Studies in American History 
265 
Pope decided to take Richmond by moving along the Orange 
and Alexandria Railroad toward the Rappahannock, threaten- 
ing both Gordonsville and Charlottesville which would cut 
Lee’s communications with southwestern Virginia.®® This 
road was valuable for transporting troops and supplies as far 
as Culpepper Court House, where it turned southward to 
Cordonsville, and was of less use between these points be- 
cause it could be cut so easily.®^ To prevent the capture of 
Cordonsville, Lee sent Jackson by rail to that point, where he 
arrived July 19. He found that Pope had arrived at the Rapi- 
dan and was threatening the Central Railroad and its con- 
nections. Lee and Longstreet followed Jackson, and when 
Stuart was sent to cut Pope’s communications at Rappahan- 
nock Station on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad the 
latter fell back across the Rappahannock.®® On August 26 
by rapid marching Jackson got in Pope’s rear, captured Bris- 
toe Station, tore up the railroad track and cut the telegraph 
wires, severing his line of supplies and direct telegraph com- 
munication with Washington. That night he captured Pope’s 
base of supplies at Manassas Junction and destroyed it before 
retreating to Bull Run.®® These movements completely baffled 
Pope and led to his final defeat at the Second Battle of Bull 
Run. 
After Pope’s defeat, Lee decided to carry the war into the 
enemy country by invading the North. Among other motives 
he probably had in mind the capture of Harrisburg and the 
destruction of the long bridge on the Pennsylvania Railroad 
over the Susquehanna River. Since he had already cut the 
Baltimore and Ohio there would be left no railway connection 
between the eastern and western states except the line along 
the Creat Lakes. The people of the North were greatly dis- 
turbed. Stanton feared that communication between Wash- 
ington and the North would be severed. Men in New York 
City were ‘Terrified and panic-stricken”,^® but the battle of 
Antietam saved them and forced Lee back into Virginia. How- 
ever, Harrisburg was again threatened in the Cettysburg 
campaign when Early seized York and sent an expedition to 
seize the Columbia bridge over the Susquehanna River. He 
McCabe, Life and Campaigns of General Robert E. Lee, 194. 
John Cadman Ropes, The Army under Pope (New Yoik, 1881). 
McCabe, Life and Campaigns of General Robert E. Lee, 201. 
Ibid., 208-210. 
Diary of Gideon Welles (Boston, 1911), I, 123, 131. 
