Hey everyone, thanks for downloading the 175th episode of our

Civil War Podcast. I'm Rich. And I'm Tracy. Hello y'all. Welcome to the podcast.

With this episode, we're going to pick right back up where we left off last time,

with Stonewall Jackson's wide flanking march around John Pope's army, aiming for the big union

supply depot at Manassas Junction on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. Yep, and the continuing

stalemate along the Rappahannock River clearly favored Pope since his numbers would only increase

as units from the army of the Potomac arrived on the scene. In fact, the first McLean's troops,

Samuel Heinsman's third corps, and Fitz John Porter's fifth corps, had at last begun to arrive

within supporting distance of Pope's army. And so Robert E. Lee knew if he was going to hit Pope

and hurt him, he must somehow find a way to pry Pope away from the Rappahannock before the bulk

of the army of the Potomac made its appearance. In order to break the stalemate along the Rappahannock,

Robert E. Lee decided to send Jackson on a daring sweep around Pope's right flank.

Lee was gambling that Pope would react to this unexpected move by retreating northward.

And once Pope abandoned the Rappahannock line, James Longstreet would hasten northward to link

up with Jackson, and Lee would watch for an opportunity to strike Pope as the union commander fell

back toward Washington. And Stonewall had successfully crossed the Upper Rappahannock,

and then passed through undefended thoroughfare gap in the Boran Mountains,

and on August 26th he reached Bristow Station on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad and Pope's

rear. Up until that point, Pope had exactly reacted as Lee had expected. Pope had been alerted

to Jackson's movement, but the union commander assumed Stonewall was headed for the Shenandoah Valley.

In this mistake and belief, Pope had shuffled his forces around in some confused maneuvering,

but he hadn't abandoned his line along the Rappahannock. Since Pope hadn't immediately fallen

...