GDG- JEB Stuart

[Tom Ryan]

<<Was Stuart aware of Lee's timetable for the movement of the army?>>

Keith,

The key is Hill and Longstreet's crossing of the Potomac.  That is what
triggered Hooker's decision to move the AoP across the Potomac in pursuit of
Lee's army.  I seriously doubt that Lee had a specific timetable (in the
sense of a date certain) for Hill and Longstreet to cross the river -- this
would be especially true of Longstreet who got a later start than Hill and
had a longer distance to cover northward to the river.  Lee probably had a
general idea of when he wanted both corps to cross, but, given the
uncertainty of marching conditions and the bottlenecks at the river
crossings, he could no doubt only estimate when all the troops would be
over.

Therefore, if Lee did not have a fixed date in mind for crossing the river,
obviously he could not communicate a firm schedule to Stuart on this
subject.  It has to be kept in mind also that Hooker would not move his
troops across the river until he was certain that both Hill and Longstreet
had crossed.

The reason for this was that Hooker had orders to protect the capital.  As
long as a sizable number of Lee's troops remained below the Potomac, they
continued to pose a threat to Washington.

Conversely, Lee knew, or should have known, when Stuart would be attempting
to pass through the Union army.  Stuart's timetable was to leave Salem early
morning of the 25th and, if all went well, he would reach the Potomac later
that day (30-35 miles).  He could not stop since the Union army was in the
vicinity.

Based on this scenario, the burden again shifts to Lee, since he should have
been aware of Stuart's schedule of movements, while it is unlikely that
Stuart had more than a general idea of when and where the infantry would be.
Truth be told, I suspect that Lee was totally preoccupied with getting Hill
and Longstreet over the river, and completely forgot about Stuart's
movements.  Lee had relied on Stuart to carry out independent missions like
this in the past, and likely had complete confidence that Stuart would take
care of himself.

As I said before, that type of thinking would have worked well previously,
but, in this case, the Union army under Hooker had become much more
proficient, and, therefore, a much greater threat.

Tom