Meade and Lee at Bristoe Station: The Problems of Command and Strategy after Gettysburg, from Brandy Station to the Buckland Races, August 1 to October 31, 1863

by Jeffrey Hunt

Overview

The Civil War in the Eastern Theater during the late summer and fall of 1863 was anything but inconsequential. Generals Meade and Lee continued where they had left off, executing daring marches while boldly maneuvering the chess pieces of war in an effort to gain decisive strategic and tactical advantage. Cavalry actions crisscrossed the rolling landscape; bloody battle revealed to both sides the command deficiencies left in the wake of Gettysburg. It was the first and only time in the war Meade exercised control of the Army of the Potomac on his own terms. Jeffrey Wm Hunt brilliant dissects these and others issues in Meade and Lee at Bristoe Station: The Problems of Command and Strategy After Gettysburg, from Brandy Station to the Buckland Races, August 1 to October 31, 1863.

The carnage of Gettysburg left both armies in varying states of command chaos as the focus of the war shifted west. Lee further depleted his ranks by dispatching James Longstreet (his best corps commander) and most of his First Corps via rail to reinforce Bragg’s Army of Tennessee. The Union defeat that followed at Chickamauga, in turn, forced Meade to follow suit with the XI and XII Corps. Despite these reductions, the aggressive Lee assumed the strategic offensive against his more careful Northern opponent, who was also busy waging a rearguard action against the politicians in Washington.

Meade and Lee at Bristoe Station is a fast-paced, dynamic account of how the Army of Northern Virginia carried the war above the Rappahannock once more in an effort to retrieve the laurels lost in Pennsylvania. When the opportunity beckoned Lee took it, knocking Meade back on his heels with a threat to his army as serious as the one Pope had endured a year earlier. As Lee quickly learned again, A. P. Hill was no Stonewall Jackson, and with Longstreet away Lee’s cudgel was no longer as mighty as he wished. The high tide of the campaign ebbed at Bristoe Station with a signal Confederate defeat. The next move was now up to Meade.

Hunt’s follow-up volume to his well-received Meade and Lee After Gettysburg is grounded upon official reports, regimental histories, letters, newspapers, and other archival sources. Together, they provide a day-by-day account of the fascinating high-stakes affair during this three-month period. Coupled with original maps and outstanding photographs, this new study offers a significant contribution to Civil War literature.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611213973
Publisher:	Savas Beatie
Publication date:	08/19/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	480
Sales rank:	606,830
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

Jeffrey William Hunt is Director of the Texas Military Forces Museum, the official museum of the Texas National Guard in Austin, Texas and an adjunct professor of History at Austin Community College, where he has taught since 1988. He had also served for many years as the Curator of Collections and Director of the Living History Program at the Admiral Nimitz National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas. Jeff holds a Bachelors Degree in Government and a Masters Degree in History, both from the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of several books on the Civil War, including the critically acclaimed Meade and Lee After Gettysburg: The Forgotten Final Stage of the Gettysburg Campaign, from Falling Waters to Culpeper Court House, July 14-31, 1863.

Table of Contents

Preface vi

Acknowledgments vii

Chapter 1 "General Meade … Let the Crop Go to Waste" 1

Chapter 2 "Natural and Artificial Obstacles" 9

Chapter 3 "No Field … For Battle" 25

Chapter 4 "Elastic Spirits" 40

Chapter 5 "If Meade Does Not Move I Wish To Attack Him"52

Chapter 6 "Firing Pistols, Flashing Sabers and Excited Men" 67

Chapter 7 "What Can I Do With Such Generals?" 86

Chapter S "One of the Very Fiercest Fights of the War" 102

Chapter 9 "Matters Again Look a Little Complicated" 119

Chapter 10 "The Long Glittering Hedge of Bayonets" 135

Chapter 11 "They Came Near Bagging the Division" 156

Chapter 12 "Meade Seems Unwilling to Attack" 168

Chapter 13 "A Situation to Try the Stoutest Hearts" 174

Chapter 14 "Almost Like Boys Chasing a Hare" 192

Chapter 15 "A Bloody and Doubtful Contest" 203

Chapter 16 "Move Immediately and With the Utmost Dispatch" 222

Chapter 17 "A Spectacle Such As Few … Had Ever Beheld" 230

Chapter 18 "A New and Decidedly Unpleasant Sensation" 241

Chapter 19 "Never Was the Voice of A Mule So Harsh!" 249

Chapter 20 "For God's Sake Hold … Them for Ten Minutes Longer!" 256

Chapter 21 "The Muskets Began to Crack" 269

Chapter 22 "Wherever We Turned the Confederates Were Ready For Us" 289

Chapter 23 "Everything Went With a Rush" 300

Chapter 24 "I Expect We'd Better Charge" 329

Chapter 25 "No Little Confusion" 348

Chapter 26 "No Fires, No Supper and No Sleep" 364

Chapter 27 "They Ought To Have Known Better" 374

Chapter 28 "Lee Is Unquestionably Bullying You" 379

Chapter 29 "I Desire To Be Relieved From Command" 386

Chapter 30 "Arms Glittering in the Bright Autumn Sunshine" 397

Chapter 31 "A Most Beautiful Trap" 410

Chapter 32 "He Got the Advantage of ME" 429

Epilogue: An Assessment of Command 441

Bibliography 454

Index 465

Editorial Reviews

"A well-written overview of the armies, both at the operational and tactical level. . . . some of the best material available on the forgotten campaigning of 1863."

Emerging Civil War

"Highly recommended to anyone interested in the Gettysburg Campaign. Not only is it well researched and well documented, it is told in a sweeping narrative that reads oftentimes like a novel."

Gettysburg Chronicle

"The author has done his research, offers sound judgments, and has written a detailed study of an interesting campaign."

The Civil War Monitor