What is Rappahannock?
Rappahannock is a very strange name. If you live on the Drive or Court, you may wonder where it came from. Emergency exits Drive-50A 56E,
Court-50I J 56I J
There were two civil war battles at Rappahannock Station, Va. during the civil war. Today I will discuss the first battle on August 22-25 1862.
Convinced that Gen. George B McClellan’s Union army was being withdrawn from the Peninsula to reinforce the newly organized Federal army under Gen. John Pope, Gen. Robert E. Lee sent Gen. James Longstreet’s wing of the Army of Northern Virginia from Richmond to join Gen. Thomas J. Jackson’s in the vicinity of Gordonsville. Following his defeat Cedar Mountain, Pope's Yankees withdrew to a new defensive line on the Rappahannock River. A Confederate cavalry raid by Gen. J.E.B. Stuart demonstrated the vulnerability of the Union right flank. Over the course of several days Longstreet's men engaged Pope's men in a few minor actions along the Rappahannock. Though they only produced a few hundred casualties, these skirmishes held the Federals in place, allowing Jackson to capture Bristoe Station and destroy Union supplies at Manassas Junction.
Union pickets at Rappahannock Station, Virginia photographed here in August 1862 will be driven away by Confederates under James Longstreet and J.E.B. Stuart
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