Bristoe campaign
Bristoe campaign | |||||||
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Part of the George G. Meade and Robert E. Lee, commanding generals of the Bristoe campaign | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
United States | Confederate States | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
George G. Meade | Robert E. Lee | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
Army of the Potomac | Army of Northern Virginia | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
76,000[2] | 45,000[2] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
4,815[3] |
The Bristoe campaign was a series of minor battles fought in
The Confederates had not achieved their primary objectives of bringing on a decisive battle or preventing the Federal reinforcement of the
Background
After the Battle of Gettysburg in July, Robert E. Lee retreated back across the Potomac River to Virginia and concentrated behind the Rapidan River in Orange County, Virginia. Meade was widely criticized for failing to pursue aggressively and defeat Lee's army. He planned new offensives in Virginia for the fall.
Early in September, Lee dispatched two divisions of
Lee learned of the departing Union corps, and early in October he began an offensive sweep around Cedar Mountain with his remaining two corps, attempting to turn Meade's right flank. Meade, despite having superior numbers, did not wish to give battle in a position that did not offer him the advantage and ordered the Army of the Potomac to withdraw along the line of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad.
Opposing forces
Union
Confederate
Battles
Auburn (October 13–14)
On October 13, Maj. Gen.
As the Union army withdrew towards Manassas Junction, Meade was careful to protect his western flank from the kind of envelopment that had doomed Maj. Gen.
Bristoe Station (October 14)
Lt. Gen.
Buckland Races (October 19)
After defeat at Bristoe Station and an aborted advance on Centreville, Stuart's cavalry shielded the withdrawal of Lee's army from the vicinity of Manassas Junction. Union cavalry under Brig. Gen.
Across the Rappahannock (November 7)
Lee returned to his old position behind the Rappahannock but left a fortified bridgehead on the north bank, protecting the approach to Kelly's Ford. On November 7, Meade forced passage of the Rappahannock at two places. A surprise attack by Maj. Gen.
Aftermath
On the verge of going into winter quarters around Culpeper, Lee's army retired instead into Orange County, south of the Rapidan. The Army of the Potomac occupied the vicinity of Brandy Station and Culpeper County.
The five battles in the Bristoe campaign resulted in 4,815 casualties on both sides, including 1,973 Confederate prisoners at Rappahannock Station.
Notes
- ^ See Aftermath.
- ^ a b Salmon, p. 218.
- ^ a b Kennedy, pp. 252-55. The total casualties are the sum of First Auburn (50 total on both sides), Second Auburn (113 total), Bristoe Station (540 Union, 1380 Confederate), Buckland Mills (230 total), and Second Rappahannock Station (461 Union, 2,041 Confederate, of which 1,973 were captured).
- ^ NPS Auburn I Archived January 15, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ NPS Auburn II Archived January 15, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ NPS Bristoe Station Archived August 2, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ NPS Buckland Mills Archived September 24, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ NPS Rappahannock Station II Archived January 15, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Salmon, pp. 224-25.
References
- National Park Service battle descriptions Archived 2015-03-19 at the Wayback Machine
- Kennedy, Frances H., ed. The Civil War Battlefield Guide. 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1998. ISBN 0-395-74012-6.
- Salmon, John S. The Official Virginia Civil War Battlefield Guide. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2001. ISBN 0-8117-2868-4.
Further reading
- Backus, Bill, and Robert Orrison. A Want of Vigilance: The Bristoe Station Campaign, October 9–19, 1863. Emerging Civil War Series. El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie, 2015. ISBN 978-1-61121-300-3.
- Henderson, William D. The Road to Bristoe Station: Campaigning with Lee and Meade, August 1–October 20, 1863. Lynchburg, VA: H. E. Howard, 1987. ISBN 978-0-930919-45-0.
External links
- Orrison, Rob (December 3, 2013). ""I would save him the trouble" – Robert E. Lee's Struggle of Supply in the Fall 1863 Campaign". Emerging Civil War Blog. Retrieved 7 August 2016.