Battle of Hanover

America's Civil War  | 0 comments  |  Print This Post  |  Email This Post

In mid-June 1863, General Robert E. Lee, with his Army of Northern Virginia, decided to bring the Civil War into the Northern states for the second time in less than a year. By doing so, Lee hoped to divert the Union Army from war-torn Virginia and also draw some of Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant’s men away from the besieged city of Vicksburg, Mississippi. After marching into Pennsylvania, Lee intended to capture the railroad center at Harrisburg and, if possible, threaten Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. He also hoped to get supplies for his soldiers and convince Great Britain and France to recognize the Confederacy as a separate nation.

While Lee proceeded northward on his ambitious task, his cavalry commander, Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, took a parallel course some distance to the east, on the right of Lt. Gen. Richard Ewell’s II Corps. Major General Joseph Hooker’s Army of the Potomac was also moving north, approximately two days’ march behind the Confederate army but carefully keeping itself between Lee’s army and Washington, the Federal capital.

The Union cavalry was led by Brig. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton, who had taken over command from Brig. Gen. George Stoneman in May 1863. Pleasonton’s biggest claim to fame was his cavalry clash with Stuart at Brandy Station, Va., on June 9–a tactical draw that nevertheless showed the Union horsemen to be the equals of the much-vaunted Confederates. Pleasonton, a graduate of West Point, had served in the Mexican War and had most recently commanded a cavalry division at Antietam and Chancellorsville. Some considered him competent and confident; others believed him to be a self-centered, overly ambitious liar. He was also a bigot who despised all foreigners and believed them to be totally inept in military matters.

Attached to the defense of Washington was a cavalry division of 3,600 troopers commanded by Brig. Gen. Julius Stahel. Stahel was Hungarian, and Pleasonton wanted Stahel’s division to become a part of his own cavalry corps. Through constant correspondence with a good friend, Republican Congressman John Farnsworth of Illinois (who also happened to be a good friend of President Abraham Lincoln’s), Pleasonton attained his goal. On June 27, Hooker transferred Stahel’s division to Pleasonton, giving him more than 12,000 men. The following day, Stahel was relieved of command.

Ironically, on June 28, Hooker was also replaced as commanding general of the Army of the Potomac. Considering his constant feud with the War Department and the Federal fiasco at Chancellorsville (the battle that became known as ‘Lee’s masterpiece’), it was not really a surprise. The original offer to replace Hooker was made to Maj. Gen. John Reynolds, a Pennsylvanian who commanded the I Corps. Reynolds turned down the offer, and the generalship was given instead to Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, who accepted it as God’s will. Meade, a hot-tempered individual when provoked, had led the V Corps under Hooker at Chancellorsville back in May.

The leadership of the cavalry was immediately reorganized as well. Brigadier Generals John Buford and David Gregg retained command of the 1st and 2nd divisions respectively. Stahel’s former division was consolidated into two brigades, forming the 3rd Division of the cavalry corps. Brigadier General Judson Kilpatrick was given command of the division. In this new arrangement, the 5th New York, 1st Vermont, 1st West Virginia and the untested 18th Pennsylvania constituted the 1st Brigade, led by Elon J. Farnsworth. Farnsworth was a nephew of Congressman Farnsworth who recently had been promoted to brigadier general. He had fought against Indians during the Utah Expedition in 1857-58 and was currently Pleasonton’s aide-de-camp. The 2nd Brigade, made up of four Michigan regiments, was led by Brig. Gen. George Armstrong Custer, also newly promoted. Needless to say, Farnsworth’s and Custer’s promotions rankled other higher-ranking officers, although Meade accepted Pleasonton’s recommendations.

Tags: 19th Century, America's Civil War, American Civil War, Historical Conflicts

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.