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.The Bull Run Ridge, twenty miles far-ther east, would not have entered the picture.Longstreet seems to have understood that Stuart intended thewider eastward swing, since he was the only one who mentionedHopewell Gap (which is in the Bull Run mountain range), but healso probably expected that once across the Bull Run Ridge, Stu-figure 10.The Berlin Potomac ferry crossing at the northern end of the LoudonValley was used as a crossing point by both sides throughout the war.Courtesy ofthe Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.art would cut more or less due north and cross the Potomac nearEdwards Ferry.Nothing in any of the communications that flowedback and forth before Stuart finally moved suggests that anyonethought of his movement as a wide swing to the east rather than ascouting and screening movement to the north.Bowden and Ward take a slightly different tack and argue thatLee expected that Stuart would indeed pass through some of theFederal main force units east of the Bull Run mountain range.Mosby reported that the Federal corps were widely dispersed, soStuart would be riding around only the two or three closest to theBull Run Ridge, not the entire army.He would then turn sharplynorth, cross the river in the vicinity of Leesburg, and move on toFredericktown.8This is plausible and would have been consistent with Long-street s speaking of Hopewell Gap.But this route would still nothave been as direct as riding straight up the Loudon Valley.90 options for the ride northWas the Route Directly North Open to Stuart?Was the northward route from the Loudon Valley just to the eastof the Blue Ridge open to Stuart for crossing the Potomac? Thisstretch of Maryland at that moment was certainly  behind Unionlines, but these lines were pretty porous.Communications fromWashington to Harpers Ferry ran along the river through this area,but this link was not closely guarded.Stuart s major problem wouldhave been the Union infantry corps transiting it on their way north.But the record of the movement of Union troops in the period June24 to 27 suggests that Stuart could easily have made it.Recapping my earlier discussion of the Union movement, onJune 24, all the Federal corps were south of the Potomac and east ofthe Bull Run Ridge.Two pontoon bridges had been laid across theriver in the vicinity of Edwards Ferry a few miles east of Leesburg.Hooker ordered the army to move the next day, and by nightfallon June 25 the First, Third, and Eleventh Corps had crossed theriver.When they camped for the night, the first two were well eastof the Catoctin Mountains, in Barnesville and Poolesville, respec-tively, but the Eleventh had moved via Point of Rocks to Jefferson,some fifteen miles from Harpers Ferry.(This corps had originallybeen ordered by Hooker to Sandy Hook, even closer to HarpersFerry, but these orders were changed almost immediately.) OnJune 26 three other infantry corps the Second, the Fifth, and theTwelfth crossed the river and marched to the Barnesville-Pooles-ville area.The last elements of the army, the Sixth Corps, crossedon June 27 and moved into the Poolesville area (see map 1).9The Eleventh Corps then moved up the Catoctin Valley toBurkittsville and Turner s Gap, while the First Corps moved alongbehind it into Jefferson, at the lower end of the valley.On June 27the Twelfth Corps moved into the Catoctin Valley to Jefferson, theEleventh Corps remained at Burkittsville and Turner s Gap, and theFirst Corps moved north to Middletown.On June 27 Stahel s (soonto be Kilpatrick s) cavalry division crossed the river and joined theFirst and Eleventh Corps in the Catoctin Valley to scout in the gapsoptions for the ride north 91in the South mountain range.J.H.Kidd s firsthand account of themovements of Custer s brigade has the Federal cavalry in Frederickon June 26 and moving on into the northern end of the CatoctinValley on June 27.10The reports of the three corps that transited some part of theCatoctin Valley in this period mostly speak of movement fromone place to another, with camps made at Middletown, Jefferson,and Frederick.By June 28 all three of the  advance wing infantrycorps the First, the Eleventh, and the Twelfth passed over theCatoctin Ridge to rejoin the other corps in the vicinity of Fred-erick.John Buford s cavalry division, replacing the brigades previ-ously commanded by Julius Stahel but now under Gen.Judson Kil-patrick, guarded the flank and rear of this movement while scoutingthe Confederate movements up the Cumberland Valley.The underlying logic of these movements was discussed earlier [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]