Vast Selection of Royalty Free Images and Historical Information

Title: Second Corps Splashes Across Potomac River

Description: The Second Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia, splashes across the Potomac River, heading northward on June 15, 1863; Confederate General Robert E. Lee (Robert Edward Lee; January 19, 1807-October 12, 1870), following his decisive victory over the Army of Potomac at Chancellorsville the previous May, had decided to take the war to the North once more-he had been turned back the previous year when he invaded Maryland and was stalemated at the bloody battle of Antietam-but this time he headed a much larger army numbering more than 72,000 men; that army consisted of three corps, the First Corps commanded by Lieutenant General James Longstreet (January 8, 1821-January 2, 1904); the Second Corps led by Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell (Richard Stoddert Ewell; February 8, 1817-January 25, 1872), the Third Corps commanded by Lieutenant General A. P. Hill (Ambrose Powell Hill; November 9, 1825-April 6, 1865), and the Cavalry Corps led by Major General J.E.B. Stuart (James Ewell Brown Stuart; Jeb Stuart; February 6, 1833-May 12, 1864); Lee's object was ambiguous, thinking to threaten Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., as well as spread panic among northern towns and encourage the growing peace movement in the North and only by accident did Lee meet with the Army of the Potomac (94,000 troops), under the command of Union Major General George Meade (George Gordon Meade; December 31, 1815-November 6, 1872), which had been groping after his northward movement, at the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania;

Category: American Civil War

Keywords: American Civil War, Confederate soldiers, Confederate troops, Gettysburg Campaign (June-July 1863), horses, Potomac River, Rebel soldiers, Rebel troops, War Against the South: War Between the States, War for the South, War for the Southern Confederacy, War for the Union, War of the Rebellion.