If We Are Striking for Pennsylvania : The Army of Northern Virginia and the Arm [Hardcover]

Award-winning authors Scott L. Mingus Sr. and Eric J. Wittenberg are back with the second and final installment of If We Are Striking for Pennsylvania: The Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac March to Gettysburg, June 2230, 1863. This compelling and bestselling study is the first to fully integrate the military, political, social, economic, and civilian perspectives with rank-and-file accounts from the soldiers of both armies during the inexorably march north toward their mutual destinies at Gettysburg. Gen. Robert E. Lees bold movement north, which began on June 3, shifted the war out of the central counties of the Old Dominion into the Shenandoah Valley, across the Potomac, and beyond.The first volume (June 321) carried the armies through the defining mounted clash at the battle of Brandy Station, after which Lee pushed the head of his army into the Shenandoah Valley and achieved the magnificent victory at Second Winchester on his way to the Potomac. Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, who was caught flat-footed by the move, used his cavalry to probe the mountain gaps, triggering a series of consequential mounted actions.The current volume (June 2230) completes the march to Gettysburg and details the actions and whereabouts of each component of the armies up to the eve of the fighting. The large-scale maneuvering in late June prompted General Hooker to move his Army of the Potomac north after his opponent and eventually above the Potomac, where he is removed from command and replaced by V Corps commander George G. Meade. Jeb Stuart begins his controversial and consequential ride that strips away the eyes and ears of the Virginia army. Throughout northern Virginia, central Maryland, and south-central Pennsylvania, civilians, politicians, and soldiers alike struggle with the reality of a mobile campaign and themassive logistical needs of the armies.Mingus and Wittenberg mined hundreds of primary accounts, newspapers, and other sources to describe the palcZ