re: #100 Dark_Falcon

Not sure about that. He could have tried to move his army and get between the Army of the Potomac and Washington DC. But much of the problem with that was is described below:

The preceding paragraph is part of an article in National Review by Mackubin Thomas Owens. The full article, which is balanced and a good beginning account of the battle, can be found here.

They were running low on everything and could not maintain themselves on Union soil much longer. To simply withdraw would have been to concede defeat,. The only option was to stake it all on one big Napoleonic charge supported by a massive artillery barrage.

But those charges had been rendered obsolete by rifled musketry.

Lee also sent his cavalry around the flank to disrupt the union from sending reinforcements, but that move was countered by a young General George Armstrong Custer…