July, 1862. General Robert E. Lee, now in command of the Confederate
Army of Northern Virginia, had driven back the massive Federal Army of
the Potomac from the very gates of the Confederate capital. Richmond was
safe--at least for the moment.
But soon, new threats emerged against Lee's army and the Confederate war
effort in Virginia. Rumors swirled that a Federal command headed towards
Fredericksburg, and a new Federal army, the Army of Virginia, under Maj.
Gen. John Pope, was shifting operations towards Confederate
communications and supply points.
Pope had come from the west, where he had scored successes along the
Mississippi River. He brought with him a harder philosophy of war, one
that would put pressure not just on Lee's army but on the population of
Virginia itself.
Not only alarmed but also offended by "such a miscreant as Pope," Lee
began moving his own forces. He intended to not just counter the new
threat but to "suppress" it.
In Never Such a Campaign: The Battle of Second Manassas, August 28-30,
1862, historians Robert Orrison and Dan Welch follow Lee and Pope as
they converge on ground once-bloodied just thirteen months earlier.
Since then the armies had grown in size and efficiency, and combat
between them would dwarf that first battle. For the second summer in a
row, forces would clash on the plains of Manassas, and the results would
be far more terrible.
