Despite losing one-third of his strength via Longstreet’s departure, Gen. Robert E. Lee took advantage of the Federal countermove by launching a daring offensive against Maj. Gen. George Meade’s Army of the Potomac, located inside a treacherous sideways V created by the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers. What followed was a fast-based campaign of maneuver as Lee sought to land a crippling blow on his opponent, while Meade strove to avoid the thrust by rapidly withdrawing toward Centreville. For a week the two armies engage in a race, with violent cavalry actions taking place almost daily as Lee tried to head off Meade’s infantry before it slipped beyond his reach. The campaign climaxed in a bloody rearguard action a place called Bristoe Station.

Jeffrey William Hunt is the Director of the Texas Military Forces Museum at Camp Mabry in Austin, Texas, which is the official museum of the Texas National Guard, and an Adjunct Professor History at Austin Community College

 This program is presented as a public service by the North Jersey Civil War Round Table and will be a part of a three-part series titled The Winter of Gen. George Meade.