WARREN PERRY: Since the beginning of the Civil War, the fight in the east was primarily in Virginia. Virginia’s soil absorbed more blood in the war than any other state, with such major battles as First and Second Bull Run, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville all taking place within a score of miles of each other. Also, in the spring of 1862, George McClellan had conducted a campaign in the Tidewater area of Virginia, and in the spring and early summer of that year Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson had skirmished up and down the Shenandoah Valley. ... In September 1862, Robert E. Lee marched his army into Maryland, only to be pushed back at Antietam. After the two significant victories at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville in December 1862 and May 1863, respectively, Lee felt the moment had once again arrived to take the fight to the North. There were many motives at work in this strategy, but paramount among them was to take the fight off the utterly abused lands of Virginia.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Jul 2013 03:57:17 +0000
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