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[FONT="]What follows is the prologue to an narrative time line Ive started work on. the order of battle will be in the next post. let me know what you think! I'll post the first two chapters after work tonight. [/FONT]
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[FONT="]Prologue[/FONT]
[FONT="]-June 1863-[/FONT]
[FONT="] The Confederate army of Northern Virginia, fresh from an overwhelming victory the month before, heads north into Pennsylvania; it is an army of 75,000 men. Leading it is Robert E. Lee, a veteran of the Mexican War, and a hero to the new Confederacy; Lee is looking to take the war into Union territory, hopefully giving war ravaged Virginia relief. Recently the army has been reorganized into three corps; the First Corps commanded by James Longstreet consists of four divisions. The army’s Second Corps, commanded temporally by Richard Ewell also consists of four divisions, one of which is also under Ewell’s command. The newest corps, the Third is commanded by Ambrose P. Hill; it is made up of two large divisions. As the army moves north, it is virtually blind, due to the fact that J.E.B. Stuart, commander of the army’s cavalry Corps is riding rings around the Union Army of the Potomac, trying to emulate a stunt he pulled a year before. [/FONT][FONT="] [/FONT] [FONT="] In mid-June, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson requests permission from Lee to return to command of the Second Corps. Lee is hesitant in allowing Jackson to do so, seeing that the General, famed for his aggressiveness and near perfect battle record, has just barley recovered from the loss of his arm, as well as a subsequent fever. Jackson is persistent, but Lee is cautious; he does not want the wounded general to over exert himself. Lee knows full well that Jackson may not be fully healed; also Lee is unsure of the location of the Union Army, and therefore would rather have Jackson rest more to be ready for another campaign in the future. “Stonewall” is worried though, he believes that this campaign, and the ensuing battle that he knows is coming, may be the final blow to the Union; a major victory that could possibly bring the Great Powers of Europe, especially Great Britain and France to the meeting table to discuss an alliance. As June comes to a close, Jackson once again petitions Lee for permission to rejoin his Corps; Lee reluctantly agrees. [/FONT]
[FONT="] Late in June, the Union Army of the Potomac, numbering well over 90,000 men, begins the pursuit of Lee up the dusty, narrow roads of Maryland and into Pennsylvania. It is an army that has known nearly nothing but defeat. In the last ten months of the war, the Army of the Potomac has fought four major battles; they have lost all but one. Already it has gone through four commanders, each relieved by an ever more frustrated Abraham Lincoln. The president of the United States is looking for a victory; one that is desperately needed to keep the British and the French form interfering. As June comes to a close, a new commander is needed to replace the broken and defeated Joe Hooker; this new commander will have to outsmart and out fight Lee in order to retain command and give the north a legitimate victory. As the armies march and maneuver through Maryland and Pennsylvania, the world watches and waits. With one side trying to gain its independence and the other trying to reunite a divided nation, and both looking [/FONT][FONT="]for the crowning victory, the next battle may in fact be the deciding factor in a war the supposed to last but 90 days.[/FONT]