The leading contingent of Pope’s units occupied Culpeper Court House on July 12. During the next two weeks the remaining commands arrived, and Pope, who came in on the 29th, deployed his troops around the village. Although he had opposed the decision, the Union administration retained Brig. Gen. Rufus King’s 11,000-man division of McDowell’s corps at Fredericksburg. Pope had roughly 40,000 troops with him at Culpeper.

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Pope believed the Southern people should pay a price for the transgression of secession and civil war. When his army advanced, he issued orders instructing officers and men to live off of the fertile land, taking foodstuffs and supplies from the civilians. He also implemented stern punishments for guerrillas, and directed that all male noncombatants along the route of march be required to swear an oath of allegiance or be arrested and expelled from the region. If they returned, they would be prosecuted as spies. Finally, Pope announced that any man or woman who corresponded with anyone in the Confederate Army–even a parent writing to a son–would be subject to execution.

When Lee learned of Pope’s directive, he labeled the Union general, in strong language for Lee, “the miscreant.” But he could not ignore the threat that Pope posed to Gordonsville and the vital Virginia Central Railroad. On July 13, a day after the Yankees entered Culpeper, Lee entrained two divisions of infantry and an artillery battery–10,000 troops in all–under Maj. Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson for Gordonsville. Two weeks later, Lee forwarded Maj. Gen. A.P. Hill’s division to Jackson, telling Stonewall, “I want Pope to be suppressed.”

The initial clash between the foes came on August 9 at Cedar Mountain, eight miles south of Culpeper. Learning of the presence of Union cavalry and infantry in the area, Jackson pushed his divisions forward. Late in the afternoon, the Confederates attacked, driving back the advanced elements of Banks’ II Corps. It was a ragged battle as Banks broke Jackson’s left, but Maj. Gen. Richard S. Ewell’s division held and Jackson counterpunched, forcing the Federals northward. Jackson claimed victory because he held the field. His casualties amounted to roughly 1,350; Banks’ to nearly 2,400.

In Washington, Lincoln’s patience with McClellan had drained away. On August 3, the administration ordered the abandonment of the peninsula operation and the transfer of the Army of the Potomac to northern Virginia. Stunned by the dispatch, McClellan telegraphed recently appointed Chief of Staff Henry W. Halleck, stating that the order had “caused me the greatest pain I ever experienced.”

Halleck urged McClellan to comply with speed. McClellan, however, reacted slowly, as was his custom; the army did not begin the withdrawal from Harrison’s Landing until the 14th, with McClellan protesting to the very end.

Lee monitored the situation as well as he could. He learned from an exchanged Confederate officer that Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside’s IX Corps, en route from North Carolina, had been sent to Fredericksburg to reinforce Pope. When he discovered McClellan’s abandonment of the lines at Harrison’s Landing, Lee rushed Maj. Gen. James Longstreet and four divisions westward to Jackson. Lee, Longstreet and the van of the troops arrived at Gordonsville on August 15, as McClellan’s troops headed down the peninsula toward Fortress Monroe for embarkation northward.

Lee had won the initial leg of the race. If the Confederates could strike Pope before units of the Army of the Potomac arrived, the Southerners had a chance for victory. Lee acted at once, endeavoring to trap Pope between the Rapidan and Rappahannock rivers. But Pope recognized the danger and skillfully withdrew his army behind the Rappahannock.

The Rebels crossed the Rapidan in the wake of Pope’s withdrawing troops, deploying south of the Rappahannock. On August 22, Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, with 1,500 cavalrymen and two cannon, circled beyond Pope’s right flank, striking Catlett’s Station in the Federal rear. The Southern horsemen attacked during a howling rainstorm at night, capturing hundreds of men and horses and Pope’s personal baggage, including his dispatch book.

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