Stuart's 2nd Ride Around McClellan  "Raid Into Pennsylvania"  October 10 - 12, 1862

Following the September 17, 1862, Battle of Sharpsburg in Maryland, Gen. Robert E. Lee's battered Confederate Army of Northern Virginia slipped back across the Potomac River and set up camp in the valleys of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains while it tried to reorganize and revitalize. Gen. George B. McClellan's much larger Union Army of the Potomac had not been so badly hurt in the recent battle and probably could have destroyed Lee's ragged army with a vigorous pursuit. Instead, McClellan kept his men in camps on the north side of the Potomac, citing the need to reorganize and recondition the force before following Lee into Virginia.

Wanting to buy his army as much time to recuperate as possible, Lee summoned cavalry chief Gen. Jeb Stuart to headquarters on October 6 and proposed a cavalry raid into Pennsylvania. Lee needed information on enemy dispositions and intentions and wanted Stuart to destroy a vital Union railroad bridge at Chambersburg, PA, and then return with horses and supplies confiscated from the Pennsylvania countryside. This was just the type of daring, independent mission that Stuart loved to undertake.

On the afternoon of October 9, three 600-man Confederate cavalry brigades gathered at Darkesville, VA, and rode northward, arriving at McCoy's Ford on the Potomac River after dark. At dawn the next morning the raiders easily pushed back the Union pickets at the ford and continued northward through the rolling hills of Maryland's panhandle, reaching Pennsylvania by 10:00am.

Stuart had given strict orders that the property of Marylanders was to be protected, but upon entering Pennsylvania, Rebel troopers spread out over the countryside and began seizing horses. The "Dutch" German immigrant farmers were flabbergasted to find Confederate troopers rounding up their horses and stealing their newly harvested fodder.

Fascinating Fact:  Gallant General Stuart ordered his men not to seize the horses of female travelers they came across.


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