Description
General Lee, who had just taken over command of the army in defense of the Confederate capital, ordered Stuart to “gain intelligence for the guidance of future operations” against General George B. McClellan’s gigantic army, which was threatening Richmond from Virginia’s Peninsula.
So, taking about 1,200 of his finest cavalrymen, Stuart set out on June 12, 1862, heading Westward as if he and force were moving to the Shenandoah Valley to reinforce Southern troops there. A day later, on the morning of June 13, 1862, he changed direction and headed eastward – and then his men knew that Stuart was leading them in a dangerous, risking raid against McClellan’s powerful army. It was a dramatic moment, and I like the way Historian Douglas Southall Freeman describes it: “The moment it turned toward the East, a stir went down the files… the men had suspected that McClellan’s flank was their objective, and now they knew it. The day for which they had waited long had come at last. They were to measure swords with the enemy.”
By: Mort Kunstler
