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the purpose to withdraw his army and unite it with that under my command,the campaign of the Army of Virginia was limited to the following objects:
1. To cover the approaches to Washington from any enemy advancing fromthe direction of Richmond , and to oppose and delay its advance to the lastextremity, so as to give all the time possible for the withdrawal of the Armyof the Potomac from the James River.
2. If no heavy forces of the enemy moved north, to operate on their linesof communication with Gordonsville and Charlottesville, so as to force Lee tomake heavy detachments from his force at Richmond and facilitate to thatextent the withdrawal of the Army of the Potomac.
Halleck was of the opinion that the junction of the two armies could bemade on the line of the Rappahannock, and my orders to hold fast to my com-munications with Fredericksburg, through which place McClellan ’s army wasto make its junction with the Army of Virginia, were repeated positively.
The decision of the enemy to move north with the bulk of his army waspromptly made and vigorously carried out, so that it became apparent, evenbefore General McClellan began to embark his army, that the line of the Rap-pahannock was too far to the front. That fact, however, was not realized byHalleck until too late for any change which could be effectively executed.
Such was the organization of the Army of Virginia, and such its objectsand the difficulties with which it was embarrassed from the very beginning.This rather long preface appears to me to be essential to any sufficient under-standing of the second battle of Bull Run, and why and how it was fought.
It is also necessary
< ' as a reply to a
statement indus-triously circulatedat the time andrepeated again andagain for obviouspurposes, until nodoubt it is gener-ally believed, thatI had set out tocapture Richmond with a force suffi-cient for the pur-pose, and that thefalling back fromthe Rapidan wasunexpected by theGovernment, anda great disappoint-
HOUSE ON THE BATTLE-FIELD OF CEDAR MOUNTAIN WHERE GENERAL .
C. S. WINDER DIED. FROM A PHOTOGRAPH. 1X16111 TO it. 1 iI6
General Winder, wlio was in command of Stonewall Jackson ’s old division, was whole campaignstruck by a shell while directing the movements of the batteries
otkis division.- editors. was, and perhaps
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