GDG- Stuart and the Historians

[Tom Ryan]

<<Admittedly, Stuart would have a big problem finding an alternative route.
He could pull back just to the west of the Bull Run Mountains and go north,
but that route would take him uncomfartably close to Harper's Ferry, and the
federal garrison that Lee decided to leave alone.>>

John,

	The Loudoun Valley crossings of the Potomac (the area west of the Bull Run
Mountains) were not available to Stuart, since they were well guarded on the
Maryland side by Union detachments.  The Harper's Ferry garrison was not a
factor along this route, since it actually was located on Maryland Heights
on the north side of the river.  Besides the troops there were dug in on the
top of the mountain, and could pose no threat to a mobile force like
Stuart's cavalry.

<<He might be forced to cross all the way back over South Mountain, which
means he would be competing for northbound roads with Lee's infantry.  In
that event, Lee would probably have been forced to delay Ewell's advance,
and the entire ANV might have stayed west of South Mountain until the end of
June.  In other words, the entire course of the campaign would have changed
so drastically, speculation becomes impossible.  The major battle might have
been anywhere in the Cumberland Valley - Chambersburg, Hagerstown,
Antietam.>>

	Good points.  This is the action that Lee wanted Stuart to take if he found
the Union army to be moving, and said so in his orders to Stuart.  Stuart,
however, used the leeway (no pun intended) given by Lee for him to use his
own discretion, and decided otherwise.  He apparently thought he could make
better time by heading south and east around the Union army.

<<By cancelling his raid, Stuart would have greatly disrupted Lee's plan.
Lee, however, would still have been safely west of the mountains, and would
have more options available, and could have replanned his strategy any
number of ways.  By continuing his raid, Stuart endangered Lee's plan.>>

	That is certainly the way it worked out.  The term "raid" I think is
inappropriate here, since the connotation is that Stuart had a different set
of orders than what he actually had.  His primary objective on this ride was
to reach Ewell's corps as quickly as possible, not to attack or destroy
Union troops or facilities.  Although Stuart did engage in the latter
activities on his ride, they were incidental to his purpose. I suggest
"expedition" may fit these circumstances better.  The use of the term "raid"
apparently is how many writers were led to believe that Stuart was off on a
wild goose chase to puff up his ego.

<<With Ewell east of the mountains, and devoid of adequate cavalry, Lee was
forced to unite an army divided by a mountain range, once he discovered that
the AOP was dangerously close by.>>

	Another good point.  However, I do not understand your comment about
"devoid of adequate cavalry."  While this is certainly true, Lee would have
been forced to concentrate his forces whether Ewell had adequate cav or not.

<<I think Lee would rather have been inconvenienced than endangered.>>

	As things turned out, this is true.

Tom Ryan