Satisfied that Hunter was no longer a threat, Jubal Early moved quickly to carry out Lee’s design. The army marched down the valley to Staunton. There Early reorganized his force into the Army of the Valley District composed of the Army of Northern Virginia’s Second Corps and Breckinridge’s infantry and cavalry from the Department of Southwestern Virginia. With no more than 17,000 troops at his disposal, Early continued down the Valley and crossed the Potomac River during the first week of July.

In sending Early on this mission Lee had several objectives in mind, the most important of which was for Early to draw troops away from Ulysses S. Grant’s army then operating against Petersburg south of the Confederate capital, while delivering a “decisive blow” to the Federals in that region. On July 9, “Old Jube” defeated Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace’s hastily assembled Federal force along the banks of the Monocacy River near Frederick, Md. However, Wallace’s stand allowed Grant enough time to dispatch reinforcements from the Army of the Potomac to save Washington from Early’s clutches.2

Early’s legions pulled up in front of Washington’s defenses midday on July 11 after marching through one of the most insidiously hot days the Southern troops had known. Although the Federal capital was weakly defended, Mother Nature proved to be a powerful ally to the Union cause. Thousands of overheated Confederates straggled and were unavailable for immediate action when the army reached Washington. Faced with staggering reductions in strength, Early postponed offensive operations until morning. Overnight, Early received reports of massive Union reinforcements that he confirmed when the eastern sky brightened on July 12. After a small action with the Union VI Corps near Fort Stevens, Early’s army quietly slipped away from Washington that evening, leaving the Federal command structure in disarray. It would be nearly a day before the Federals undertook a half-hearted pursuit.

By July 14, Early was camped at Big Spring near Leesburg. Maj. Jedediah Hotchkiss, the veteran topographical officer of Stonewall Jackson’s 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaign and the Maryland and Gettysburg campaigns, declared Early’s 1864 Maryland Raid “the most successful expedition we have ever made into the enemy’s country.” As a result of Early’s actions, Grant had detached the 12,000-man VI Corps to Washington’s defense and ultimately diverted a 5,000-man detachment of the XIX Corps from joining operations at Petersburg.3 An appreciative North Carolinian wrote: “If the old gentleman [Early] did march us very hard, and if we did say very emphatic things about him when the hot sun was overcoming us, we ask the old gentleman’s pardon, for he is the only man who has ever given us a peep at the dome of the Yankee Capital.”4

Although Early had safely returned to Virginia, the recipe for disaster was unwittingly falling into place. Lincoln placed the VI Corps’ Maj. Gen. Horatio G. Wright in command of the pursuit. Wright departed Washington almost a full day’s march behind the Confederates. Simultaneously, elements of Hunter’s Army of West Virginia filtered into Martinsburg and Harper’s Ferry, well positioned to threaten Early’s line of retreat. On July 15, Hunter’s 7,000-man vanguard crossed the Potomac River led by the lightly regarded Brig. Gen. Jeremiah Sullivan, and camped at Hillsboro, only eleven miles west of Early’s position near Leesburg.
Wright’s force camped that night at Poolesville, only ten miles east of Early. However, Wright was initially unaware of Sullivan’s presence at Hillsboro and could not, therefore, coordinate their movements. At that time Wright had only 10,500 troops available for immediate operations. However, thousands more reinforcements from the VI and XIX corps were on the way. Wright initially decided to remain on the Maryland side of the Potomac, but he changed plans when he learned of Sullivan’s presence in Virginia.

Now with 12,000 troops at hand, Wright crossed the Potomac near Conrad’s Ferry above Leesburg with about 5,000 more reinforcements a half-day’s march behind him. At Hillsboro, Sullivan took no decisive action other than to send out scouting parties to locate Early. At midday, Maj. Gen. George Crook arrived and formally relieved Sullivan from command. For most of the war, Crook labored in obscurity but earned the respect of his men and compiled a reputation as a capable officer. Most recently, in May he had routed a Confederate force at the Battle of Cloyd’s Mountain and helped save Hunter’s army from destruction at Lynchburg. A Pennsylvanian under Crook declared, “He is emphatically the ‘Stonewall Jackson’ of the Union army.” On the down side, Crook lacked communication skills. His West Point sponsor considered him “exceedingly uncommunicative” and “quiet to the point of reticence.” Nonetheless, in George Crook the Army of West Virginia had a solid and respected leader.5
When Crook arrived, he sent out a small cavalry force to follow up on a reported

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