1.
American Civil War
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The American Civil War was an internal conflict fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865. The Union faced secessionists in eleven Southern states grouped together as the Confederate States of America, the Union won the war, which remains the bloodiest in U. S. history. Among the 34 U. S. states in February 1861, War broke out in April 1861 when Confederates attacked the U. S. fortress of Fort Sumter. The Confederacy grew to eleven states, it claimed two more states, the Indian Territory, and the southern portions of the western territories of Arizona. The Confederacy was never recognized by the United States government nor by any foreign country. The states that remained loyal, including border states where slavery was legal, were known as the Union or the North, the war ended with the surrender of all the Confederate armies and the dissolution of the Confederate government in the spring of 1865. The war had its origin in the issue of slavery. The Confederacy collapsed and 4 million slaves were freed, but before his inauguration, seven slave states with cotton-based economies formed the Confederacy. The first six to declare secession had the highest proportions of slaves in their populations, the first seven with state legislatures to resolve for secession included split majorities for unionists Douglas and Bell in Georgia with 51% and Louisiana with 55%. Alabama had voted 46% for those unionists, Mississippi with 40%, Florida with 38%, Texas with 25%, of these, only Texas held a referendum on secession. Eight remaining slave states continued to reject calls for secession, outgoing Democratic President James Buchanan and the incoming Republicans rejected secession as illegal. Lincolns March 4,1861 inaugural address declared that his administration would not initiate a civil war, speaking directly to the Southern States, he reaffirmed, I have no purpose, directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the United States where it exists. I believe I have no right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. After Confederate forces seized numerous federal forts within territory claimed by the Confederacy, efforts at compromise failed, the Confederates assumed that European countries were so dependent on King Cotton that they would intervene, but none did, and none recognized the new Confederate States of America. Hostilities began on April 12,1861, when Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter, while in the Western Theater the Union made significant permanent gains, in the Eastern Theater, the battle was inconclusive in 1861–62. The autumn 1862 Confederate campaigns into Maryland and Kentucky failed, dissuading British intervention, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which made ending slavery a war goal. To the west, by summer 1862 the Union destroyed the Confederate river navy, then much of their western armies, the 1863 Union siege of Vicksburg split the Confederacy in two at the Mississippi River. In 1863, Robert E. Lees Confederate incursion north ended at the Battle of Gettysburg, Western successes led to Ulysses S. Grants command of all Union armies in 1864
2.
Prince William County, Virginia
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Prince William County is a county on the Potomac River in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 402,002, on 1 July 2015 and its county seat is the independent city of Manassas. A part of Northern Virginia, Prince William County is part of the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, in 2012 it had the seventh highest income of any county in the United States. It was Virginias first majority-minority county, with Caucasian, Asian, Hispanic and, when John Smith and other English explorers ventured to the upper Potomac River beginning in 1608, they recorded the name of a village the Doeg inhabited as Pemacocack. It was located on the west bank of the Potomac River about 30 miles south of present-day Alexandria, unable to deal with European diseases and firepower, the Doeg had abandoned their villages in the area by 1700. The county was named for Prince William, Duke of Cumberland, in 1790 the population of the county was 58% white, most of the remainder was black and enslaved. The county had been an area of plantations, where crops were being changed to mixed crops due to soil exhaustion. In the first two decades after the Revolution, the number and percentage of blacks increased in Virginia as some whites freed their slaves. Most free people of color in the state were descended from unions between white women and African-American men, slave, indentured servant or free. Under colonial law since 1662, children took the status of their mother, so children born to women were free. The county was rural and agricultural for decades, the population into the early 20th century was centered in two areas, one at Manassas, the other near Occoquan and Woodbridge along the Potomac River. Beginning in the late 1930s, a suburban population was attracted to new housing that was developed near the existing population centers. By 2000, this was the third-most populous local jurisdiction in Virginia, from 2000 to 2010, the population increased by 43. 2%. This was the first county in Virginia to be minority-majority, the new majority is composed of Hispanic, African American, in 2012 it was the seventh-wealthiest county in the country. The estimated population of 2014 is more than 437,000, the Marine Corps Heritage Museum and the Hylton Performing Arts Center opened in the 21st century. The American Wartime Museum is also to be located in this county, during the commemoration of the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War, re-enactment of the famous First and Second Battles of Manassas was planned. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 348 square miles. It is bounded on the north by Loudoun and Fairfax Counties, on the west by Fauquier County, on the south by Stafford County, the magisterial districts each elect one supervisor to the Board of Supervisors which governs Prince William County
3.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
4.
Confederate States of America
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The Confederate States, officially the Confederate States of America, commonly referred to as the Confederacy, was a breakaway country of 11 secessionist slave states existing from 1861 to 1865. It was never recognized as an Independent country, although it achieved belligerent status by Britain. A new Confederate government was established in February 1861 before Lincoln took office in March, after the Civil War began in April, four slave states of the Upper South – Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina – also declared their secession and joined the Confederacy. The government of the United States rejected the claims of secession, the Civil War began with the April 12,1861, Confederate attack upon Fort Sumter, a Union fort in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. In spring 1865, after four years of fighting which led to an estimated 620,000 military deaths, all the Confederate forces surrendered. Jefferson Davis later lamented that the Confederacy had disappeared in 1865, Missouri and Kentucky were represented by partisan factions from those states, while the legitimate governments of those two states retained formal adherence to the Union. Also fighting for the Confederacy were two of the Five Civilized Tribes located in Indian Territory and a new, but uncontrolled, Confederate Territory of Arizona. Efforts by certain factions in Maryland to secede were halted by federal imposition of law, while Delaware, though of divided loyalty. A Unionist government in parts of Virginia organized the new state of West Virginia. With the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1,1863, the Union made abolition of slavery a war goal, as Union forces moved southward, large numbers of plantation slaves were freed. Many joined the Union lines, enrolling in service as soldiers, teamsters and laborers, the most notable advance was Shermans March to the Sea in late 1864. Much of the Confederacys infrastructure was destroyed, including telegraphs, railroads, plantations in the path of Shermans forces were severely damaged. Internal movement became increasingly difficult for Southerners, weakening the economy and these losses created an insurmountable disadvantage in men, materiel, and finance. Public support for Confederate President Jefferson Daviss administration eroded over time due to repeated military reverses, economic hardships, after four years of campaigning, Richmond was captured by Union forces in April 1865. Shortly afterward, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, President Davis was captured on May 10,1865, and jailed in preparation for a treason trial that was ultimately never held. The U. S. government began a process known as Reconstruction which attempted to resolve the political and constitutional issues of the Civil War. By 1877, the Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction in the former Confederate states, Confederate veterans had been temporarily disenfranchised by Reconstruction policy. The prewar South had many areas, the war left the entire region economically devastated by military action, ruined infrastructure
5.
Army of the Potomac
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The Army of the Potomac was the principal Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was created in July 1861 shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run and was disbanded in June 1865 following the surrender of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in April. The Army of the Potomac was created in 1861, but was only the size of a corps. Its nucleus was called the Army of Northeastern Virginia, under Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell, and it was the army fought the wars first major battle. The arrival in Washington, D. C. of Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan dramatically changed the makeup of that army, on July 26,1861, the Department of the Shenandoah, commanded by Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. The men under Bankss command became a division in the Army of the Potomac. The army started with four corps, but these were divided during the Peninsula Campaign to produce two more, after the Second Battle of Bull Run, the Army of the Potomac absorbed the units that had served under Maj. Gen. John Pope. It is a popular, but mistaken, belief that John Pope commanded the Army of the Potomac in the summer of 1862 after McClellans unsuccessful Peninsula Campaign, on the contrary, Popes army consisted of different units, and was named the Army of Virginia. The Army of the Potomac underwent many changes during its existence. The army was divided by Ambrose Burnside into three divisions of two corps each with a Reserve composed of two more. Thereafter the individual corps, seven of which remained in Virginia, Hooker also created a Cavalry Corps by combining units that previously had served as smaller formations. In late 1863, two corps were sent West, and—in 1864—the remaining five corps were recombined into three, burnsides IX Corps, which accompanied the army at the start of Ulysses S. Grants Overland Campaign, rejoined the army later. For more detail, see the section Corps below, the Army of the Potomac fought in most of the Eastern Theater campaigns, primarily in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. After the end of the war, it was disbanded on June 28,1865, the Army of the Potomac was also the name given to General P. G. T. Beauregards Confederate army during the early stages of the war. However, the name was changed to the Army of Northern Virginia. In 1869 the Society of the Army of the Potomac was formed as a veterans association and it had its last reunion in 1929. Because of its proximity to the cities of the North, such as Washington. Philadelphia, and New York City, the Army of the Potomac received more media coverage than the other Union field armies
6.
Virginia
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Virginia is a state located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, as well as in the historic Southeast. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, the capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond, Virginia Beach is the most populous city, and Fairfax County is the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealths estimated population as of 2014 is over 8.3 million, the areas history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony, slave labor and the land acquired from displaced Native American tribes each played a significant role in the colonys early politics and plantation economy. Although the Commonwealth was under one-party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, the Virginia General Assembly is the oldest continuous law-making body in the New World. The state government was ranked most effective by the Pew Center on the States in both 2005 and 2008 and it is unique in how it treats cities and counties equally, manages local roads, and prohibits its governors from serving consecutive terms. Virginias economy changed from agricultural to industrial during the 1960s and 1970s. Virginia has an area of 42,774.2 square miles, including 3,180.13 square miles of water. Virginias boundary with Maryland and Washington, D. C. extends to the mark of the south shore of the Potomac River. The southern border is defined as the 36° 30′ parallel north, the border with Tennessee was not settled until 1893, when their dispute was brought to the U. S. Supreme Court. The Chesapeake Bay separates the portion of the Commonwealth from the two-county peninsula of Virginias Eastern Shore. The bay was formed from the river valleys of the Susquehanna River. Many of Virginias rivers flow into the Chesapeake Bay, including the Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James, the Tidewater is a coastal plain between the Atlantic coast and the fall line. It includes the Eastern Shore and major estuaries of Chesapeake Bay, the Piedmont is a series of sedimentary and igneous rock-based foothills east of the mountains which were formed in the Mesozoic era. The region, known for its clay soil, includes the Southwest Mountains around Charlottesville. The Blue Ridge Mountains are a province of the Appalachian Mountains with the highest points in the state. The Ridge and Valley region is west of the mountains and includes the Great Appalachian Valley, the region is carbonate rock based and includes Massanutten Mountain. The Cumberland Plateau and the Cumberland Mountains are in the southwest corner of Virginia, in this region, rivers flow northwest, with a dendritic drainage system, into the Ohio River basin
7.
Union Army
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The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War,1861 to 1865. It included the permanent regular army of the United States, which was augmented by numbers of temporary units consisting of volunteers as well as conscripts. The Union Army fought and eventually defeated the Confederate Army during the war, at least two and a half million men served in the Union Army, almost all were volunteers. About 360,000 Union soldiers died from all causes,280,000 were wounded and 200,000 deserted. When the American Civil War began in April 1861, there were only 16,000 men in the U. S. Army, and of these many Southern officers resigned and joined the Confederate army. The U. S. Army consisted of ten regiments of infantry, four of artillery, Lincolns call forced the border states to choose sides, and four seceded, making the Confederacy eleven states strong. The war proved to be longer and more extensive than anyone North or South had expected, the call for volunteers initially was easily met by patriotic Northerners, abolitionists, and even immigrants who enlisted for a steady income and meals. Over 10,000 Germans in New York and Pennsylvania immediately responded to Lincolns call, as more men were needed, however, the number of volunteers fell and both money bounties and forced conscription had to be turned to. Nevertheless, between April 1861 and April 1865, at least two and a million men served in the Union Army, of whom the majority were volunteers. It is a misconception that the South held an advantage because of the percentage of professional officers who resigned to join the Confederate army. At the start of the war, there were 824 graduates of the U. S, Military Academy on the active list, of these,296 resigned or were dismissed, and 184 of those became Confederate officers. Of the approximately 900 West Point graduates who were civilians,400 returned to the Union Army and 99 to the Confederate. Therefore, the ratio of Union to Confederate professional officers was 642 to 283, the South did have the advantage of other military colleges, such as The Citadel and Virginia Military Institute, but they produced fewer officers. The Union Army was composed of numerous organizations, which were generally organized geographically, Military Division A collection of Departments reporting to one commander. Military Divisions were similar to the modern term Theater, and were modeled close to, though not synonymous with. Department An organization that covered a region, including responsibilities for the Federal installations therein. Those named for states usually referred to Southern states that had been occupied and it was more common to name departments for rivers or regions. District A subdivision of a Department, there were also Subdistricts for smaller regions
8.
Confederate States Army
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The Confederate States Army was the military ground force of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. S. Military Academy and colonel of a regiment during the Mexican War. In March 1861, the Provisional Confederate Congress established a more permanent Confederate States Army, the better estimates of the number of individual Confederate soldiers are between 750,000 and 1,000,000 men. This does not include a number of slaves who were pressed into performing various tasks for the army, such as construction of fortifications. Since these figures include estimates of the number of individual soldiers who served at any time during the war. These numbers do not include men who served in Confederate naval forces, although most of the soldiers who fought in the American Civil War were volunteers, both sides by 1862 resorted to conscription, primarily as a means to force men to register and to volunteer. In the absence of records, estimates of the percentage of Confederate soldiers who were draftees are about double the 6 percent of Union soldiers who were conscripts. Confederate casualty figures also are incomplete and unreliable, one estimate of Confederate wounded, which is considered incomplete, is 194,026. These numbers do not include men who died from causes such as accidents. Other Confederate forces surrendered between April 16,1865 and June 28,1865, by the end of the war, more than 100,000 Confederate soldiers had deserted. The Confederacys government effectively dissolved when it fled Richmond in April, by the time Abraham Lincoln took office as President of the United States on March 4,1861, the seven seceding slave states had formed the Confederate States. The Confederacy seized federal property, including nearly all U. S. Army forts, Lincoln was determined to hold the forts remaining under U. S. control when he took office, especially Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. Under orders from Confederate President Jefferson Davis, C. S. troops under the command of General P. G. T, Beauregard bombarded Fort Sumter on April 12–13,1861, forcing its capitulation on April 14. The Northern states were outraged by the Confederacys attack and demanded war and it rallied behind Lincolns call on April 15, for all the states to send troops to recapture the forts from the secessionists, to put down the rebellion and to preserve the Union intact. Four more slave states joined the Confederacy. The Confederate Congress provided for a Confederate army patterned after the United States Army and it was to consist of a large provisional force to exist only in time of war and a small permanent regular army. Although the two forces were to exist concurrently, very little was done to organize the Confederate regular army, the Provisional Army of the Confederate States began organizing on April 27. Virtually all regular, volunteer, and conscripted men preferred to enter this organization since officers could achieve a rank in the Provisional Army than they could in the Regular Army
9.
General officers in the Confederate States Army
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The general officers of the Confederate States Army were the senior military leaders of the Confederacy during the American Civil War of 1861–1865. They were often former officers from the United States Army prior to the Civil War, most Confederate generals needed confirmation from the Confederate Congress, much like prospective generals in the modern U. S. armed forces. Much of the design of the Confederate States Army was based on the structure, the Confederate Army was composed of three parts, the Army of the Confederate States of America, the Provisional Army of the Confederate States, and the various Southern state militias. Graduates from West Point and Mexican War veterans were highly sought after by Jefferson Davis for military service, like their Federal counterparts, the Confederate Army had both professional and political generals within it. Ranks throughout the CSA were roughly based on the U. S. Army in design and seniority. On February 27,1861, a staff for the army was authorized, consisting of four positions, an adjutant general, a quartermaster general, a commissary general. Initially the last of these was to be a staff officer only, the post of adjutant general was filled by Samuel Cooper and he held it throughout the Civil War, as well as the armys inspector general. As officers were appointed to the grades of general by Jefferson Davis. The dates of rank, as well as seniority of officers appointed to the grade on the same day, were determined by Davis usually following the guidelines established for the prewar U. S. Army. These generals were most often infantry or cavalry brigade commanders, aides to other higher ranking generals, and War Department staff officers. By wars end the Confederacy had at least 383 different men who held this rank in the PACS, the organization of regiments into brigades was authorized by the Congress on March 6,1861. Brigadier generals would command them, and these generals were to be nominated by Davis and these generals also often led sub-districts within military departments, with command over soldiers in their sub-district. These generals outranked Confederate Army colonels, who commonly led infantry regiments and this rank is equivalent to brigadier general in the modern U. S. army. These generals were most commonly infantry division commanders, aides to other higher ranking generals and they also led the districts that made up military departments, and had command over the troops in their districts. By wars end, the Confederacy had at least 88 different men who had held this rank, divisions were authorized by the Congress on March 6,1861, and major generals would command them. These generals were to be nominated by Davis and confirmed by the Senate, Major generals outranked brigadiers and all other lesser officers. This rank was not synonymous with the Unions use of it, as Northern major generals led divisions, corps and this rank is equivalent in most respects to major general in the modern U. S. Army. All of the Confederacys lieutenant generals were in the PACS, the Congress legalized the creation of army corps on September 18,1862, and directed that lieutenant generals lead them
10.
J. E. B. Stuart
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James Ewell Brown Jeb Stuart was a United States Army officer from the U. S. state of Virginia, who later became a Confederate States Army general during the American Civil War. He was known to his friends as Jeb, from the initials of his given names, Stuart was a cavalry commander known for his mastery of reconnaissance and the use of cavalry in support of offensive operations. While he cultivated an image, his serious work made him the trusted eyes and ears of Robert E. Lees army. Stuart graduated from West Point in 1854, and served in Texas and Kansas with the U. S. Army. He was a veteran of the conflicts with Native Americans and the violence of Bleeding Kansas. He established a reputation as a cavalry commander and on two occasions circumnavigated the Union Army of the Potomac, bringing fame to himself and embarrassment to the North. At the Battle of Chancellorsville, he distinguished himself as a commander of the wounded Stonewall Jacksons infantry corps. During the 1864 Overland Campaign, Union Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridans cavalry launched an offensive to defeat Stuart, Stuarts widow wore black for the rest of her life in remembrance of her deceased husband. Stuart was born at Laurel Hill Farm, a plantation in Patrick County, Virginia and he was of Scottish American and Scots-Irish background. He was the eighth of eleven children and the youngest of the five sons to survive past early age and his great-grandfather, Major Alexander Stuart, commanded a regiment at the Battle of Guilford Court House during the American Revolutionary War. Archibald was a cousin of Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart, elizabeth Letcher Pannill Stuart, Jebs mother, who was known as a strict religious woman with a good sense for business, ran the family farm. He entered Emory and Henry College when he was fifteen, during the summer of 1848, Stuart attempted to enlist in the U. S. Army, but was rejected as underaged. He obtained an appointment in 1850 to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, from Representative Thomas Hamlet Averett, Stuart was a popular student and was happy at the Academy. Although not handsome in his teen years, his classmates called him by the nickname Beauty and he possessed a chin so short and retiring as positively to disfigure his otherwise fine countenance. He quickly grew a beard after graduation and a fellow officer remarked that he was the man he ever saw that beard improved. Robert E. Lee was appointed superintendent of the Academy in 1852, Lees nephew, Fitzhugh Lee, also arrived at the academy in 1852. In Stuarts final year, in addition to achieving the rank of second captain of the corps. Stuart graduated 13th in his class of 46 in 1854 and he ranked tenth in his class in cavalry tactics
11.
Richard S. Ewell
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Richard Stoddert Ewell was a career United States Army officer and a Confederate general during the American Civil War. Ewell was born in Georgetown, District of Columbia and he was raised in Prince William County, Virginia, from the age of 3, at an estate near Manassas known as Stony Lonesome. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1840, thirteenth in his class of 42 cadets and he was known to his friends as Old Bald Head or Baldy. He was commissioned a lieutenant in the 1st U. S. Dragoons and was promoted to first lieutenant in 1845. From 1843 to 1845 he served with Philip St. George Cooke and Stephen Watts Kearny on escort duty along the Santa Fe, in the Mexican-American War, serving under Winfield Scott, he was recognized and promoted to captain for his courage at Contreras and Churubusco. At Contreras, he conducted a reconnaissance with engineer Captain Robert E. Lee. Ewell served in the New Mexico Territory for some time, exploring the newly acquired Gadsden Purchase with Colonel Benjamin Bonneville and he was wounded in a skirmish with Apaches under Cochise in 1859. In 1860, while in command of Fort Buchanan, Arizona and he described his condition as very ill with vertigo, nausea, etc. and now am excessively debilitated having occasional attacks of the ague. S. Army commission on May 7,1861, to join the Virginia Provisional Army and he was appointed a colonel of cavalry on May 9 and was the first officer of field grade wounded in the war, at a May 31 skirmish at Fairfax Court House. He was promoted to general in the Confederate States Army on June 17 and commanded a brigade in the Army of the Potomac at the First Battle of Bull Run. But Davis considered that impossible and that never came up between him and Ewell again. Nevertheless, Ewell, like Patrick Cleburne, was one of those few Confederate generals who saw that the Confederacy needed all the manpower it could get, Ewell inspired his men in spite of, not because of, his appearance. Historian Larry Tagg described him, On January 24,1862, Ewell was promoted to major general, although the two generals worked together well, and both were noted for their quixotic personal behavior, there were many stylistic differences between them. Jackson was stern and pious, whereas Ewell was witty and extremely profane, Jackson was flexible and intuitive on the battlefield, while Ewell, although brave and effective, required precise instructions to function effectively. Ewell was initially resentful about Jacksons tendency to keep his subordinates uninformed about his tactical plans, Ewell superbly commanded a division in Jacksons small army during the Valley Campaign, personally winning quite a few battles against the larger Union armies of Maj. Gens. Frémont, Nathaniel P. Banks, and James Shields, Jacksons army was then recalled to Richmond to join Robert E. Lee in protecting the city against Maj. Gen. George B. McClellans Army of the Potomac in the Peninsula Campaign, Ewell fought conspicuously at Gaines Mill and Malvern Hill. After Lee repelled the Union army in the Seven Days Battles, Union Maj. Gen. John Popes Army of Virginia threatened to attack from the north, so Jackson was sent to intercept him
12.
Orange and Alexandria Railroad
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The Orange and Alexandria Railroad was a railroad in Virginia, United States. It extended from Alexandria to Gordonsville, with another section from Charlottesville to Lynchburg, the road played a crucial role in the American Civil War, and eventually became an important part of the modern-day Norfolk Southern rail system. The Virginia General Assembly issued a charter to the O&A on May 28,1848, construction began in 1850 and was completed in April 1854, when it connected with the Virginia Central Railroad in Orange County. Its longtime President was John S. Barbour Jr. Virginia lawyer, part-time delegate, in 1854, the General Assembly granted the O&A the right to build southward from Charlottesville to Lynchburg. O&A paid for rights over Virginia Central tracks from Gordonsville to Charlottesville. In 1860, the extension was completed, including lucrative connections to the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. The O&A also connected with the Manassas Gap Railroad, at Tudor Hall which gave it access to the Shenandoah Valley, farmers from first Virginias Piedmont region, and later the Shenandoah Valley could ship their products, produce and goods much more cheaply than before. Not only were the markets of Washington D. C. and Richmond, Virginia accessible, Alexandria, Richmond and Lynchburg also became manufacturing centers. Passengers could travel from Washington to Lynchburg in eight hours instead of enduring a three-day stagecoach journey, the O&A was strategically important during the Civil War and was arguably the most fought-over railroad in Virginia. In connection with the Virginia Central, it was the rail link between the capitals at Washington, D. C. and Richmond. An 1861 Union Army attempt to control of Manassas Junction led to the First Battle of Bull Run. Confederate Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson attacked it in the Battle of Manassas Station Operations to draw the Union into the 1862 Second Battle of Bull Run, the 1863 Battle of Brandy Station and Second Battle of Rappahannock Station were also fought near the railroad line. The railroad entered Reconstruction in dire shape, with much of its track ripped up, however, Barbour proceded to rebuild the railroad, soon with the help of various politically connected financiers and his brother in law J. S. B. In 1867, the O&A merged with the Manassas Gap Railroad to become the Orange, Alexandria, after the Panic of 1873, the railroad was consolidated into the Virginia Midland Railway, which was controlled by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. It later became part of the Richmond and Danville Railroad, which went bankrupt in the Panic of 1893, the following year it was merged into the Southern Railway. A cutoff between Orange and Charlottesville was incorporated in 1876 as the Charlottesville and Rapidan Railroad and opened in 1880, the Southern Railway acquired the line in 1914. In 1982, Southern Railway System joined the Norfolk and Western Railway to form the Norfolk Southern system, the former O&A tracks are also used by Amtrak and Virginia Railway Express operates commuter railroad service along a portion of the historic line. Among the traces of the infrastructure are Hoofs Run Bridge
