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About the Book
July 1862. General Robert E. Lee, now in command of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, had driven back the massive Federal Army of the Potomac from the very gates of the Confederate capital. Richmond was safe—at least for the moment.
But soon, new threats emerged against Lee’s army and the Confederate war effort in Virginia. Rumors swirled that a Federal command headed towards Fredericksburg, and a new Federal army, the Army of Virginia, under Maj. Gen. John Pope, was shifting operations towards Confederate communications and supply points.
Pope had come from the west, where he had scored successes along the Mississippi River. He brought with him a harder philosophy of war, one that would put pressure not just on Lee’s army but on the population of Virginia itself.
Not only alarmed but also offended by “such a miscreant as Pope,” Lee began moving his own forces. He intended to not just counter the new threat but to “suppress” it.
In Never Such a Campaign: The Battle of Second Manassas, August 28-30, 1862, historians Dan Welch and Kevin Pawlak follow Lee and Pope as they converge on ground once-bloodied just thirteen months earlier. Since then the armies had grown in size and efficiency, and combat between them would dwarf that first battle. For the second summer in a row, forces would clash on the plains of Manassas, and the results would be far more terrible.
Dan Welch is a Park Ranger at Gettysburg National Military Park. Welch also spent nearly 15 years in public education as an instrumental music teacher. He holds a BA in Instrumental Music Education and an MA in Military History with a Civil War Era concentration. Welch is the co-author of The Last Road North: A Guide to the Gettysburg Campaign, 1863, Ohio at Antietam: The Buckeye State’s Sacrifice on America’s Bloodiest Day, and Never Such a Campaign: The Battle of Second Manassas, August 28- August 30, 1862. A contributing member at Emerging Civil War, he was co-editor of the first three volumes of ECW’s 10th Anniversary Series. He now serves as the editor of the renowned Gettysburg Magazine.
Kevin R. Pawlak is a historic site manager for Prince William County’s Office of Historic Preservation and a Certified Battlefield Guide at Antietam National Battlefield. He previously worked as a park ranger at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Kevin is the author of four books about the American Civil War, including To Hazard All: A Guide to the Maryland Campaign, 1862, part of the Emerging Civil War Series.
