Rebel army on United States soil would hurt Lincoln and the Republicans, believed Lee, making it easier for Democrats to press for some type of negotiated settlement. Lee addressed the connection between military and political events in a letter to Confederate President Jefferson Davis on September 8, 1862, remarking that “for more than a year both sections of the country have been devastated by hostilities which have brought sorrow and suffering upon thousands of homes, without advancing the objects which our enemies proposed to themselves in beginning the contest.” The time had come to propose peace on the basis of Confederate independence. “Made when it is in our power to inflict injury upon our adversary,” reasoned Lee with his army’s northward movement in mind, such a proposal “would show conclusively to the world that our sole object is the establishment of our independence, and the attainment of honorable peace.” Should the Lincoln government reject the proposal, continued Lee, Northerners would know that full responsibility for continuance of the war rested with the Republicans rather than with the Confederacy. Voters would go to the polls in November 1862 “to determine . . . whether they will support those who favor a prolongation of the war, or those who wish to bring it to a termination, which can but be productive of good to both parties without affecting the honor of either.” (Cont. in comments)