New insight on Early's 1864 raid on Washington

[davelotter]

I just attended the Rockville event (mainly civilian) and I think that General Early had a more complex strategy in his 1864 raid. Try this new theory out for comment:

Early's raid was about a week late. He arrived in the D.C. on July 9-11, 1864. I now suspect he intended to arrive 1 week earlier and attack Washington on July 4, 1864. Independence Day.

Message to the world: Recognize the Confederate State's Independence.

The city - Washington - could also be distracted by the evenings events. Think fireworks if they used them. It would have been one hell of a message if Early had succeeded!

David Lotter

[Busterbuttonboy]

Re: New insight on Early's 1864 raid on Washington

David
Sounds interesting. Although i am sure by that point in time any threat to washington, reguardless of the time would have been a large help to Lee around Richmond/Petersburg. Although from the weight Early threw against parts of the sixth corp i can only assume being already "late" he just wanted to arrive on the outskirts of washington and balitmore before the rest of sixth corp. Below is the link for a General Wallace's Monocacy AAR. Its a very interesting read.

http://www.civilwarhome.com/wallacemono.htm

Most Respectfully
Drew Gruber
Buster- 14thNJVI (monocacy regiment)

[Enfilade]

Re: New insight on Early's 1864 raid on Washington

Early's mission encompassed much more than just to scare the hell out of Washington. He just happened to have the DC area in his sights at that given point in time. And if taking Washington was the "main" objective of Early and Lee, then there would have been much more emphasis on manpower than the exhausted troops he had at the time.

*Diversion of troops away from Petersburg.
*Ridding Yankees from the Shenandoah Valley.
*Carrying the fighting again into Northern territory.
*Maligning Lincoln's re-election bid.

The exact timing of Early's raid on DC was not a concern just like Lee's attack at Gettysburg a year earlier.

Just my opinion. :sarcastic

Mark Berrier
North State Rifles
combinations@northstate.net