At the Forefront of Lee’s Invasion: Retribution, Plunder, and Clashing Cultures on Richard S. Ewell’s Road to Gettysburg by Robert J. Wynstra (review)

The Gettysburg campaign has been the subject of extensive inquiry and countless narratives since the guns fell silent. Robert J. Wynstra’s worthy addition to this saturated historiography reminds us that the campaign was more than just the combat that transpired on those first three days of July 1863. Wynstra concludes that, in fact, General Robert E. Lee’s second northern invasion was not a total loss for the Confederacy. The author chronicles the movements of the Second Corps of the newly reorganized Army of Northern Virginia from its departure from Fredericksburg, Virginia, on June 4, 1863, to its decisive clash with the Army of the Potomac on July 1. Utilizing an impressive collection of letters and diaries from soldiers and the civilians they encountered on the march, Wynstra relates in detail an often forgotten component of this summer offensive.

After the Confederate victory at Chancellorsville, Virginia, in early May 1863, Lee reorganized his army into three corps (from two) and named General Richard S. Ewell to replace the deceased General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson in command of the Second Corps—the vanguard of Lee’s second northern invasion. Wynstra traces the northerly advance of the Second Corps by following its three military divisions under Generals Edward Johnson, Jubal A. Early, and Robert E. Rodes, as well as a cavalry brigade under General Albert G. Jenkins, as they encountered both welcoming and unreceptive civilians, a changing landscape, and, at times, hostile forces. The author suggests that, at least as far as the Second Corps was concerned, Lee’s orders governing the conduct of his soldiers in relation to private property were generally adhered to and allowed his generals to take the moral high ground in relation to reports of Union operations in the South—particularly the plundering and burning of Darien, Georgia, that June.

As Wynstra’s subtitle suggests, breakdowns in discipline did occur; civilians in Maryland and Pennsylvania were not unharmed and their property not unscathed. Yet, for the most part, thoughts of retribution remained just threats—held in check by Lee’s directive and (if necessary) guards posted at private homes and businesses. Foodstuffs, livestock, clothing, shoes, and other matériel of use to the army were paid for with Confederate scrip—albeit to the dissatisfaction of proprietors. With the notable exception of ironworks owned by Radical Republican congressman Thaddeus Stevens, destruction of private property was generally limited to barrels of whiskey, while government properties such as railroads and bridges were prime targets. The most egregious incidents of confiscation carried out by elements of the Second Corps involved the abduction of “contraband”—African Americans, both free men and runaway slaves—and their transport south. Most often undertaken by Jenkins’s cavalry, this task was often met with resistance from angry citizens who endeavored to conceal or shuttle black people to safety. Observations abound of interactions with locals as soldiers noted the relative attractiveness of the resident women based on their level of sympathy for the Confederate cause. Equally consistent were comments regarding the beauty and lushness of the Cumberland Valley and the abundance of resources available to its inhabitants.

While additional maps, particularly of Adams and York Counties in Pennsylvania, would have been helpful, Wynstra’s narrative provides breadth to a campaign that is all too often viewed in microcosm. One can debate the wisdom of Lee’s summer invasion or the generalship of Ewell at Gettysburg, but there is no doubt that the foraging campaign of the Second Corps in the weeks leading up to the battle was successful in providing the sustenance necessary for the Army of Northern Virginia to begin its recovery after the decisive defeat.