I was talking with a friend recently about how close the South came to winning the war in so many instances. One of those important sucesses came at Second Manassas on August 29-30, 1862 (150 years ago next week).
The Confederate General was none other than Robert E. Lee, and it was a battle culminating an offensive campaign waged by the Army of Northern Virginia against the Union General Pope's Army of Virginia. It was a battle of much larger scale and numbers than First Manassas, but fought on the same ground.
It was also Longstreet and Jackson who were formidable in their effort to devastate Gen. Fitz John Porter's V Corps. The Union left flank was crushed. According to Wikipedia, "only an effective Union rearguard action prevented a replay of the First Manassas disaster. Pope's retreat was nonetheless precipitous". Wish I had been there to see it!
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