A Battle Took Place At Rappahannock Station In 1862

On August 23, 1862, in what is now Remington, Virginia, the First Battle of Rappahannock Station took place as a part of the American Civil War's Northern Virginia Campaign. Early in August, Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's army was removed from the Virginia Peninsula to support Union Maj. Gen. John Pope, according to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. He dispatched Thomas J. with a wing of Maj. Gen. James Longstreet from Richmond. On August 15, "Stonewall" Jackson traveled to Gordonsville to assume command of the troops under his command. Pope withdrew to the edge of the Rappahannock River on August 20 and 21.

Gen. Robert E. Lee sent Gen. James Longstreet's wing of the Army of Northern Virginia from Richmond to join Gen. Thomas J. Jackson's in the area of Gordonsville after becoming convinced that Gen. George B. McClellan's Union army was being withdrawn from the Peninsula to support the newly organized Federal army led by Gen. John Pope. Pope's Yankees moved to a new defensive position on the Rappahannock River after losing to Cedar Mountain. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's Confederate cavalry raid exposed the Union right flank's weakness. Along the Rappahannock River, Pope's soldiers and Longstreet's men engaged in a few small-scale battles over the period of several days. These engagements only resulted in a few hundred deaths, but they managed to keep the Federals in place, allowing Jackson to take Manassas Junction and Bristoe Station.