Never Such a Campaign

Historians Robert Orrison and Dan Welch follow Lee and Pope as they converge on ground once-bloodied just thirteen months earlier.In late June 1862, Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia drove back Maj. Gen. George McClellan’s Army of the Potomac from the gates of the Confederate capital. Richmond was safe—at least for the moment.Another threat soon emerged when the Army of Virginia, a new command under Maj. Gen. John Pope, moved toward Fredericksburg, threatening Confederate communicat