Award-winning authors Scott L. Mingus Sr. and Eric J. Wittenberg are
back with the second and final installment of "If We Are Striking for
Pennsylvania" The Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac
March to Gettysburg, June 22-30, 1863. This compelling and bestselling
study is the first to fully integrate the military, political, social,
economic, and civilian perspectives with rank-and-file accounts from the
soldiers of both armies during the inexorably march north toward their
mutual destinies at Gettysburg. Gen. Robert E. Lee's bold movement
north, which began on June 3, shifted the war out of the central
counties of the Old Dominion into the Shenandoah Valley, across the
Potomac, and beyond.
The first volume (June 3-21) carried the armies through the defining
mounted clash at the battle of Brandy Station, after which Lee pushed
the head of his army into the Shenandoah Valley and achieved the
magnificent victory at Second Winchester on his way to the Potomac. Maj.
Gen. Joseph Hooker, who was caught flat-footed by the move, used his
cavalry to probe the mountain gaps, triggering a series of consequential
mounted actions.
The current volume (June 22-30) completes the march to Gettysburg and
details the actions and whereabouts of each component of the armies up
to the eve of the fighting. The large-scale maneuvering in late June
prompted General Hooker to move his Army of the Potomac north after his
opponent and eventually above the Potomac, where he is removed from
command and replaced by V Corps commander George G. Meade. Jeb Stuart
begins his controversial and consequential ride that strips away the
eyes and ears of the Virginia army. Throughout northern Virginia,
central Maryland, and south-central Pennsylvania, civilians,
politicians, and soldiers alike struggle with the reality of a mobile
campaign and the
massive logistical needs of the armies.
Mingus and Wittenberg mined hundreds of primary accounts, newspapers,
and other sources to describe the passage of the long martial columns,
the thunderous galloping of hooves, and the looting, fighting,
suffering, and dying. As careful readers will quickly discern, other
studies of the runup to Gettysburg gloss over most of this material. It
is simply impossible to fully grasp and understand the campaign without
a firm appreciation of what the armies and the civilians did during the
days leading up to the fateful meeting at the small crossroads town in
Adams County, Pennsylvania. This powerful and gripping saga is a
ground-breaking study.
