Raid on Chambersburg

On August 28–30, 1862, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia commanded by General Robert E. Lee defeated Union Major General John Pope's Army of Virginia at the Second Battle of Bull Run or Second Manassas. Pope retreated to Centreville, Virginia where he considered having his force retreat into the defenses of Washington, D.C. Two Union Army divisions held off the Confederate force as a severe thunderstorm hampered continued fighting. Lee saw the Union Army defeat at Second Bull Run and its withdrawal from Chantilly into Washington as an opportunity to secure supplies and recruits in Maryland and possibly in Pennsylvania and to secure a victory that might bring foreign government recognition of the Confederacy. Meanwhile, after the Union Army's defeat and withdrawal to Washington, President Abraham Lincoln put Major General George B. McClellan back in charge of the entire Union Army in the Washington, D.C. area by adding Pope's men to his command of the Army of the Potomac. Although Lincoln was disgusted by McClellan's delays and constant calls for more men and arms earlier in the year, he recognized the need for McClellan's organizational talents to restore morale and order to the Union forces. By September 3, McClellan already was aware that Lee would invade Maryland across the upper Potomac River and began to shift troops into Maryland. Otherwise, he acted without haste or energy. He was hesitant not just because that was his usual tendency but in part because he believed that Lee had about three times the number of men that he had actually brought into Maryland. With this information, although he waited from late morning until late night to act, McClellan moved the Union Army toward Lee's location. This led to the Battle of South Mountain on September 14. A Frederick, Maryland citizen, who was at McClellan's camp, although he was a Southern sympathizer, saw McClellan's reaction on that morning and warned Lee of the Union's intelligence coup. Lee saw the danger from McClellan's acquisition of this information and from the Union troop movements in his direction. On September 16, the opposing armies were taking up positions near Antietam Creek just outside Sharpsburg. On September 17, the Union and Confederate forces fought the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest single day of battle in the Civil War. At Antietam, the Union Army recovered from the defeat at Second Manassas and put an abrupt end to Lee's Maryland Campaign. Nonetheless, McClellan lost the opportunity to destroy the Confederate army and allowed Lee to escape, reorganize and make up his losses. President Lincoln was disturbed that McClellan did not follow up on his gains of the previous day or immediately pursue Lee's army. ==Plan==

On October 6, the same day Halleck ordered McClellan to move, Lee asked Major General J.E.B. Stuart, to make a raid toward Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Lee wanted Stuart to destroy the important railroad bridge over the Conococheague Creek, bring back horses and capture government officials who might be exchanged for captured Confederate leaders or sympathizers.{{NoteTag|Lee had instructed Stuart,"To keep your movement secret, it will be necessary for you to arrest >11 citizens that may give information to the enemy, and should you meet with citizens of Pennsylvania holding State or Government offices, Stuart picked 1,800 men, divided into three groups led by Brigadier Generals Wade Hampton III, W.H.F. "Rooney" Lee and William E. "Grumble" Jones, and Major John Pelham's four-gun battery of light horse artillery to carry out the mission. Stuart ordered his men to observe "implicit obedience to orders...and the strictest order and sobriety on the march and in bivouac." They set out for Maryland from Darkesville, (West) Virginia on the night of October 9, and camped at Hedgesville, (West) Virginia in what is now the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia before crossing the Potomac at dawn on October 10. ==Raid==

October 10, 1862 A small detachment of the 12th Illinois Cavalry Regiment under Captain Thomas Logan observed Stuart's force cross the Potomac River at McCoy's Ford near Old Fort Frederick, Maryland, west of Williamsport, Maryland, on the morning of October 10, but the small force could do no more than send the information back to Union headquarters as it was scattered out of its position by an advance detail of Stuart's men. At this point, Stuart was only from the Maryland-Pennsylvania state line. Stuart also learned that he had narrowly missed being intercepted by six regiments of infantry under the command of Major General Jacob Cox when he reached the National Road. A detail captured a signal station at Fairview Heights, Maryland while Stuart's force moved north, guided by Maryland native, Captain Benjamin S. White. The Confederates seized shoes and clothing at Mercersburg, Pennsylvania and paid for it with Confederate scrip. By dark, at around 7:00 p.m., in a steady rain, the Confederates reached Chambersburg with the many horses and much fresh food and supplies that they had picked up already. Town officials sent an alarm to Governor Andrew Curtin, who passed the message on to United States Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton just before the Confederates cut the telegraph wires. Stuart and his staff took time to sign the register at the Franklin Hotel. In fact, Wert states that the bridge was wooden and subsequently was destroyed during the Gettysburg campaign. They set ablaze the Chambersburg railroad depot, loaded trains, machine shops and warehouses with military supplies. McClellan sent out his cavalry and sent infantry to guard the river crossings, assuring Halleck that Stuart would not escape. Ultimately Stuart evaded or outran all of the forces McClellan sent after him or to guard the river crossings. They rode within of the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on their way. They captured a Union courier about south of Emmitsburg with information which disclosed some of the Union cavalry movements, allowing Stuart to change his route again to avoid Union troops at Frederick, but also assuring him that his location was not definitely known. Confederate troopers who had lived in the vicinity guided Stuart on back roads to avoid being observed by Union scouts. Near dark, at Woodsboro, Maryland, off the main road from Frederick, troops of the 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment saw the Confederates, but were too few in number to mount an attack. During the night, as his men continued to ride, Stuart, with about 12 men, visited a young woman at Urbana, Maryland whose family sympathized with the Confederates and whom he had met during the Antietam campaign. The troopers rode all night, cutting telegraph wires and obstructing the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad as they went, and some were literally falling asleep in the saddle as they pressed on. October 12, 1862 On the morning of October 12, scouts reported to Stuart that Union Brigadier General George Stoneman was guarding the Potomac River fords near Poolesville, Maryland with several thousand men. On the of the Potomac River from the mouth of the Monocacy River to Edwards Ferry, which is near Poolesville, at least four crossings were available. Stuart followed the recommendation of Captain White, who was from the local area, to avoid Stoneman's likely position by using White's Ford, which was below the mouth of the Monocacy River near present-day White's Ferry and little used as it was a rough crossing, to cross the Potomac to Loudoun County, Virginia. Stuart did not come into contact with Stoneman, whose men, other than a small guard unit, arrived at White's Ford too late to confront the Confederates. Pleasonton ordered his men to fire when the Confederates charged from a short distance away. Here the Union cavalry encountered Union infantry and both paused in order to insure that the other party was not a Confederate force in Union uniforms. The ford now was open for the Confederates to cross. Pelham's artillery came up and kept the Union forces, including Pleasonton's men, back while Stuart's men crossed the Potomac with their 1,200 captured horses, supplies and 30 civilian hostages. The small Union force detailed to White's Ford, where Lee had crossed into Maryland in September, proved to be a weak link in McClellan's dispositions. The Confederates soon rode safely into Leesburg, Virginia with their captured horses, supplies and hostages and without having lost a man to death or a serious injury. ==Aftermath==

Stuart had managed a "second ride around McClellan," as he had done during the Peninsula Campaign four months earlier. He had traveled . Stuart also returned without his servant, Bob, who had fallen asleep along the route and, along with two of Stuart's three horses, had been captured by Union soldiers. His men had destroyed the railroad depot, shops, warehouses and several miles of railroad line, although they failed to destroy the Conococheague Creek railroad bridge. The value of the destroyed property was estimated at about quarter of a million dollars at the time. Sergeant Major Elisha Hunt Rhodes wrote in his diary: "We are very much ashamed that the Rebels were allowed to make their late raid into Pennsylvania...." Union Brigadier General Marsena R. Patrick said the affair was "a burning disgrace." Many of the horses were draft animals, fit for hauling artillery but not of much use for cavalry. McClellan did not send his army toward Warrenton, Virginia until October 25. Stuart's cavalry fought a series of inconclusive cavalry skirmishes with various Union Army units in Loudoun County, Virginia, between October 31 – November 2, in what is now known as The Battle of Unison or Battle of Union. McClellan's failure to deal effectively with the Chambersburg raid contributed to his imminent loss of his command. As McClellan allowed Lee's army to get between his army and Richmond, Virginia, President Lincoln reached the end of his patience with McClellan and replaced him as commander of the Army of the Potomac with Major General Ambrose Burnside on November 7. ==References==