By the winter of 1862, the American Civil War was going poorly for the Union. Begun in 1861 with the secession of eleven Confederate states from the United States, Confederate forces had more than held their own in the field against Union Armies. In the Eastern Theater, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee had checked three attempts by the Union to capture the Confederate Capital of Richmond, and in mid-December 1862, Lee decisively defeated Major General Ambrose Burnside’s Union Army of the Potomac at the Battle of Fredericksburg. As winter set in, both sides stared at each other across the Rappahannock River, locked in a stalemate. While the Eastern Theater stagnated though, in the Western Theater Union forces were focused on the capture the Confederate fortress city of Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Today’s episode was written by J. A. Henderson.
Major Henderson holds a Masters of Arts in International Relations from The University of Oklahoma, and recently completed a Masters of Military Arts and Sciences from the United States Army’s Command and General Staff College, where his thesis focused on operational level leadership. He previously wrote episode 6 of season 28, Lieutenant General Sir Jeffrey Amherst and the Conquest of New France.
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