William Swinton, Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac

Such was the principle of action early adopted by the Confederate leaders; and the course of this narrative has already set forth the bold and successful manner in which it was more than once carried out. It was in accordance with this policy that General Johnston, after falling back from Yorktown to the front of Richmond, turned upon McClellan astride the Chickahominy, and dealt him a blow which but for accidental circumstances should have terminated the campaign—a result that, indeed, was accomplished, when Lee, continuing the conception of Johnston, seized the initiative and hurled the Union army back to the James River. And it was in following out the same line of action that he was able, by threatening the flanks and rear of Pope, to drive back that general to the fortifications of Washington, and transfer the theatre of war to the trans-Potomac region.

It seemed that an opportunity for a new and bolder offensive than had yet been attempted now presented itself. Twice the Army of the Potomac had crossed the Rappahannock, and on each occasion it had been driven back in disaster. Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville had raised the morale of Lee's army to the highest pitch. While the experience of these battles had inspirited the Southern troops, it had given General Lee himself a sense of confidence and power he had not before felt. And now to this fact of the moral condition of the Confederate army, so favorable to bold enterprises, was added another incentive, in its condition of material strength. The diminution of Hooker's force by the extensive out-mustering of short-term troops¹ was well known;